ABC'S of Indian National Education

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Indian education must be rooted in the developing soul of India, to her future need, to the greatness of her coming self-creation, to her eternal spirit. A truly nationalist education and curriculum are always inclusive in nature, and mindful of the great diversity that makes One India. Our Education must help children and educators develop love for their nation and a wide, universal appreciation of the diversity in the nation and the world.

This book is meant for general audiences and is written in a reader-friendly voice. Much of the inspiration and deeper thought guiding this work comes from the thought and works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

This book introduces 26 themes - each for a letter of the English alphabet - that according to the author should guide, shape or be a part of an Indian National Education. These themes speak of some selected aspects of the essential Indian spirit and may also shed some light on the forms through which this spirit could express itself in educational practice. Some of these could be of greater interest to educators and parents, while others may give educational thinkers some food for thought.

In a larger sense this book speaks of the need for rethinking some of the fundamentals and philosophical foundations of an Indian National Education. At the same time readers may also be able to find some hints on curriculum restructuring, pedagogical innovations and administrative reform.

Beloo Mehra has a Ph.D. in Education from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Masters in Economics from Delhi School of Economics. She was a professor for many years at Antioch University Midwest in Ohio, USA, teaching courses in curriculum design, academic writing, qualitative and feminist research. Prior to that she worked as a high school Economics teacher and school administrator in Delhi for 5 years, as well as served as a volunteer for the National Literacy Mission.

In 2007, Beloo joined Sri Aurobindo Centre for Advanced Research, Puducherry as faculty and in-charge of academic programmes, where she developed and facilitated courses in Foundations of Indian Culture, Integral Education, and Integral Social Thought of Sri Aurobindo. She also edited a quarterly journal and a monthly newsletter. Presently she is working as an adjunct online faculty at Antioch University Midwest, USA. She devotes rest of her time in studying the works of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, reading, writing, and gardening.

She has published many articles on various topics in academic and other journals, and regularly writes a blog inspired by the thought of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

The poet William Butler Yeats once said, "Education is not the Tfilling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." In Indian tradition we have always valued Education and Learning, and from times immemorial our ancients have sang hymns invoking the gods to help us grow from ignorance to knowledge, from truth to higher truths, from darkness to light. Sri Aurobindo, the 20th century yogi- philosopher and integral thinker has given us some great insights into the true meaning of Education. His writings on Indian Culture are also immensely significant and provide the reader with an in- depth appreciation and critical understanding of the true spiritual foundations of our culture.

One of the strongest criticisms of our present Indian education has been that it isn't rooted in Indian traditional wisdom. The present book begins from this point and in a rather unique way gives 26 hints on what can be done to incorporate more of the Indian wisdom in our educational thought and practice. It challenges the readers to think deeply about the purpose that Indian education must play in an individual's life of the student as well as the teacher. The author has chosen 26 themes, each for a letter of English alphabet, and using some of the insights from the profound writings of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and a few other thinkers given us a general framework for how our education could be more Indianized.

A true national education is the need of the day. Education that Aspeaks of the Indian spirit, education that is grounded in the Indian philosophical-cultural-psychological conceptions of human being, of human life and destiny, of the nation and humanity, and of the life of human race.

It is quite sad to see that nothing much has changed in terms of the debate on what should be a meaningful and truly relevant national education for Indian children even after all these years since independence. As they say the more things change the more they stay the same. Earlier it was the British government which tried to impose a certain view and system of education. Today it is our democratically elected but selfishly driven governments which try to intervene in autonomous educational institutions through their own political ideologies and interests. Earlier it was the domination of the ruling classes, and today it is the domination of market forces that determine how or what kind of education finds popularity among the masses.

Indian education must be rooted in the developing soul of India, to her future need, to the greatness of her coming self-creation, to her eternal spirit. A truly nationalist education and curriculum are always inclusive in nature, and mindful of the great diversity that makes One India, United India. Indian Education must help children and educators develop love for their nation and a wide, universal appreciation of the diversity in the nation and the world.

In the context of Indian national educational scenario one thorny issue has been regarding the idea of "secular" education as opposed to anything that has to do with "saffronizing" or Hindu-ising of education. We must clearly understand that this very debate is based on our wrong understanding of what Indian cultural traditions are all about. Based on our badly borrowed misunderstanding of the words 'secular' and 'spiritual' we seem to have become blinded by the dominant intellectual ideology of our times, according to which schools as secular organizations are supposed to not have anything to do with matters of the spirit. Education has, therefore, become concerned only with matters of material life (eventually leading to commodification).

**Contents and Sample Pages**