Masterclass With Fearless Educator

Supriya Joshi, Pioneer of homeschooling movement in India & Co-founder of Indian Association of Homeschoolers

Presenter & Panelist to National Conferences on Alternative Education

Presenter at TED for Pursuit of Happiness

Worked on remedial education of hundreds of youth in various categories like slow learners, dyslexic children, cancer patients, street children to name a few Work is recognised by leading newspaper, AIR & television channels

Sachin Desai, age 45, born and brought up in Mumbai.  Started career from hospitality industry. Later started a firm in computer-aided learning. Initiated this unique concept from the remotest tribal village schools of Madhya Pradesh in 1998. Left Mumbai forever and expanded this concept in Madhya Pradesh.  After marriage both of us felt need to migrate from Bhopal to rural village to groom our daughter in “Gramin Sankriti”close to nature. Our grandfather who is also our spiritual guru inspired us to migrate to our 90 years old ancestral house in Konkan region of Maharashtra. The house was well constructed with Laterite stone and lime by our great grandfather who had eventually migrated to Kolhapur to work as Professor of Mathematics. The house was not in use for a decade.  We migrated to Dhamapur village in 2007 with our 3 years old daughter Mrunalini. A learning centre called “School Without Walls” was started accommodating 4 students. Two from a local orphanage who had passed their class X and 2 dropout students from middle class families in Madhya Pradesh. Later with better understanding towards rural economy and lifestyle the centre evolved into a sustainable living centre &  was renamed as “University of Life” 

#Euro news made a documentary on “University of Life”  which was broadcasted in Europe and North America in 12 languages.

#BBC productions made a documentary which was broadcasted on star plus on a program hosted by Mr Amitabh Bacchan.   

#The People’s magazine from USA, Money Life magazine of Sucheta Dalal, Times of India have published articles on University of Life. 

Now we are 7 residents of University of Life residing at Dhamapur. Our first student from local orphanage Mohammad Shaikh is now managing trustee of Syamantak. Omkar who is from a hotelier family from Malvan has now become an environmental lawyer . He is also managing trustee of Syamantak. Youth from various countries, cities and villages of India visits our commune for sustainable living  at Dhamapur as Interns to gain the new perspective of sustainable life through rural economy and harmony – Simple living and honest thinking

A passionate educator, dreamer, believer  and a crusader for the cause of children. Santhya Vikram is deeply moved by the need for renewal in the human spirit and in education. She believes that something must change in the world, as we know and live in, today. And that the children will be the bringers of this new dawn. She believes in an education that is forming, life giving and nourishing.

When she was 12, she read - Totto Chan - an endearing Japanese tale of how one man’s love could transform the destiny of the children in his fold during the darkest times of the second world war. She dreamt of finding a school where every child - with whatever ability, disability or background could belong, and grow to find their purpose in this world. Yellow Train is a manifestation of this dream.  “I am enslaved in one vast love affair with the children that I teach…”   These words from Sylvia Ashton Warner, comes closest to what I feel when I teach, she says. 

Professional Background: 

With a graduation in English Literature and a Master’s in Business Management she worked in the Corporate world for over 12 years both in India and Overseas in the area of leadership development and innovation before finding Yellow Train. Over the last ten years as a founder of Yellow Train she has worked in  establishing the foundations of the school, building the school community and championing the cause of children and teachers.

Her Work:

Santhya’s work revolves around the theme of childhood, education, teachers and empowerment of women. Her work around ‘Right to Childhood’ has touched the hearts of many communities of parents and educators. She feels such angst with the mainstream education system that neither keeps the child at the centre nor has any reverence in it. Her work is focussed on reclaiming the sacred in education. She believes that teachers are society’s heroes and if anyone must be considered the backbone of our society, it must be them. Beyond the confines of curriculum and the classroom, her work in teacher development encompasses pedagogy, personal and biographical work, inner life and helps teachers find their authenticity and voice.  At the heart of all this endeavour is the deepest conviction that we are supported in this task by the spiritual worlds. And her pursuit of serving the child is bathed in this spiritual light. 

She also works with other schools and school leaders in helping them create an ecosystem that puts the child at the heart of it. Santhya Vikram is constantly  invited to speak about reforming education in many forums such as The UNESCO conference,  the National Conference of CBSE Schools, Top 10 innovative schools at IIM Ahmedabad, Centre for Civil Society, School Choice National Conference etc. She is the recipient of the Award ‘Woman Entrepreneur of the Year’ by the Entrepreneur’s Organization with over 13,000 Entrepreneurs in 57 countries. This award comes as a recognition for championing social change.

The School:

Set in a 30 acre organic farm, in an ecologically sustainable green building and a Railway carriage that serves as the library for the whole community, Yellow Train is a Waldorf Inspired School in Coimbatore, India – from Kindergarten to Upper School, with over 50 teachers and 600 children. The school holds in reverence the work of Rudolf Steiner and strives to bring to the children in Yellow Train an essence of wholesome and spiritual education. Yellow Train is consistently ranked in the Top 10 schools in the country by many bodies such as  Education World, India Today, Better India,  All India Education summit and many other platforms.

