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Class 4 Curriculum at Vidyakshetra

2024-11-22T05:08:11Z

MuneetD: Added images and category

== Class 4 Balavastha stage (9 years) ==
This article is intended to introduce the curriculum for 4th standard equivalent, when the children are around 9 years of age. This stage of growth is still Balavastha, which started at the age of 6 years and will go on till the age of 12 years. As stated by Chanakya Pandit:<blockquote>लालयेत् पञ्च वर्षाणि दश वर्षाणि ताडयेत् ।

प्राप्ते तु षोडशे वर्शे पुत्रे मित्रवद् आचरेत् ॥

lālayet pañca varṣāṇi daśa varṣāṇi tāḍayet ।

prāpte tu ṣoḍaśe varśe putre mitravad ācaret ॥</blockquote>This is the age when elements of discipline start becoming stronger. The focus is on character building, disciplining, and developing the personality of the child as this is the need of the child. Earlier to this was the phase of Shishu-avastha, wherein the ‘shishu’ is showered with ample love and affection, with that as a string foundation, now the child is just ready to be moulded.

If this phase of the child is handled tactfully, purposefully, keeping the goal in mind, without losing one’s self-control and patience, then the objective of giving shape to the child is fulfilled. By this age the child would have developed the understanding of rules, systems and behavior. The expectation from the children would also increase in adhering to them. We need to be careful to understand the thin line between harsh discipline and stern discipline with love. Love does not mean being lenient. It means that children should understand the expectations of them and that there would be consequences if the expectations are not met. Such moulding is keeping in mind the long-term values and character building of the child.

Education happens when the intellect, the feeling realm and the experiential aspect of learning comes together. Any topic needs to be understood in three steps: first it is understood intellectually, then it needs to be brought into practice according to that understanding and then there also needs to be an attachment to the subject via the feeling realm. The aspect of feeling is very prominent amongst children in this age. If we appeal to their feeling realm, they would enjoy all the subjects, they would engage in all activities with full involvement, they will behave lovingly with everybody and they would develop the faith, trust and respect for the teachers, parents and other adults around them.

Thus, the learning for a child at this age continues to be activity based so as to develop and sharpen the child’s karmendriyas, jananedriyas, mind and intelligence. Attention has to be paid so the child follows a good rhythm of the day with discipline. Development of good habits is strongly insisted on. Providing a congenial home environment devoid of distractions, healthy home cooked food and loving relations between the family members coupled with adherence to traditional home practices go a long way in moulding the foundation of the child. These become their lifelong companions.

The curriculum, pedagogy thus, is carefully crafted in developing the child’s capacities, molding its character and giving shape to its intellect, feelings and ability to do work.

== Classroom Rhythms ==
Children typically move from class 3 to class 4 when they turn 9. Class 4 children are at Vidyakshetra from 7:15am to 4:20pm. This is a change from their earlier rhythm of 8:30am to 4:30pm. They have grown up. Following is how the typical timetable of the class looks like:
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Time'''
|'''Activity'''
|-
|7:15 am
|Children arrival
|-
|7:20am to 8:20am
|Alternate days of Kalari Practice and Math Revision '''(''Kalari is newly introduced this year'')'''
|-
|8:20am to 8:40am
|Alpahar (Children bring their own Breakfast)
|-
|8:45am to 9:25am
|Panchanga + Bhagavad Gita + Subhashita (school assembly)
|-
|9:30am to 10:15am
|Krishi and Shramadaan in monthly rhythm
|-
|10:20am to 10:35am
|Morning Circle (Munjane Vrutta)
|-
|10:40am to 11:40 am
|Shaikshanika (Academic Period for intellectual aspects executed in blocks of one month for every subject)
|-
|11:45am to 12:45am
| rowspan="5" |Four periods distributed in many subjects across the week:

· Languages – Two periods each of Kannada, Sanskrit and English. ('''''English is newly Introduced''''')

· Kalas (feeling realm) – Painting and Pottery along with Two periods each for Vocals and Tabla '''''(Tabla is newly Introduced)'''''

· Handwork (Action Oriented) – Two periods for learning crochet/knitting, Two periods for learning Pottery, One period for learning Frameloom. '''(''Pottery is newly introduced'')'''

· 3 periods of Kreeda and one period of Prakruti Parichay
|-
|12:50am to 1:20pm (Lunch)
|-
|1:30pm to 2:30pm
|-
|2:35pm to 3:35pm
|-
|3:40pm to 4:20pm
|-
|4:30 pm
|Leave for the day
|}

=== Start of the day (7:20am to 8:20am) ===
Children arrive at Vidyakshetra at 7:15 am. The day starts with either exercising of intellect or with the exercising of mental/physical body. Intellect exercising happens with Math revision and mental/physical exercise happens with Kalaripayattu.

Kalaripayattu is often called "the mother of all martial arts" because of its ancient origins and influence on other fighting disciplines. This is first introduced to the students of Vidyakshetra at the age of 9 years. This ancient artform enhances flexibility, agility and strength. The goal of teaching Kalaripayattu is not only for physical and mental exercise but also to create next generation youth who has the right foundation in combative artform. It is taught under the able guidance of Suvratahan Gurukkal, Director of Veda Martial Arts Academy International in Thrissur district, Kerala, practicing Kallaripayattu, Kerala’s indigenous martial arts, for over 50 years. He is a 7th dan Black Belt Karate and has represented India in international martial arts events. He comes over to Vidyakshetra once a month and for the remaining time, some of the senior students continue the practice with Class 4 Children.

In Math revision, the focus is on developing skills in mental math and quick thinking. Various methods are used for doing so including worksheets, flash cards and various different ways of gamification of quick calculations. For example, tables up to 20 are done in different orders.

=== Alpahar (8:20am to 8:40am) ===
This is breakfast time. Children bring their own breakfast from home. They eat their breakfast as a class. The class teacher supervises to ensure that the children are eating well, sharing, finishing everything and more importantly, bringing healthy breakfast.

