The
narrow streets of the city of lakes and palaces are cold for the sun is only
beginning its morning journey from behind the surrounding hills. We walk swiftly over the bridge, past quietly
ruminating cows and through the small groups of people chatting at the
beginning of the day. Today we are being
taken out into the hills to meet a remarkable group of young people who are
gathering together to share their stories of their own routes that have taken
them away from conventional education.
To
feel the sanctity of life is to acknowledge the sacred in all individuals. In language that is free from any religious
associations we might phrase it as the observation of the unique qualities of
each individual. Educating the spirit is
about ensuring that these qualities are able flow, in a way that is not
destructive to other living beings, that connects freedom with responsibility
and encourages a life worth living. It
seems to me that to enjoy one’s humanity is to be learning about oneself: to be
exploring all humanity through oneself.
This is a long way from the pursuit of success and the need to validate
oneself through achievement which appears to be the motivation in life currently being encouraged; this invariably leads to self-absorption.
‘Do not believe a thing simply
because it has been said.
Do not put your faith in traditions
only because they have been honoured by many generations.
Do not believe anything because the
general opinion believes it to be true or because it has been said repeatedly.
Do not believe a thing because of the
single witness of one of the sages of antiquity.
Do not believe a thing because the
probabilities are in its favour, or you are in the habit of believing it to be
true.
Do not believe in that which comes to
your imagination, thinking it must be the revelation of a superior being.
Believe nothing that binds you to the
sole authority of your masters or priests.
That which you have tried yourself,
which you have experienced, which you recognize as true
And which will be beneficial to you
and to others;
Believe that, and shape your conduct
to it.’ Buddha
We
are sitting in a circle; threadbare carpets have been put down for us to sit on
and we are exposed to the sun as it is still morning and the warmth is welcome. In the sky above the bare hills soars a
majestic bird, its wings hardly move as the warm currents of the emerging day
carry it upwards. It is joined by
another and together the birds land by the lake, their vast wings flap slowly
and their heavy bodies hop ungainly on the rough ground as they settle. The circle is made up of young women and men,
mostly in their early to mid twenties, their smiles are friendly and they are
affectionate with each other. We hear
the accounts of their individual experiences of freeing themselves from the
accepted system of school-college-university to learn what they want, to be
involved in those things that are fed by their interests and their particular concerns. Some of them have parental support; others
have had to justify their actions to both friends and family; some come from
comfortable middle-class families and others have emerged from the margins of
society where survival is always an issue.
All of them are driven by a passion to make things better for others,
environmental and social concerns at the core of their lives. One girl has made a film about the only
female rickshaw driver in Udaipur; a boy is studying community theatre and is
involved with a group of social activists; all are active with their own and
often wider community.
‘Most parents unfortunately think
that they are responsible for their children and their sense of responsibility
takes the form of telling them what they should do, what they should not do,
what they should become and what they should not become. The parents want their children to have a
secure position in society. What they
call responsibility is part of that respectability which they worship; and it
seems to me that where there is respectability there is no order. Do you call that care and love?’ J Krishnamurti
Some
days later we are further north in a village in Rajasthan sitting in a small,
dark room lit only by a single solar lamp.
There are two men and we are joined by a succession of young children
who are here to learn to read and write; we have come to one of the night
schools run by the NGO we are staying with.
These girls and boys aged from about nine to twelve years have been out
in the fields, helping at home, looking after animals, taking care of siblings. They are huddled in coarse, tired looking clothes
as the evening is cool. One of the children
is the Prime Minister of the Children’s Parliament; she is a stern girl coming
up to thirteen years old, straight faced and eyes that hold an understanding
beyond her years. We have a question and
answer session: we ask of their lives and their concerns, they ask us about
farming and land use in our country, showing what is really important in their
lives. Before we leave the children sing
to us and we walk out into the dark having been part of another world, touched
by sincerity and thoughtfulness often difficult to find in the prosperous
parts of the world.
In
her book, ‘Rabindranath Tagore: The Poet as Educator’, Kathleen M O’Connell
writes about Tagore in the context of Western progressive-humanist education
and describes this type of education as using ‘an organic model of education
that emphasizes individual independence and focuses on the unfolding of a
child’s personality in a non-threatening environment’. This is the basis of self-directed learning:
the preservation of natural curiosity, the exploration and expansion of
individual interest, and a continuing sense of connection with nature and,
thus, humanity. Certainly this cannot
take place in large authoritarian institutions based on hierarchical decision
making promoting competition, conformity and uniformity of thinking. So do we look to create different kinds of
institutions or, perhaps, no institutions at all?
…
The
young people we met outside Udaipur are part of Swaraj University. Swaraj being the term used by Gandhi
regarding not just self-determination for India, but self-direction for the
individual. More can be found out about
Swaraj University at www.swarajuniversity.org
.
The
NGO that organizes the Children’s Parliament, night schools and many other
things is Barefoot College. Also much
influenced by Gandhi’s outlook there is a policy of encouraging grassroots
participation whilst actively discouraging the input of highly qualified experts. Barefoot College website is www.barefootcollege.org .