Dr. Ramesh Bijlani is a medical doctor, writer, teacher, scientist, and above all a person committed to using his unique blend of talents for touching the hearts and lives of his fellow beings. Educated at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, where he did his MBBS and MD; and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge MA, USA, where he did a master’s course in nutrition, Dr Bijlani spent nearly 30 years on the faculty of AIIMS, teaching and conducting research on nutrition in relation to cardiovascular disease and diabetes. In 1992 he started going into the depths of yoga, specially the integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. His personal and professional life converged in the year 2000 when he initiated at AIIMS a patient care facility for providing lifestyle modification courses based on yoga. In the year 2005, he took voluntary retirement from AIIMS to find more time for dissemination of yoga. Soon after that, he moved to Sri Aurobindo Ashram – Delhi Branch, where he continues to stay and work.

Prof. Bijlani is an educationist by temperament, training and experience. Although he taught in a medical college, he feels his inner calling was to teach in a school. He started going into the science and philosophy of education about 40 years ago. His stay in the Ashram has given him an opportunity to see school education from close quarters because of the links that the Ashram has with The Mother’s International School and Mirambika Free Progress School. He has interacted extensively with the teachers, students and parents of these schools. 

Besides his research publications, he has written extensively on a variety of subjects for technical audiences, the general public and children. He has more than twenty-five published books to his credit, including one on ‘Integral Education’, the system of education based on the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. He has published seven books for children, which can be used also as teaching material by school teachers. He feels lucky to be able to spend most of his time doing what he is made for: giving inspirational talks, conducting spiritual retreats, running yoga courses, and last but not least, writing.

Sholai School was established in 1989 by the British-born, Brian Jenkins, who so named it because of a "certain beauty and naturalness" inherent in the name. A Social Anthropologist from the University of Sussex, Brian Jenkins ('BJ') taught for 14 years at the J. Krishnamurti Educational Centre at Brockwood Park, UK. Inspired by J Krishnamurti (JK), BJ, believes, "we need to explore a new culture of alertness which is sustainable, emphasises self-awareness, dialogue, and right relationships among all of us, human beings".

While at Brockwood Park, BJ frequently interacted with JK exploring with him how to live a life of intelligence and sensitivity and how to educate young people, such that they grow up to be mature and free of their fears and hurts. It is fact that many of the students who come to Sholai have already been conditioned by their previous schooling and social pressures. It is BJ's endeavour to help the teachers and students, all of us, to learn together in understanding the movement of conditioning along with a serious response to be free of it. In 2006 the Krishnamurti Foundation of India brought out A Flame of Learning: in which "Mr. J", (BJ) raised questions with JK concerning these issues.

However, Mr. Jenkins, cautions against dependence on any ideology and insists there is no "guru worship" at Sholai School. "The cruciality of watching oneself in one's relationship with other human beings and nature, form an important aspect of our work, here", he says. Brian Jenkins's search for an ideal location took him to Sri Lanka and Nepal and 7000 kilometres across India before he converged on the present locale. "Initially there were just two huts. We constructed buildings from local stone and our own consolidated mud bricks, made on campus. At the same time we converted the land into an organic farm that grows coffee, pepper, bananas, seasonal fruits and vegetables. Today the children benefit from the excellent vegetarian food, organically grown at CLOAAT," says BJ.

Born into a family of educationists, Dr. Chhalamayi Reddy has an innate passion for innovation in education. Exploring and enriching the practices of learning and actively engaging academicians, teachers and children in the process of self discovery are the two major areas along which her work revolves.

Education She was a student of Sri Aurobindo International Center of Education, Puducherry until 1977. She graduated from Central University of Hyderabad in English Literature (1982) followed by MA by Thesis degree from Ohio University, USA in 1984. She received her PhD (1991) from the Department of English, Pondicherry University, on Sri Aurobindo’s critique of poetry. She also qualified in MA Philosophy.

Profession Dr. Chhalamayi Reddy has been the Principal of Sri Aurobindo International School, Hyderabad since 1991 which runs under the aegis of Institute of Human Study of which she is one of the Trust members. With the vision of imparting Integral Education as envisaged by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, the school has evolved into one of the sought after institutions of learning since more than five decades. Apart from the focus on holistic development, the school’s methodology is child centric and provides for joyous learning. Another of her cherished interest is Indian Culture and she makes continuous efforts to educate students in it. She continues to contribute efficiently to the success story of the school with her inspirational leadership.

Projects

It is through her vision that the Institute has established a residential project, New Creation-a Free Progress School at Jangaon. As Director, she has proficiently developed a unique curriculum that ensures varied learning experiences leading to holistic development and self discovery. Along with it she administers Aditi Gurukul, a school sponsored by Matridarshan Trust, which provides free education to the less privileged since last twenty years. She continually advocates the vision and practice of Integral Education in all the three schools and is engaged in an ongoing process of orienting and training teachers in it. She has conducted workshops in the areas of Value Education, National Integration camps, Integral Education and Innovative Learning Practices in various places.