=== Panchang and Bhagvad Gita (8:45am to 9:25am) ===
Children come together for the assembly in Kalamantapa hall. They recite Panchanga, Bhagavad Gita and Subhashitas along with the other class students.
{| class="wikitable"
|+A typical Panchanga
|अद्य्तन पंचांगम,
कल्युगाब्दः द्वाविंशतिः अधिक एक शातोत्तरः पंच सहस्त्रं

शालिवानशकः त्रिचत्वारिम्शत अधिक नव शातोत्तर एक सहत्रम

प्लव नाम संवत्सरः, दक्षिनायानाम,

हेमन्त ऋतुः, मार्गशीर्षः मासः, कृष्ण पक्षः

एकादशी तिथिः, गुरुवासरः, विशाखा नक्षत्रं,

शुभः योगः, शुभः करणं,

इदं दिनं, सर्वेषाम कृते, शुभम् भवतु

तिथेष च श्रियम आपनोती,

वाराद आयुष्य वर्धनम्,

नक्षत्राद हरते पापम्,

योगाद रोग निवारणं,

करणाद कार्य शिद्धिश्च,

पंचांग फलम् उत्तमम्,

एतेषां श्रुनियो नित्यम्,

गंगा स्नानम् फलम् लभेत

सुदिनमस्तु
|adytana paṁcāṁgama,
kalyugābdaḥ dvāviṁśatiḥ adhika eka śātottaraḥ paṁca sahastraṁ

śālivānaśakaḥ tricatvārimśata adhika nava śātottara eka sahatrama

plava nāma saṁvatsaraḥ, dakṣināyānāma,

hemanta r̥tuḥ, mārgaśīrṣaḥ māsaḥ, kr̥ṣṇa pakṣaḥ

ekādaśī tithiḥ, guruvāsaraḥ, viśākhā nakṣatraṁ,

śubhaḥ yogaḥ, śubhaḥ karaṇaṁ,

idaṁ dinaṁ, sarveṣāma kr̥te, śubham bhavatu

titheṣa ca śriyama āpanotī,

vārāda āyuṣya vardhanam,

nakṣatrāda harate pāpam,

yogāda roga nivāraṇaṁ,

karaṇāda kārya śiddhiśca,

paṁcāṁga phalam uttamam,

eteṣāṁ śruniyo nityam,

gaṁgā snānam phalam labheta

sudinamastu
|}
Child is also exposed to Sanskrit shlokas, Subhashitas and Bhagavat Gita recitation apart from daily Panchanga. Children memorize one chapter of Bhagavad Gita and a few subshitas etc. They typically start with smaller chapters such as chapter 15 or chapter 16. They practice this in class as well. During the assembly, children recite one specific chapter of Bhagvad Gita orally under the guidance of a senior student or the Sanskrit Acharya.

This is followed by a recitation of a Sanskrit Subhashit. This Subhashit changes from time to time. An example of Subhashit which children recite is:<blockquote>जलबिन्दुनिपातेन क्रमश: पूर्यते घट: स हेतु: सर्वविद्यानां धर्मस्य च धनस्य च ||

jalabindunipātena kramaśa: pūryate ghaṭa: sa hetu: sarvavidyānāṁ dharmasya ca dhanasya ca ||</blockquote>Meaning: Drop by drop the pot gets filled with water. In a similar way, slow and continuous practice can fill us with all the knowledge. Similar is the process of accumulation of Dharma and wealth.

After this, children walk out of the assembly area in a rhythm and get into the next activity.

=== Krishi and Shramadaan (9:30am to 10:15am) ===
Shramadaan is an activity to ensure cleanliness and upkeep of the VidyaKshetra premises. Teachers and students on a rotation basis spend about an hour cleaning the campus daily. Some days in a year are kept aside for special cleaning of the campus. On these days parents have the opportunity to be a part of this activity.

Teachers and students do krishi for about an hour every day. Parents and teachers have the opportunity to be a part of Krishi.

Everyday during this time, children are divided into two groups. One doing Shramadaan and the other doing Krishi. After some time, these groups are rotated so that everybody gets the experiential learning via these activities. For Shramadaan, a specific area in the campus is allocated to each child for cleaning. The roster and the supervision is done by the senior children. For Krishi, specific patches are allocated to children to learn and practice organic and natural farming concepts.

=== Munjane Vrutta (Morning Circle) (10:20am to 10:35am) ===
Munjane Vrutta can be roughly translated into English as Morning Circle. The purpose of this activity is to bring the focus of the children back into the class. The activities have been designed elaborately to help children balance their nature as well as improve the coordination between their head, heart and hands. Some of the activities which are typically done are listed below. There is elaborate training of teachers to conduct morning circles, so that the children can benefit from them.

# Activity with bean bag: This is a unique and powerful way of bringing in focus, enabling child’s cross lateral functioning, gross motor skill development at the same time. The complexity level increases every year. This activity is in continuation from what they did in previous years also, just that complexity of the activity keeps getting higher. It is all about children doing bean bag movement by passing the bean bag to their neighbor in various rhythms. They learn to listen, think and act at the same time. An entire curriculum has been created for bean bag activities across various age groups. Bean bags are also used to recite multiplication tables by throw and catch in increasingly complex rhythms. Similar activities are done with balancing acts on the head etc.
# Skipping: Multiple ways of skipping – single and multiple. This is a very powerful activity to strengthen leg-eye coordination and the ability to anticipate. Correlation between skipping, tabla and rhythms in their life is also important.

=== Shaikshanika (Academic Period) (10:40am to 11:40am) ===
This is the time duration for academic subjects. There are four main themes of academic subjects, which children learn, as a part of Shaikshanika:

# Roopchitra (रूपचित्र)
# Math (गणितम्)
# Languages – Sanskrit, Kannada and English (Introduced this year)
# Nature Walk (प्रकृति परिचय)

==== Roopchitra (रूपचित्र) ====
Roopchitra is all about straight and curved lines and creating forms. There is an elaborate curriculum and teacher’s training to execute this subject. There are sequences identified as lesson plans, in which the children start learning to get control over their fingers and imagination. Teachers also learn to identify the temperament and nature (प्रकृति) of the child by observing their form drawings. This identification can help the teachers manage the child better. Also, for certain temperaments, specific types of forms can be very healing.

In this age group, children do Lemniscate forms, 4 quadrant diagonal, Complex loop forms, Intertwined patterns and Dot patterns. This is spread over two blocks of one month each in the year in which children do almost 40 drawings. Then there are weekly classes as well in which children do almost 20-40 drawings in a year. These forms help the neural pathways that are completely formed by 9years of a child. The more complex the forms get, the better the exercise for neural pathways. It also helps children sit in a focused manner in deep silence, helping them connect to those realms that they may not be able to at this age on their own. Thus, roopchitra forms a very important subject for 9-year-olds.

Some examples of patterns are given below:

* Complex Loop forms
[[File:Complex Loop.jpg|center|thumb|601x601px|Complex Loop]]
* 4 Quadrant simple and diagonal
[[File:4 Quadrant simple and diagonal.jpg|center|thumb|613x613px]]
* Lemniscate form
[[File:Lemniscate form.jpg|center|thumb|629x629px]]
Children are taught to make the form in one sweeping movement. As much as possible, the pencil should stay on the page from start to finish. They cannot stop and lift the pencil in between.

