Integral education for transformation

ESSENCE OF EDUCATION

“What should be the main purpose of education?”  I ask a colleague who’s a mother, to answer the question spontaneously.

She does, “to be a better human being.”
Where does one find real education — the one that transforms the body, mind and soul?  It’s found in the spaces of your heart that are filled with light, and reaching there may need help! Family often has the strongest influence, one’s faith and sometimes the odd ‘good’ teacher with the Midas touch, if you are lucky.

It is, however, still rare to find trans formative education that addresses all dimensions of the human being, in an organised set up such as schools and colleges. But perhaps the time has come when this is set to change, and a new era is stretching its way to reality as more and more institutions try to live the essence of true
education.

My earlier experiments and search for a deeper, wider and more relevant education led me to explore Integral Education, inspired by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Integral Education is an education that seeks to transform the entire being — the body, heart, and head while seeping into the deeper layers of the inner being. An education that is not a mere rat race or a vanity appeaser, an education where the child is not a mere ‘product’, an education that lets a child be a child.

One of the key features of Integral Education is to help the child to move to a space of self knowing, while working on the physical, mental and emotional dimensions.  It is not just about acquiring information, it is about developing powers of the mind (concentration, memory, reasoning…), emotional development (sensitivity, compassion, joy…), having values, and a strong healthy body while discovering your deeper inner self.
Integral Education, is more than all-around education, it has an integral approach.

Knowledge is whole, we divide it into ‘subjects’ to ease the acquisition of knowledge. The human too, is an integral being, the physical, emotional, and mental dimensions are interconnected. This means that the dimensions of the individual not only have to be addressed but also their integral nature, has to be understood.  Understanding the inherent connectedness of knowledge and the child’s own inherent interests is easily facilitated through hands on, interdisciplinary, theme based project work.

Needless to say, this is not easy when the vast framework of organised education is still in old moulds.  Firstly, it needs committed educators who are constantly working on themselves, striving to become better people and better teachers.

It’s both a privilege and challenge, as the teacher is expected to facilitate self-discovery and self-discipline, rather than merely disseminate information. The child is not seen as someone to be shaped into a pre-set mould but a ‘soul in evolution’, someone in whose journey you get to hold their hand for a while. They do their own walking, but perhaps you can point to the light. Giving the child attention is important and that is why schools inspired by the principles of Integral Education strive to keep numbers small.

Creating a friendly environment of ease, naturalness and approachability for the child, in contrast to ‘factory mode’ schooling certainly helps! This is important to ensure physical, mental and emotional space for the child, where a child’s inherent nature can be observed and nurtured.

One of the key aspects of Integral Education is to help the child go deeper within herself to find inner treasures while developing powers of the mind and qualities of the heart.  This is practically possible in schools by organising regular classes geared to develop faculties of concentration, imagination, memory, creativity, while developing deeper values of compassion, care, calmness, honesty.

Periods of silent reflection can be interwoven with regular activities, thereby changing the feel and fabric of regular classes.Integral Education seeks to transform the individual from within, it strives to create a link to the bridge that takes the child to a whole new level of being.  A paradigm shift in education for the new age!

(The writer is Director, India Council for
Integral Education, Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry.)