Only that system of education can be called national which strengthens a feeling of national unity. In each country there are various communities, religions, classes and languages. Therefore, the feeling of national unity is necessary to bring these varying units together.
The people in U.S.A. and India are of varying races and languages. Hence it was necessary in these countries to bring the people into one fold by disregarding their provincial and regional differences.
In the achievement of these objectives, education has played a very important role. In each country there are many political parties with a narrow outlook. The case of India may be cited. Because of the narrow outlook of certain political parties, India was partitioned in 1947.
Image Source : maestrobytumlare.com
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The British rulers wanted to weaken the feeling of national unity in the country; therefore they introduced an alien system of education which helped in strengthening the British Empire but weakened the national
Telling which was strengthened once again only after the achievement of Independence in 1947. In Great Britain the Education Act of 1944 was passed to strengthen the national feeling of unity. In U.S.A education is considered as the chief means for developing the feeling of national unity.
This was necessary because the people, who had come from Europe to settle, had varying traditions, loyalties, beliefs and languages. The efforts of W.T. Harris, Henry Bernard and Horace Man in developing this national feeling are worth a mention.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
We may easily understand how Herr Hitler in his Nazi Germany through a particular system of education strengthened the feeling of national unity. In Japan, too, its particular system of education has played a prominent role in strengthening national unity both before and after the Second World War.
Many countries in South East Asia and Africa have become independent after the Second World War. In strengthening their national feelings, they had to encounter opposition from many political parties.
Therefore, in these countries an attempt has been made to include some such factors in the aims and contents of education which may foster nationalism in the citizens. Evidently, education has to play a special role in the development of nationalism in a country. So education is an important basis of national unity.