Roopchitra as a subject is very powerful and supports many learning capabilities: improved hand to eye co-ordination, spatial orientation, observation skills, focusing attention, confident movement, drawing skills and the foundation skills for handwriting.

==== Math (गणितम्) ====
As neural pathways are completely formed by 9 years of age, its time to exercise them, expand the brain capacities that are malleable at this stage. Thus exposing them to arithmetic fractions and gradually to higher and higher math to experience logic, analytical skills etc. including mental math abilities sharpening. Math gets covered in this age group in 3 blocks, with almost a month dedicated to each block. There are various topics which get covered during this period. Some of these topics are listed below:

# Prime Numbers.
# Measurement (Length, distance, weight, volume, Kaala Chakra - panchanga)
# Introduction to fractions (basic halves/quarters/addition and subtraction with common denominator) in image and in numbers.
# Word Problems
# Fraction addition, subtraction with different denominators, multiplication and division in image and in numbers.
# LCM
# Mental Math: division tables, 4 processes.

Anything which is a new concept needs to be introduced to the children in the most simplified form and using things that are already familiar to them. For example, for introduction to fractions, teacher makes a parantha and in front of them cuts into ½ then ¼, then 1/8 and 1/16 etc. Later each child gets a piece to eat. In this way, the concept that is abstract is simplified and taught in an experiential manner. Likewise, LCM is also introduced as a game. Children go to the playfield. They setup shops in a mela. Every 5th shop sells bangles and every third shop sells bindis. Sita likes bangles and Gita likes bindis. If they start together, which shop do they meet the first time? 15th ! This game is played by 2 children each till the time the concept is internalized.

Fractions is a complex thing which children learn this year. The concept and the operations on fractions, if not done properly, is the starting point of children starting to dislike Math. There is an elaborate curriculum and pedagogy which has been developed and for which the teachers are trained to deliver fractions.

==== Languages – Sanskrit, Kannada and English ====
Children continue to move forward in their learning journey of two languages – Kannada and Sanskrit. English gets introduced for the first time. The curriculum defined for Kannada gets covered in 3 blocks, English in 2 blocks and Sanskrit as an ongoing subject.

Focus on Sanskrit continues to be spoken and written Sanskrit proficiency.

Kannada as the base language is used as a way of introducing formal science studies. In this children explore various things like:

# Srishti – A 9-year-old child is developmentally just ripe to understand the connection with the universe, its creator and his own creator. Therefore, stories of creation are shared with him at this stage of his life to form a firm foundation for his life. Story of creation as per Bhagvatam, Brahma's life and connection with panchanga, Bhrahma and his lineage, origin of manushya, plants, animals etc. Our Gotra and family tree. Ties well with measurement blocks to calculate Brahma's age, panchanga calculations etc as per Indian measurement are covered.
# Karmendriya and Gyanindriya (senses), kriya shakti/iccha shakti/gyan shakti and the responsibility that comes along with it for humans in relation to environment/animals/plants etc.
# They experience the power of observation- vital to sciences.
# Gardening and agriculture continues and becomes more intense.

Various stories are used to cover some of the concepts. The focus is on hearing of the stories, speaking via recall of the stories. This helps them focus on right pronunciation, expanding vocabulary and participating in discussions. Writing is practiced and progresses to dictation of words & dictation of short paragraphs. Practice continues on with copying from board as well. Then children graduate to writing longer stories eg: stories from avataras etc. including Q&A and comprehension. Grammer is introduced with Punctuation marks.

Stories of various great personalities of Bharat are covered as a part of the curriculum as well. This includes Guru Nanak Dev, Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa, Basavanna, Mirabai, Santa Tukaram, Santa Kabir, Bakta Kumbara, Santa Shishunala Sharief, amongst others. Children also undertake trips to birthplaces and/or karmabhoomi of some of these people as educational trips.

Since English is getting introduced for the first time, it is important to get a glimpse of how English is introduced to children.

* First focus is on speaking. These conversations can be about breakfast/lunch/dinner, asking questions, look at their attempt to answer, not correcting their answers but giving them the right answers. Then there are songs and poems introduced.
* Then there is introduction to sounds in nature.
* Flash cards of vegetables/fruits/birds with names. No alphabets yet but they register with spoken spellings and shapes.
* They are introduced to words depicting emotions, likes/dislikes in sentences.
* Conversational sentences to words to pictures.

For children who are very new to English, they are made to listen more. There is no hurry, there is a process of easing them into the system. There is fun with them with tongue twisters.

Post this, children are introduced to stories. Focus is on animal stories creating effects, expressions, tones etc. Child catches the story with the drama. Initially there are no pictures, we just let them imagine. Stories are discussed, but there are no conclusions to the story or moral of the story at the end. Children can catch a lot more from the story if we do not restrict their understanding to the moral of the story. Stories nourish their feeling realm and drive their sense of behavior. The ending discussions are usually in the form of “Did you like the story? What did you like? Why?”. This is followed by stories with board drawings. They look at the drawing, imagine the story and tell words from the story. They try to write these words on the board. Note that there is no formal introduction to the alphabets. These stories can have various themes like seasons, festivals, patriotic, values etc.

This is followed by comprehensions. There are short questions, fill in the blanks, flash cards etc. Then there are rhyming words and opposites along with activities like KG Sheets with pictures and they need to complete the words.

Once children get a little comfortable, they get into story building. They build the story as a class. The teacher goes around to each child and they keep adding to the story. The story gets written on the board. As the story is written, the teacher keeps pronouncing the words.

Alphabets are automatically internalized. They start reading and identifying words.

As is the pedagogical principal at Vidyakshetra, there are no textbooks for children. All the delivery happens using songs, stories, drama and board drawings. Board drawings are a big part of this methodology so as to trigger and nourish the imagination of the child. When a child is able to imagine vividly, his creative side is awakened. Teachers are specifically trained to deliver stories via board drawings. Here are some sample board drawings used by the teacher.

==== Nature Walk (प्रकृति परिचय) ====
This started with Shishuvatika and continues in this age group as well. Children go out to be with nature and observe different things once in a week. Once a month they are taken out to a nearby lake, stream, nursery, nearby small hill, temple, Ramakrishna Ashram or park. On the remaining days they do their observations within the premises with things like pottery, tree climbing, bird watching, leaves or feather collection, making decorative items out of it etc. Once children are back in the class, everyone expresses their observations, feelings and thoughts. This is an important subject to establish their connection with nature.

