Assumptions in the scheme of education for all-round development
JP is trying to evolve a workable, replicable plan for all-round development of its students and wants to offer it for trial to the educational community at large. The assumption behind this new experiment in education is that the body, mind and intellect can be developed by guided efforts and constant practice. It is also the assumption of JP that this multi-faceted development takes place in not only the school but also the family, peer group youth organization and the remaining social environment. In these contemporary times, the school caters
mainly to the intellectual development through academic education. The physical, emotional and motivational education can then take place in the youth organization. But both these places of education are influenced by the family and the social atmosphere. So all the four agencies influence education. The ultimate and intermediate objectives are so broad that life-long efforts have to be made to achieve these objectives. So JP assumes that life-long education is the best way for the attainment of these objectives. As of today the time-span of formal education is increasing. Actual commencement of earning one’s livelihood is thus postponed. But it is JP’s view that education
and earning should go hand in hand after primary education.
Favourable ambience for education
To achieve the immediate, intermediate and ultimate objectives of education, the family atmosphere, the peer group of the individual and the school atmosphere have to be supportive of these objectives. The family, peer group and school together with the society as a whole create the ambience necessary for achieving the three-tiered objectives of education.
Modesty and self-confidence, genuine idealism and not self-centrednes in disguise of idealism and self-less participation in team-work are the attitudes which have to be developed within the ambience of family, peer group, school and the society. The school has the responsibility of developing young men and women who are capable, motivated and have the ability to work in groups. These qualities cannot be developed in a strait-jackted, single track protocol. Liberty to think in an unconventional way, mutual relations based on love, security and belongingness, opportunity to think independently and reach constructive conclusions, are some of the practices which create the necessary ambience. Teaching and learning in school becomes effective in such an ambience which helps to build healthy student-teacher relationships.
Jnana Prabodhini tries to create such a necessary ambience in its schools. It also tries to assist families and to cooperate with significant opinion-makers and trend-setters in the society to make the efforts of all the three ambience-creating agencies convergent. The discussion hereafter is mainly about the planning and implementation of man-making activities for secondary school students, i.e. for students from Std. V to X.
Right perspective of schools
The perspective of most schools is tradition-bound. It has to be changed to create the necessary ambience. Teaching has to become process-centred rather than information-centred as it is in the traditional way. To make this change, the perspective towards examinations, evaluation, prizes and incentives has to be changed. This is a step against the current trend of the society which values competition excessively. This step will have only partial results initially. But it has to be taken to achieve the triple objectives of education set above. (see page 6)
Mastery of information assimilated can be measured. But it is more difficult to assess the internalization of processes. Here, comparison with other members of the class is not much useful. So the nature of exams and competitions has to be reoriented. Competition with oneself has to be given priority over competition with others. The winners are those who excel their own previous performance. Incentives, prizes and cheering has to be given not to a selected few but to all those who improve their past performance and even to those who try for the first time. All educational experiences have to be planned in such a way that they are open to all, where each participant can be a
winner, where each has to compete with oneself and also has to co-operate with others.
Team of teachers to back educational policy
All the educational policies are implemented mainly by the teachers. Most of them have themselves been trained in the traditional way. They need time, guidance and counselling to re-orient themselves according to the new educational perspective. This takes time. There is lot of back-tracking because questions keep cropping up about the new way of doing things. As the teachers gradually experience the efficacy of the methods and the propriety of the objectives, they one by one start thinking accordingly to the changed perspective. The
teachers need constant training because the new way of doing things is based on new aspects of educational psychology. Training is also needed in skills for planning and implementation of new type of activities. The teachers have also to be trained to withstand the inner emotional turmoil while they are getting familar with new concepts. They have to learn to balance their own new learning with maintaining excellence in their teaching according to existing standards of formal education. These standards are going to exist till the new perspective gains wide acceptance in the society. Achievement of objectives of education depends a lot on convincing the teachers and building out of them a team of practitioners with the man-making perspective.
Significant stake-holders in the educational system
Eventhough the teachers are united in purpose and concerted in action, and the students are eager to learn, the teaching-learning process is affected by the principals of schools, director boards of the educational institutes, parents, government officials, government rules and regulations and expectations from the society. There is change in the perspective of schools and the attitude of the teachers, only if the principal and the board of directors are ready to experiment and allow others to experiment and bring about a change in the execution
of a new educational policy. If the teachers, principal and the board of directors have a common goal, the educational activities introduced and suggested by JP will be instrumental in achieving the stated objectives. If it is seen that positive changes are occurring in the educational system, then parents, other members of the society, government officials and lastly government rules and regulations will start aligning with the new educational perpsective. So the teachers, principals and boards of directors of schools have to resolve not to follow the other stakeholders. In fact, they have to take initiative in aligning the other stakeholders. Those who have this intention will be able to think of new activities themselves, if they closely study and try out Jnana Prabodhini’s experiments in education.
As of today, there are at least ten institutions which are replicating the gurukul experiment of JP, with appropriate changes according to their environment. There are more than twenty schools that are implementing different innovative educational activities of JP. Two educational institutions are trying to replicate the total JP model in their schools. It is not necessary to imitate Jnana Prabodhini’s ideas and activities in toto. But they can try to understand the motivation behind JP’s experiments. If they can ignite a similar spark within themselves, JP’s experiments can be useful as a reference point. That would serve JP’s purpose.
Schools and educational institutions
JP considers that there are at least four agencies of education, viz. the family, school, peer group youth organizations and the encompassing/residual social atmosphere. JP is more than a school or an educational institution managing schools. JP can be more aptly described as an organization of volunteer activists wanting to change the face of the country, materially and socially, for the better. With a view to sustain and extend the reach of JP, it is also involved in training for voluntary action. As JP is involved in training, it is known in the society as an educational organization. That is not the whole truth. JP wants to place before the society a model of comprehensive education involving all the four agencies of education to train the youth not only as responsible citizens but as responsive volunteers with public spirit and with a commitment to the development of the Nation. Before describing the activities carried out as an example for schools and youth organizations, some path-breaking experiments carried out by JP to involve the family and the community are
described further.