There are various facets of student’s personality, for which JP has evolved conceptual constructs and operative methods.
Intellectual development or development of thinking abilities
The first stage in the development of thinking ability is arousal of curiosity about one’s surroundings and about living beings and natural and man-made non-living objects. The aroused curiosity is satisfied by using abilities and skills such as use of libraries, reading skills, handling of tools and instruments, understanding relationships between objects and people, analyzing objects and information, and finding correlation between different sets of data. For developing the above abilities and teaching the above skills, JP has developed techniques such as training in observation skills, reading skills, thinking skills and ability to execute tasks in the laboratory, classroom and home. Opportunity to work in small or large groups and make presentations before groups and giving challenging tasks are also included in the techniques for intellectual development.
Intellectual development is marked by the thought process which leads to visualizing an activity which can satisfy curiosity, can lead to solution of problems and new creation. The ability to execute the visualized activity and make changes as required is also an evidence of intellectual development. All this is achieved by encouraging the self-learning process.
The curriculum in the school has to be elastic enough to accommodate preferences and requirements of individual students. Teachers are encouraged to design their own curricula, use and prescribe multiple reference books and even to write their own text-books. Project method is being used in JP since 1975 and has now been integrated into teaching of all academic subjects in all classes from std. V to X. Project method enhances self-study skills. The project method is supplemented by training in creative thinking and creative writing. Projects in Futurology and open-ended experiments have been an addition to this repertoire in JP after 1995. The school for the intellectually gifted students in Pune is always trying out and innovating different techniques for intellectual development.
Development of sound body with radiant health
Games, nutrition, fitness exercises, and body-building exercise contribute to the development of a sound body. These have to be balanced with rest and sleep. Together all these factors are called as the “`wº$mhma{dhma’ (Optimum food intake and planned utilization of calories) which is one of the vows in the sacrament for initiation into studentship. Though this sacrament is meant for students in Std. VIII, the regimen for physical development starts right from Std. V in JP.
Since 1998, JP has started a project called ‘Kreedakul’, at its Nigdi centre, where physical development is placed at the centre of the curriculum. Kreedakul has developed a protocol for development of muscle strength, stamina, eye-limb coordination, suppleness and nimbleness through athletics, gymnastics, swimming, yogasanas, wrestling and various team games on regular daily basis.
While the Kreedakul is for future sports-persons, the other schools and non-formal programs of JP, try to integrate the core of the above protocol through sports camps, preparation for sports demonstrations and practice for inter-house and interschool sports competitions.
Hitherto rarely addressed vital development
In June 1997, JP started a new project called ‘Gurukul’ based on the five-fold model of personality. Here, according to the Upanishads, one more aspect, of personality, the vital or pranic (functional), is enumerated separately from the physical (structural) aspect. The non-living things and the dead have only a structure or a body. The living beings do have the structure which is maintained by intake of food, metabolism, growth, development and excretion. The structure is also replicated by reproduction. These functions are said to be maintained by the life-breath or prana according to the Upanishads. The efficiency and effectivity of the above processes can be enhanced by control of prana.
The prana can be controlled by controlling breathing, by being aware of the involuntary nervous system and by learning the control of fine and coarse muscles via control over the voluntary nervous system. This control is achieved by use and practice of techniques for developing various skills. The vital aspect can be developed by pranayam, i.e. control of breathing with the help of various breathing exercises and by learning and mastering the skills in crafts and performing arts and the execution skills required in creative arts. The various exercises like surya-namaskar, yogasanas, rhythmic dancing and aerobics also help in controlling and channelizing the vital
energy. Marching, drill and singing in chorus also help to develop the vital energy by learning to control the muscles and breath according to orders, according to external rhythm or by co-ordinating with movements of others.
The vital development is addressed specifically in the gurukul, a project at JP’s Nigdi Centre. The other schools cater indirectly to it by making special arrangements for training in different crafts and various forms and arts of self-expression.