=== Lunch Time (12:15pm to 1:35pm) ===
Lunch is prepared at Vidyakshetra every day. Fresh organic lunch is prepared everyday. Menu is set in consultation with ayurvedic Vaidya as per the season etc. Desi ghee is served on hot rice along with sambar, palya and rasam & buttermilk.

The body (अन्नमय कोष) of the child is developing. Therefore, his nourishment is well taken care of. A balanced menu as per ayurvedic principles has been developed, organic rice, dals and vegetables procured and a roster of parents along with a cook prepare lunch on a daily basis.

=== Ongoing Subjects (11:45am to 4:20pm) ===
This time duration is divided into Lunch time and 4 different periods. One period happens before lunch and 3 periods happen after lunch. The sequencing of subjects is done in such a way that the pedagogical principle of breathe-in and breathe-out is implemented. A subject which requires a lot of mental focus (breathe-in) is followed by a subject which relaxes the children (breathe-out). This helps them keep going for the entire day. Since Shaikshanika (the previous period) is pretty demanding (breathe-in), the following period is for breathe-out. It is typically followed by a tabla, handwork or painting period. Breathe-in and breathe-out rhythm goes well with the biological rhythm of the human body. Thus, it helps in their learning cycle to structure the rhythm of the day to be in harmony with the bio-rhythm of the body.

Four periods distributed in many subjects across the week:

* Languages – Two periods each of Kannada, Sanskrit and English. These are primarily revision classes for what children have learnt during their Shaikshanika.
* Kalas (feeling realm) – Painting along with two periods each for Vocals and Tabla
* Painting: This is a very important subject for development of feelings, expressions etc. Colour experience, as already mentioned earlier forms an integral part of nurturing the intellect and giving the child a very rich experience, a very happy and satisfying experience very early in life. There is one period for painting in a week.
* Handwork (Action Oriented) – Two periods for learning crochet/knitting, Two periods for learning Pottery, One period for learning Frameloom. (Pottery is newly introduced)
* 3 periods of Kreeda - Children play a lot of desi games including games like tiger and calf, tree house games etc. The physical development of children at this age is through play. They love to play and therefore ample opportunity is provided for them to play indoor as well as outdoor games.

== Parent Engagement ==
All this is aided by deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home. This happens at three levels:

# Arivu (2 times a year)
# Study Circles and Manthan (weekly and monthly rhythms)
# Sameeksha (twice a year)

=== Arivu ===
Arivu is a class level discussion. This means that individual children are not the topic of discussion, but class in general is. This happens 3 times a year at one of the parent’s houses on rotation basis. One parent hosts the other parents for a simple dinner. All the parents get an informal environment to interact with each other and the teacher gives a glimpse of the dynamics of Class 4. Parents get to know the curriculum which was covered till now and the curriculum which would be covered in the time to come. Behavioral patterns, ways to handle them, support needed from parents, environment changes at home etc. are typical discussion items.

=== Study Circles and Manthan ===
All the parents engage in study circles with weekly rhythms of meeting. The content of the study circle includes a set of books, videos, visits, expert meetings, writings and presentations. The study circle is led by the kaksha acharya of Class 4, supported by some senior acharyas in Vidyakshetra. The topics range from holistic development, Panchkoshas, Kutumb, samaj, Rashtra, varnashrama, seva, Purushartha, Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. The discussion also involves issues, problems, techniques and tools for baal avastha (बालावस्था). The study circle meets in a weekly rhythm on Saturday. In a month, 3 Saturdays are online meetings and 4th Saturday is an in-person meeting. In-person meetings help do manthan (“मंथन”) of ones understanding of various aspects of life and education for life. The goal of this setup is to bring in the alignment between the understanding of the parents and teachers, so that there is consistency in what the child gets both at home and at gurukul. It is a deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home.

=== Sameeksha ===
This is an assessment of a child’s progress and happens as a 1-1 discussion between the parents and the teacher. Panchkosha development, habits, behavior, character etc. gets discussed. If there are learning difficulties for the child or inconsistencies in behavior, they are discussed and possible plan to address those is arrived upon. This Sameeksha happens twice a year.

== Conclusion ==
The change from early childhood (शिशुअवस्था) to childhood (बालावस्था) is gradual. The first two years (age 6 and 7) of childhood are these transition years. 9 years is the age when this transition is over and the child is truly into the childhood zone. Now is the time to firmly bring in aspects of responsibility and discipline. This is the time when good habits need to be strictly enforced, character development needs to become the focus and this is the real beginning of sadhana for the student. Both the parents and teachers need to be conscious of this fact and should continue to have the high intensity for next 6 years. The work done during this time on the child would lay the foundation of handling troublesome adolescence.
[[Category:Vidyakshetra]]

File:Lemniscate form.jpg

2024-11-22T05:05:13Z

MuneetD:

File:4 Quadrant simple and diagonal.jpg

2024-11-22T05:01:16Z

MuneetD:

File:Complex Loop.jpg

2024-11-22T04:55:34Z

MuneetD:

Class 4 Curriculum at Vidyakshetra

2024-11-22T04:48:02Z

MuneetD: Created new page

== Class 4 Balavastha stage (9 years) ==
This article is intended to introduce the curriculum for 4th standard equivalent, when the children are around 9 years of age. This stage of growth is still Balavastha, which started at the age of 6 years and will go on till the age of 12 years. As stated by Chanakya Pandit:<blockquote>लालयेत् पञ्च वर्षाणि दश वर्षाणि ताडयेत् ।

प्राप्ते तु षोडशे वर्शे पुत्रे मित्रवद् आचरेत् ॥

lālayet pañca varṣāṇi daśa varṣāṇi tāḍayet ।

prāpte tu ṣoḍaśe varśe putre mitravad ācaret ॥</blockquote>This is the age when elements of discipline start becoming stronger. The focus is on character building, disciplining, and developing the personality of the child as this is the need of the child. Earlier to this was the phase of Shishu-avastha, wherein the ‘shishu’ is showered with ample love and affection, with that as a string foundation, now the child is just ready to be moulded.

If this phase of the child is handled tactfully, purposefully, keeping the goal in mind, without losing one’s self-control and patience, then the objective of giving shape to the child is fulfilled. By this age the child would have developed the understanding of rules, systems and behavior. The expectation from the children would also increase in adhering to them. We need to be careful to understand the thin line between harsh discipline and stern discipline with love. Love does not mean being lenient. It means that children should understand the expectations of them and that there would be consequences if the expectations are not met. Such moulding is keeping in mind the long-term values and character building of the child.

