Date: May 12–18, 2014
Location Society House, Sri Aurobindo Society, Puducherry
This year’s Workshop on Integral Education was organized at the Society House of Sri Aurobindo Society from 12 to 18 May, 2014 by India Council for Integral Education (ICIE), a unit of Sri Aurobindo Society. Forty-five participants, including teachers, principals, educationists and parents, from 8 States of the country participated in the Workshop. The workshop was partly sponsored by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), New Delhi. The objective of this Workshop was to introduce the principles of Integral Education as envisioned by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother to the participants, and also how to make a beginning of applying these principles in one’s life and in the classrooms.
A balanced programme of theory and practical aspects, with sessions on various aspects of Integral Education, especially at pre-primary (KG) and primary levels, covering language development, physical education, character development, sense development, developing the faculties of the mind, art, Sanskrit etc., formed the main content of the Workshop. There were also visits to the KG section of the Ashram’s Centre of Education, along with sessions on educational aids, in-house physical education activities for children, and the sublime early morning Sanskrit chanting and the yogic exercises, which added to the dimension of the Workshop. There were also special sessions on Integral Project, Nature, and Awareness.
On the last day, all the participants sat together, took up one subject that they teach at the school, and reviewed the syllabus and the method of teaching based on their exposure to the theory and approaches of integral education over the previous days. All came out with many ideas and ways in which this could be done, and pledged themselves to make a beginning of it in the classroom.
It was a beautiful experience for all those involved—both the resource persons and the participants—as it provided a platform to grow together in the spirit of Integral Education. Many of the participants felt within themselves a change of perspective towards education itself, and all the participants resolved to make a conscious attempt at implementing the vision of Integral Education at their places, in whatever way they can.