A Comparative Study on Gandhiji’s Buniyadi Shiksha & NEP 2020

DOI

No DOI

Published In

Volume 5, Issue 5 (2025)

Published Online

September-October 2025

Pages

82-84

Article Type

Original Article

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This paper undertakes a comparative analysis of two seminal educational frameworks in India: Mahatma Gandhi’s Buniyadi Shiksha (Wardha Scheme, 1937) and the contemporary National Education Policy 2020. While separated by over eight decades, both policies emerge as transformative responses to the perceived inadequacies of the existing education system, aiming to decolonize the Indian mind and create an education system rooted in national context and humanistic values. The study identifies and examines the profound philosophical convergences between the two, particularly their shared emphasis on holistic development (head, heart, and hands), the integration of vocational training and practical skills with academic learning, the focus on mother-tongue based instruction in foundational years, and the vision of education as a tool for social transformation and character building. Both frameworks explicitly reject a rigid, rote-learning-centric model and advocate for an education that is flexible, experiential, and connected to the real world.