Education happens when the intellect, the feeling realm and the experiential aspect of learning comes together. Any topic needs to be understood in three steps: first it is understood intellectually, then it needs to be brought into practice according to that understanding and then there also needs to be an attachment to the subject via the feeling realm. The aspect of feeling is very prominent amongst children in this age. If we appeal to their feeling realm, they would enjoy all the subjects, they would engage in all activities with full involvement, they will behave lovingly with everybody and they would develop the faith, trust and respect for the teachers, parents and other adults around them.

Thus, the learning for a child at this age continues to be activity based so as to develop and sharpen the child’s karmendriyas, jananedriyas, mind and intelligence. Attention has to be paid so the child follows a good rhythm of the day with discipline. Development of good habits is strongly insisted on. Providing a congenial home environment devoid of distractions, healthy home cooked food and loving relations between the family members coupled with adherence to traditional home practices go a long way in moulding the foundation of the child. These become their lifelong companions.

The curriculum, pedagogy thus, is carefully crafted in developing the child’s capacities, molding its character and giving shape to its intellect, feelings and ability to do work.

== Classroom Rhythms ==
Children typically move from class 3 to class 4 when they turn 9. Class 4 children are at Vidyakshetra from 7:15am to 4:20pm. This is a change from their earlier rhythm of 8:30am to 4:30pm. They have grown up. Following is how the typical timetable of the class looks like:
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Time'''
|'''Activity'''
|-
|7:15 am
|Children arrival
|-
|7:20am to 8:20am
|Alternate days of Kalari Practice and Math Revision '''(''Kalari is newly introduced this year'')'''
|-
|8:20am to 8:40am
|Alpahar (Children bring their own Breakfast)
|-
|8:45am to 9:25am
|Panchanga + Bhagavad Gita + Subhashita (school assembly)
|-
|9:30am to 10:15am
|Krishi and Shramadaan in monthly rhythm
|-
|10:20am to 10:35am
|Morning Circle (Munjane Vrutta)
|-
|10:40am to 11:40 am
|Shaikshanika (Academic Period for intellectual aspects executed in blocks of one month for every subject)
|-
|11:45am to 12:45am
| rowspan="5" |Four periods distributed in many subjects across the week:

· Languages – Two periods each of Kannada, Sanskrit and English. ('''''English is newly Introduced''''')

· Kalas (feeling realm) – Painting and Pottery along with Two periods each for Vocals and Tabla '''''(Tabla is newly Introduced)'''''

· Handwork (Action Oriented) – Two periods for learning crochet/knitting, Two periods for learning Pottery, One period for learning Frameloom. '''(''Pottery is newly introduced'')'''

· 3 periods of Kreeda and one period of Prakruti Parichay
|-
|12:50am to 1:20pm (Lunch)
|-
|1:30pm to 2:30pm
|-
|2:35pm to 3:35pm
|-
|3:40pm to 4:20pm
|-
|4:30 pm
|Leave for the day
|}

=== Start of the day (7:20am to 8:20am) ===
Children arrive at Vidyakshetra at 7:15 am. The day starts with either exercising of intellect or with the exercising of mental/physical body. Intellect exercising happens with Math revision and mental/physical exercise happens with Kalaripayattu.

Kalaripayattu is often called "the mother of all martial arts" because of its ancient origins and influence on other fighting disciplines. This is first introduced to the students of Vidyakshetra at the age of 9 years. This ancient artform enhances flexibility, agility and strength. The goal of teaching Kalaripayattu is not only for physical and mental exercise but also to create next generation youth who has the right foundation in combative artform. It is taught under the able guidance of Suvratahan Gurukkal, Director of Veda Martial Arts Academy International in Thrissur district, Kerala, practicing Kallaripayattu, Kerala’s indigenous martial arts, for over 50 years. He is a 7th dan Black Belt Karate and has represented India in international martial arts events. He comes over to Vidyakshetra once a month and for the remaining time, some of the senior students continue the practice with Class 4 Children.

In Math revision, the focus is on developing skills in mental math and quick thinking. Various methods are used for doing so including worksheets, flash cards and various different ways of gamification of quick calculations. For example, tables up to 20 are done in different orders.

=== Alpahar (8:20am to 8:40am) ===
This is breakfast time. Children bring their own breakfast from home. They eat their breakfast as a class. The class teacher supervises to ensure that the children are eating well, sharing, finishing everything and more importantly, bringing healthy breakfast.

=== Panchang and Bhagvad Gita (8:45am to 9:25am) ===
Children come together for the assembly in Kalamantapa hall. They recite Panchanga, Bhagavad Gita and Subhashitas along with the other class students.
{| class="wikitable"
|+A typical Panchanga
|अद्य्तन पंचांगम,
कल्युगाब्दः द्वाविंशतिः अधिक एक शातोत्तरः पंच सहस्त्रं

शालिवानशकः त्रिचत्वारिम्शत अधिक नव शातोत्तर एक सहत्रम

प्लव नाम संवत्सरः, दक्षिनायानाम,

हेमन्त ऋतुः, मार्गशीर्षः मासः, कृष्ण पक्षः

एकादशी तिथिः, गुरुवासरः, विशाखा नक्षत्रं,

शुभः योगः, शुभः करणं,

इदं दिनं, सर्वेषाम कृते, शुभम् भवतु

तिथेष च श्रियम आपनोती,

वाराद आयुष्य वर्धनम्,

नक्षत्राद हरते पापम्,

योगाद रोग निवारणं,

करणाद कार्य शिद्धिश्च,

पंचांग फलम् उत्तमम्,

एतेषां श्रुनियो नित्यम्,

गंगा स्नानम् फलम् लभेत

सुदिनमस्तु
|adytana paṁcāṁgama,
kalyugābdaḥ dvāviṁśatiḥ adhika eka śātottaraḥ paṁca sahastraṁ

śālivānaśakaḥ tricatvārimśata adhika nava śātottara eka sahatrama

plava nāma saṁvatsaraḥ, dakṣināyānāma,

hemanta r̥tuḥ, mārgaśīrṣaḥ māsaḥ, kr̥ṣṇa pakṣaḥ

ekādaśī tithiḥ, guruvāsaraḥ, viśākhā nakṣatraṁ,

śubhaḥ yogaḥ, śubhaḥ karaṇaṁ,

idaṁ dinaṁ, sarveṣāma kr̥te, śubham bhavatu

titheṣa ca śriyama āpanotī,

vārāda āyuṣya vardhanam,

nakṣatrāda harate pāpam,

yogāda roga nivāraṇaṁ,

karaṇāda kārya śiddhiśca,

paṁcāṁga phalam uttamam,

eteṣāṁ śruniyo nityam,

gaṁgā snānam phalam labheta

sudinamastu
|}
Child is also exposed to Sanskrit shlokas, Subhashitas and Bhagavat Gita recitation apart from daily Panchanga. Children memorize one chapter of Bhagavad Gita and a few subshitas etc. They typically start with smaller chapters such as chapter 15 or chapter 16. They practice this in class as well. During the assembly, children recite one specific chapter of Bhagvad Gita orally under the guidance of a senior student or the Sanskrit Acharya.