Emotional development
The vital aspect is separated on one hand from the physical and on the other from the emotional aspect. The emotional development takes place through exposure to a variety of experiences. To observe oneself after an enriching experience and notice the changes that have occurred in one’s mental makeup or mind-set is one way to bring about emotional development. The strength of the mind is developed by concentration and relaxation. Exercises in identifying oneself with other people, other living beings and other inanimate objects and trying to visualize their life histories, their feelings and their thoughts is a technique for expanding the range of emotional awareness. The arrangement of the chants in the daily upasana of JP is such that the mind is pursuaded to concentrate first on smaller and smaller entities and then on larger and larger expanses of the Universe. This alternate concentration on the small and the large increases the plasticity of mind.
Working in large and small groups teaches adjustment with others through appreciating other person’s view-points and accepting their different perspectives as valid alternatives. If acceptance is not possible, at least the necessity of tolerance is realized. All this enables one to understand and control one’s emotions and become mature.
In individual tasks, one learns when and how to respond to different situations and also to own up responsibility of the consequences of one’s decisions, proactive actions and even retaliatory actions or spontaneous reactions.
The mind-elevating experience of expansive thoughts, of dedication, of worship, of sacrifice and of devotion also helps in the development of emotions. This can be achieved through music and singing, and also in company of mature persons and through conversation with them.
Development of social skills
Apart from group work, which is an exercise for emotional development and practicing ground for social adjustment, there are many other social skills which need to be developed.
Understanding the plight of disadvantaged and marginalized social groups is necessary to know why they behave or react as they do. Then only one can give an appropriate response to their actions. This is possible only if students get a chance to visit localities and festivals of the disadvantaged people. Visiting slums and villages, habitats of tribal people and mountain dwellers, temporary settlements of nomadic people and migratory workers makes the students aware of the conditions of people living in different socio-economic conditions. Rural and tribal students also have to be given exposure to centres of industrial and economic development, centres of scientific and artistic excellence and also centres of historic and geographic importance. That makes them aware of what is possible beyond their normal living conditions.
Responding to people facing disturbance of normal life due to natural calamities and political or social strife is also another way of learning how to carry oneself in different social conditions. Participation in relief work and study tours is one way of building social awareness and social concern.
Selling seasonal goods, fund-raising for social causes, inviting people to attend public gatherings and functions, are different ways by which students learn to participate in the fabric and functioning of the society. Listening skills, discussion skills, use of forces of competition and co-operation are important skills which the students learn through various co-curricular activities.
The JP schools at Solapur and Nigdi have a large number of activities where the students are exposed to various strata of the society.
Development of national spirit
Social awareness, social action, social commitment are progressive stages in the social education of the student. The stages beyond awareness are consolidated when there is an inner source of motivation. Achievement motivation is necessary for emotional development. But social education becomes more permanent if social action is backed by the motivation for nation building.
Social awareness is awareness of the present condition. But plans for changing social conditions become practicable if they are backed by a knowledge of the culture of the society, i.e. its roots in the past. The plans for change become more challenging if they are in tune with the social aspirations about the future of the Nation.
Study camps to probe into various ideologies and philosophies are useful for generating motivation for nationbuilding in college-going students. In students from secondary schools this is done by telling biographies of past and present nation- builders, meeting with activists actually engaged in the nation-building effort and working with them where possible.
National character, pride in national heritage, national spirit and motivation for nation-building are also developed through study-tours to places where national problems are being solved and where creative innovations are being made in ways of doing things for the public good. The students of gurukul of Nigdi visit one state of India per year in the mid-term vacation.
Strengthening awareness of one’s spiritual nature
The beginning and ending of the academic year was marked by special ceremonies in the distant past. JP has revived and modified these ceremonies to suit them to the current times. The scripts for these ceremonies tell what the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagwad Geeta and the medieval saints say about the Parabrahma Shakti, i.e. the Omniscient Cosmic Spirit. The meaning of these quotes is also explained in the Marathi language which is the mother tougue of most students of JP. Recitation of these quoted mantras direct the students’ attention to the spiritual nature of Man.
There is a weekly mass prayer, where the students invoke in unison the inspiration of the Parabrahma Shakti in their Nation, their organization and themselves. They pray that their intellect may be inspired by the Divine Energy. Students are encouraged to offer such prayer individually at home everyday. There they can add to or change the mantras recited in the mass prayer. Individual effort and mass prayer together awaken the awareness of the Divine presence in the individual and also in the community. These individual and mass prayers make one realize that the development of the national spirit is a step towards identification with the world community.