Her concern for environmental issues has made her the Convener for Environmental Committee of ICSE/ISC Schools,(GHMC). She has been efficiently organizing annual events since ten years which includes Green Rallies, Workshops on Recycling, Waste Management, Eco Hobbies, etc. Dr Chhalamayi Reddy has a keen interest in Inclusive Education and she has established small units called Ojas and Tejas in the Sri Aurobindo International school for children with learning challenges. The objective is to provide a platform for these children to become self sufficient in their daily activities. This special wing trains these children to appear for the NIOS exams.

As a Trustee of the Matridarshan Trust (Non-Governmental Organization), Dr Chhalamayi Reddy plans activities and programs for rural development which include Youth camps, Medical camps, Farmer Education and Women empowerment programs. Articles Published. Her editorials include a series of articles on Integral Education apart from her many paper presentations on educational platforms. Fondly addressed as Chhala Didi, she always believes in being a lifelong learner and encourages her team to be the same.

Gitanjali is a social entrepreneur and educationist. After having founded several business and social ventures, she is setting up the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh, as its Founding CEO & Dean. HIAL is an alternative institute for mountain development that aims to revolutionize higher education in India through the pedagogy of contextual and experiential learning. Gitanjali is also the founder of the Tranformindia.com, a collective initiative in line with the forces of evolution to build new social, economic, cultural and political models in line with India's spirit, ethos and culture. Gitanjali is a spiritual seeker with a deep interest in Indian Spirituality. She is a lifelong student of Sri Aurobindo & The Mother, Sanskrit, Vedas & Upanishads and strives to apply her learnings gleaned from these sacred texts to indigenise existing educational frameworks.

Topic: "Buiding a Movement for Freedom in Learning"

Manish Jain is deeply committed to regenerating our diverse local knowledge systems and cultural imaginations. He is one of the leading planetary voices for deschooling our lives.  He has served for the past 22 years as Coordinator and Co-Founder of Shikshantar: The Peoples’ Institute for Rethinking Education and Development based in Udaipur, India and is co-founder of some of the most innovative educational experiments in the world - the Swaraj University, the Jail University, the Complexity University, the Creativity Adda, the Learning Societies Unconference, the Walkouts-Walkon network, Udaipur as a Learning City, and the Families Learning Together network.  He launched the global Ecoversities Alliance with 120+ members in 40 countries. He has worked as a coach/facilitator/trainer with Social Labs, Art of Hosting and World Cafe. He has been invited to give inspiring public keynote speeches in many countries such as USA, England, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, India. He has edited several books on Vimukt Shiksha (liberating learning) on themes such as hacking education, learning societies, unlearning, gift culture, community media, and tools for deep dialogue. Prior to this, Manish worked as one of the principal team members of the UNESCO Learning Without Frontiers global initiative in Paris Headquarters. He has also been a consultant to UNICEF, World Bank, USAID in Africa, South Asia and former Soviet Union. Manish worked as an investment banker with Morgan Stanley. He has been trying to unlearn his Master's degree in Education from Harvard University and a B.A. in Economics, International Development and Political Philosophy from Brown University. He and his wife Vidhi have been unschooling themselves with their 18 year old daughter, Kanku, in Udaipur, Rajasthan. Manish is passionate about masti yoga, urban organic farming, filmmaking, simulation gaming, bicycling, trekking, compassionate clowning, intercultural dialogue and slow food cooking.

Topic: "Each child is a seed: nurturing for self-realisation"

Lalit Bhati, an Architect Planner from Auroville. 

Coming from a conventional academic background, the encounter with Auroville initiated a transformative process of unlearning. His work as a planner helped him to develop insights about the dynamics of societal growth and the real-life challenges of collective organization. This experience also made him realize that planning, by definition and especially so in Auroville, embraces collectivization and necessitates a synthesis of diverse viewpoints. Inherently, planning is a field of intensive churning that requires a wide range of skill sets.

After completing his B. Arch from GCA, Lucknow, Lalit pursued his Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning from CEPT, Ahmedabad and PG Diploma from IHS, Rotterdam.

He is a Founder of PATH(Planning and Architecture Towards Holistic development). He has successfully executed several projects in and around Auroville and in Puducherry. PATH is also involved in educational activities and conducts several workshops in Alternate Building Technologies.

Topic: "Planting Seeds of Entrepreneurship in Schools"

Dhrumil Dhanesha is a 16 years old serial entrepreneur and a student studying in 10th grade from India. Dhrumil is the Founder & CEO of Dhrumil Dhanesha Technologies which specifically works on technology innovations and WEB/APP Based Products. Dhrumil is also the co-founder of The Halcyon Overseas which is basically an Import & Export Agency. Dhrumil is also a TEDx Speaker and has given talks in top universities of India.