This is followed by a recitation of a Sanskrit Subhashit. This Subhashit changes from time to time. An example of Subhashit which children recite is:<blockquote>जलबिन्दुनिपातेन क्रमश: पूर्यते घट: स हेतु: सर्वविद्यानां धर्मस्य च धनस्य च ||

jalabindunipātena kramaśa: pūryate ghaṭa: sa hetu: sarvavidyānāṁ dharmasya ca dhanasya ca ||</blockquote>Meaning: Drop by drop the pot gets filled with water. In a similar way, slow and continuous practice can fill us with all the knowledge. Similar is the process of accumulation of Dharma and wealth.

After this, children walk out of the assembly area in a rhythm and get into the next activity.

=== Krishi and Shramadaan (9:30am to 10:15am) ===
Shramadaan is an activity to ensure cleanliness and upkeep of the VidyaKshetra premises. Teachers and students on a rotation basis spend about an hour cleaning the campus daily. Some days in a year are kept aside for special cleaning of the campus. On these days parents have the opportunity to be a part of this activity.

Teachers and students do krishi for about an hour every day. Parents and teachers have the opportunity to be a part of Krishi.

Everyday during this time, children are divided into two groups. One doing Shramadaan and the other doing Krishi. After some time, these groups are rotated so that everybody gets the experiential learning via these activities. For Shramadaan, a specific area in the campus is allocated to each child for cleaning. The roster and the supervision is done by the senior children. For Krishi, specific patches are allocated to children to learn and practice organic and natural farming concepts.

=== Munjane Vrutta (Morning Circle) (10:20am to 10:35am) ===
Munjane Vrutta can be roughly translated into English as Morning Circle. The purpose of this activity is to bring the focus of the children back into the class. The activities have been designed elaborately to help children balance their nature as well as improve the coordination between their head, heart and hands. Some of the activities which are typically done are listed below. There is elaborate training of teachers to conduct morning circles, so that the children can benefit from them.

# Activity with bean bag: This is a unique and powerful way of bringing in focus, enabling child’s cross lateral functioning, gross motor skill development at the same time. The complexity level increases every year. This activity is in continuation from what they did in previous years also, just that complexity of the activity keeps getting higher. It is all about children doing bean bag movement by passing the bean bag to their neighbor in various rhythms. They learn to listen, think and act at the same time. An entire curriculum has been created for bean bag activities across various age groups. Bean bags are also used to recite multiplication tables by throw and catch in increasingly complex rhythms. Similar activities are done with balancing acts on the head etc.
# Skipping: Multiple ways of skipping – single and multiple. This is a very powerful activity to strengthen leg-eye coordination and the ability to anticipate. Correlation between skipping, tabla and rhythms in their life is also important.

=== Shaikshanika (Academic Period) (10:40am to 11:40am) ===
This is the time duration for academic subjects. There are four main themes of academic subjects, which children learn, as a part of Shaikshanika:

# Roopchitra (रूपचित्र)
# Math (गणितम्)
# Languages – Sanskrit, Kannada and English (Introduced this year)
# Nature Walk (प्रकृति परिचय)

==== Roopchitra (रूपचित्र) ====
Roopchitra is all about straight and curved lines and creating forms. There is an elaborate curriculum and teacher’s training to execute this subject. There are sequences identified as lesson plans, in which the children start learning to get control over their fingers and imagination. Teachers also learn to identify the temperament and nature (प्रकृति) of the child by observing their form drawings. This identification can help the teachers manage the child better. Also, for certain temperaments, specific types of forms can be very healing.

In this age group, children do Lemniscate forms, 4 quadrant diagonal, Complex loop forms, Intertwined patterns and Dot patterns. This is spread over two blocks of one month each in the year in which children do almost 40 drawings. Then there are weekly classes as well in which children do almost 20-40 drawings in a year. These forms help the neural pathways that are completely formed by 9years of a child. The more complex the forms get, the better the exercise for neural pathways. It also helps children sit in a focused manner in deep silence, helping them connect to those realms that they may not be able to at this age on their own. Thus, roopchitra forms a very important subject for 9-year-olds.

Some examples of patterns are given below:

* Complex Loop forms

* 4 Quadrant simple and diagonal

* Lemniscate form

Children are taught to make the form in one sweeping movement. As much as possible, the pencil should stay on the page from start to finish. They cannot stop and lift the pencil in between.

Roopchitra as a subject is very powerful and supports many learning capabilities: improved hand to eye co-ordination, spatial orientation, observation skills, focusing attention, confident movement, drawing skills and the foundation skills for handwriting.

==== Math (गणितम्) ====
As neural pathways are completely formed by 9 years of age, its time to exercise them, expand the brain capacities that are malleable at this stage. Thus exposing them to arithmetic fractions and gradually to higher and higher math to experience logic, analytical skills etc. including mental math abilities sharpening. Math gets covered in this age group in 3 blocks, with almost a month dedicated to each block. There are various topics which get covered during this period. Some of these topics are listed below:

# Prime Numbers.
# Measurement (Length, distance, weight, volume, Kaala Chakra - panchanga)
# Introduction to fractions (basic halves/quarters/addition and subtraction with common denominator) in image and in numbers.
# Word Problems
# Fraction addition, subtraction with different denominators, multiplication and division in image and in numbers.
# LCM
# Mental Math: division tables, 4 processes.

Anything which is a new concept needs to be introduced to the children in the most simplified form and using things that are already familiar to them. For example, for introduction to fractions, teacher makes a parantha and in front of them cuts into ½ then ¼, then 1/8 and 1/16 etc. Later each child gets a piece to eat. In this way, the concept that is abstract is simplified and taught in an experiential manner. Likewise, LCM is also introduced as a game. Children go to the playfield. They setup shops in a mela. Every 5th shop sells bangles and every third shop sells bindis. Sita likes bangles and Gita likes bindis. If they start together, which shop do they meet the first time? 15th ! This game is played by 2 children each till the time the concept is internalized.

