A different ‘foundational’ learning: The basic education experiment in post-colonial India

This study shows how a post-colonial education reform in India sought to decolonize schooling through a locally grounded model of learning. It demonstrates how the push for a single contextually relevant approach broke down in practice, revealing the political and social limits of ambitious policy design.

Published in Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education

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Abstract

Recent efforts to improve learning in low- and middle-income countries have prioritised basic reading and arithmetic skills as foundational to learning. However, such a paradigm has been critiqued for overlooking contextual dimensions and models of learning. This paper highlights the case of Basic education in India – a Gandhian learning model to decolonise schooling after the British colonial rule. It deprioritized formal reading and arithmetic for children and instead integrated subject areas around manual activities. Through a historical analysis, this paper examines the conception, implementation, and subsequent failure of this model. In doing so, it argues that an understanding of ‘basic’ in learning is not static, but varies depending on prevalent theories about learning and the socio-economic priorities at a given context or time. Additionally, this paper cautions against considering any local learning models in LMICs as contextually relevant and empowering, given the plurality of contexts, populations, and power relations.