Fractions is a complex thing which children learn this year. The concept and the operations on fractions, if not done properly, is the starting point of children starting to dislike Math. There is an elaborate curriculum and pedagogy which has been developed and for which the teachers are trained to deliver fractions.

==== Languages – Sanskrit, Kannada and English ====
Children continue to move forward in their learning journey of two languages – Kannada and Sanskrit. English gets introduced for the first time. The curriculum defined for Kannada gets covered in 3 blocks, English in 2 blocks and Sanskrit as an ongoing subject.

Focus on Sanskrit continues to be spoken and written Sanskrit proficiency.

Kannada as the base language is used as a way of introducing formal science studies. In this children explore various things like:

# Srishti – A 9-year-old child is developmentally just ripe to understand the connection with the universe, its creator and his own creator. Therefore, stories of creation are shared with him at this stage of his life to form a firm foundation for his life. Story of creation as per Bhagvatam, Brahma's life and connection with panchanga, Bhrahma and his lineage, origin of manushya, plants, animals etc. Our Gotra and family tree. Ties well with measurement blocks to calculate Brahma's age, panchanga calculations etc as per Indian measurement are covered.
# Karmendriya and Gyanindriya (senses), kriya shakti/iccha shakti/gyan shakti and the responsibility that comes along with it for humans in relation to environment/animals/plants etc.
# They experience the power of observation- vital to sciences.
# Gardening and agriculture continues and becomes more intense.

Various stories are used to cover some of the concepts. The focus is on hearing of the stories, speaking via recall of the stories. This helps them focus on right pronunciation, expanding vocabulary and participating in discussions. Writing is practiced and progresses to dictation of words & dictation of short paragraphs. Practice continues on with copying from board as well. Then children graduate to writing longer stories eg: stories from avataras etc. including Q&A and comprehension. Grammer is introduced with Punctuation marks.

Stories of various great personalities of Bharat are covered as a part of the curriculum as well. This includes Guru Nanak Dev, Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa, Basavanna, Mirabai, Santa Tukaram, Santa Kabir, Bakta Kumbara, Santa Shishunala Sharief, amongst others. Children also undertake trips to birthplaces and/or karmabhoomi of some of these people as educational trips.

Since English is getting introduced for the first time, it is important to get a glimpse of how English is introduced to children.

* First focus is on speaking. These conversations can be about breakfast/lunch/dinner, asking questions, look at their attempt to answer, not correcting their answers but giving them the right answers. Then there are songs and poems introduced.
* Then there is introduction to sounds in nature.
* Flash cards of vegetables/fruits/birds with names. No alphabets yet but they register with spoken spellings and shapes.
* They are introduced to words depicting emotions, likes/dislikes in sentences.
* Conversational sentences to words to pictures.

For children who are very new to English, they are made to listen more. There is no hurry, there is a process of easing them into the system. There is fun with them with tongue twisters.

Post this, children are introduced to stories. Focus is on animal stories creating effects, expressions, tones etc. Child catches the story with the drama. Initially there are no pictures, we just let them imagine. Stories are discussed, but there are no conclusions to the story or moral of the story at the end. Children can catch a lot more from the story if we do not restrict their understanding to the moral of the story. Stories nourish their feeling realm and drive their sense of behavior. The ending discussions are usually in the form of “Did you like the story? What did you like? Why?”. This is followed by stories with board drawings. They look at the drawing, imagine the story and tell words from the story. They try to write these words on the board. Note that there is no formal introduction to the alphabets. These stories can have various themes like seasons, festivals, patriotic, values etc.

This is followed by comprehensions. There are short questions, fill in the blanks, flash cards etc. Then there are rhyming words and opposites along with activities like KG Sheets with pictures and they need to complete the words.

Once children get a little comfortable, they get into story building. They build the story as a class. The teacher goes around to each child and they keep adding to the story. The story gets written on the board. As the story is written, the teacher keeps pronouncing the words.

Alphabets are automatically internalized. They start reading and identifying words.

As is the pedagogical principal at Vidyakshetra, there are no textbooks for children. All the delivery happens using songs, stories, drama and board drawings. Board drawings are a big part of this methodology so as to trigger and nourish the imagination of the child. When a child is able to imagine vividly, his creative side is awakened. Teachers are specifically trained to deliver stories via board drawings. Here are some sample board drawings used by the teacher.

==== Nature Walk (प्रकृति परिचय) ====
This started with Shishuvatika and continues in this age group as well. Children go out to be with nature and observe different things once in a week. Once a month they are taken out to a nearby lake, stream, nursery, nearby small hill, temple, Ramakrishna Ashram or park. On the remaining days they do their observations within the premises with things like pottery, tree climbing, bird watching, leaves or feather collection, making decorative items out of it etc. Once children are back in the class, everyone expresses their observations, feelings and thoughts. This is an important subject to establish their connection with nature.

=== Lunch Time (12:15pm to 1:35pm) ===
Lunch is prepared at Vidyakshetra every day. Fresh organic lunch is prepared everyday. Menu is set in consultation with ayurvedic Vaidya as per the season etc. Desi ghee is served on hot rice along with sambar, palya and rasam & buttermilk.

The body (अन्नमय कोष) of the child is developing. Therefore, his nourishment is well taken care of. A balanced menu as per ayurvedic principles has been developed, organic rice, dals and vegetables procured and a roster of parents along with a cook prepare lunch on a daily basis.

=== Ongoing Subjects (11:45am to 4:20pm) ===
This time duration is divided into Lunch time and 4 different periods. One period happens before lunch and 3 periods happen after lunch. The sequencing of subjects is done in such a way that the pedagogical principle of breathe-in and breathe-out is implemented. A subject which requires a lot of mental focus (breathe-in) is followed by a subject which relaxes the children (breathe-out). This helps them keep going for the entire day. Since Shaikshanika (the previous period) is pretty demanding (breathe-in), the following period is for breathe-out. It is typically followed by a tabla, handwork or painting period. Breathe-in and breathe-out rhythm goes well with the biological rhythm of the human body. Thus, it helps in their learning cycle to structure the rhythm of the day to be in harmony with the bio-rhythm of the body.

Four periods distributed in many subjects across the week:

* Languages – Two periods each of Kannada, Sanskrit and English. These are primarily revision classes for what children have learnt during their Shaikshanika.
* Kalas (feeling realm) – Painting along with two periods each for Vocals and Tabla
* Painting: This is a very important subject for development of feelings, expressions etc. Colour experience, as already mentioned earlier forms an integral part of nurturing the intellect and giving the child a very rich experience, a very happy and satisfying experience very early in life. There is one period for painting in a week.
* Handwork (Action Oriented) – Two periods for learning crochet/knitting, Two periods for learning Pottery, One period for learning Frameloom. (Pottery is newly introduced)
* 3 periods of Kreeda - Children play a lot of desi games including games like tiger and calf, tree house games etc. The physical development of children at this age is through play. They love to play and therefore ample opportunity is provided for them to play indoor as well as outdoor games.

== Parent Engagement ==
All this is aided by deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home. This happens at three levels:

# Arivu (2 times a year)
# Study Circles and Manthan (weekly and monthly rhythms)
# Sameeksha (twice a year)

=== Arivu ===
Arivu is a class level discussion. This means that individual children are not the topic of discussion, but class in general is. This happens 3 times a year at one of the parent’s houses on rotation basis. One parent hosts the other parents for a simple dinner. All the parents get an informal environment to interact with each other and the teacher gives a glimpse of the dynamics of Class 4. Parents get to know the curriculum which was covered till now and the curriculum which would be covered in the time to come. Behavioral patterns, ways to handle them, support needed from parents, environment changes at home etc. are typical discussion items.

=== Study Circles and Manthan ===
All the parents engage in study circles with weekly rhythms of meeting. The content of the study circle includes a set of books, videos, visits, expert meetings, writings and presentations. The study circle is led by the kaksha acharya of Class 4, supported by some senior acharyas in Vidyakshetra. The topics range from holistic development, Panchkoshas, Kutumb, samaj, Rashtra, varnashrama, seva, Purushartha, Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. The discussion also involves issues, problems, techniques and tools for baal avastha (बालावस्था). The study circle meets in a weekly rhythm on Saturday. In a month, 3 Saturdays are online meetings and 4th Saturday is an in-person meeting. In-person meetings help do manthan (“मंथन”) of ones understanding of various aspects of life and education for life. The goal of this setup is to bring in the alignment between the understanding of the parents and teachers, so that there is consistency in what the child gets both at home and at gurukul. It is a deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home.

=== Sameeksha ===
This is an assessment of a child’s progress and happens as a 1-1 discussion between the parents and the teacher. Panchkosha development, habits, behavior, character etc. gets discussed. If there are learning difficulties for the child or inconsistencies in behavior, they are discussed and possible plan to address those is arrived upon. This Sameeksha happens twice a year.

== Conclusion ==
The change from early childhood (शिशुअवस्था) to childhood (बालावस्था) is gradual. The first two years (age 6 and 7) of childhood are these transition years. 9 years is the age when this transition is over and the child is truly into the childhood zone. Now is the time to firmly bring in aspects of responsibility and discipline. This is the time when good habits need to be strictly enforced, character development needs to become the focus and this is the real beginning of sadhana for the student. Both the parents and teachers need to be conscious of this fact and should continue to have the high intensity for next 6 years. The work done during this time on the child would lay the foundation of handling troublesome adolescence.

Class 1 Curriculum at Vidyakshetra

2024-05-24T10:16:44Z

MuneetD: Added Images

== Introduction to Baal-avastha (6yrs to 12yrs) ==
Class 1 starts at the age of 6 years and forms a part of the age group called Baal-Avastha (बाल अवस्था) which ranges from 6 years to 12 years.

The first 6 years of the child is likened to the potter preparing the clay. The next 6 years is when he will use that prepared clay by patting it vigorously, moulding it, giving it a perfect shape he desires and by putting it in fire. Likewise, the first 6 years of the child is the preparation for the next 6 years by providing it lot of love, security, fulfilling its every desire etc. The next 6 years focuses on character building, disciplining, and developing the personality of the child as this is the need of the child. If this phase of the child is handled tactfully, purposefully, keeping the goal in mind, without losing one’s self-control and patience, then the objective of giving shape to the child is fulfilled.

In this phase, the child’s school education begins. There are now two centers of learning for the child- one is at home and the other is the vidyalaya. The teachers are the foster parents of the child.

During this phase, the jnanendriyas (ज्ञानेन्द्रियाँ) and karmendriyas (कर्मेन्द्रियाँ) of the child are activated. Thus, they need to be nourished and developed.

For the karmendriyas (कर्मेन्द्रियाँ), hands, legs and speech have to become skillful. For speech development, we introduce languages such as samskrita and local language kannada. To nurture the gross and fine motor skills of the hand, writing is introduced as well as krishi etc Kreeda is a daily affair that ensures the all round physical development of the child and its overall healthy constitution.

To develop the jnanendriyas (ज्ञानेन्द्रियाँ), the child must have beautiful experiences of roopa (रूप), rasa (रस), Gandha (गंध), Sparsha (स्पर्श) and sravana (श्रवण). Therefore, in the later years, sangeeth too is introduced to mould the child’s aspects of beauty, flow, control and feelings. Activities such as painting, drawing helps them gain colour experience. Experience of the colour is more important than information of colour such as name of colour etc. Similar beautiful experiences must become a part of the curriculum in terms of beautiful sights, natural materials, pure foods etc. Such rich experiences build the overall positive outlook of the world for the child.

Thus, the learning for a child in the baal avastha has to be activity based so as to develop and sharpen the child’s karmendriyas, jananedriyas, mind and intelligence. Attention has to be paid so the child follows a good rhythm of the day. Good rhythms promote good habits - both bodily as well as mental habits for the child. These become their lifelong companions. Mental habits such as motivation to do work, faith and trust are natural to a child. They must be preserved and fostered so the goodness of the child emerges in form of its behaviour and attitude.

To build the mental capacity, rote learning is given a lot of importance. Brain capacities are expanded in this way so that that capacity can be used later. Memorization of shlokas, math tables etc. helps build these capacities.

Child is encouraged towards light tasks such as shramadaan (श्रमदान), washing and cleaning its own utensils, little bit of Krishi and watering plants etc. so that it develops a taste for work later in life.

The curriculum, pedagogy thus, is carefully crafted in developing the child’s capacities, moulding its character and giving shape to its intellect, feelings and ability to do work.

== Classroom Rhythms ==
Children typically move from Shishuvatika to class 1 (refered to as Arambha in Vidyakshetra) when they turn 6. Readiness of the child is assessed for getting into formal education with respect to its physical development, its gross & fine motor function, ability to follow multiple step instruction, observing child’s social & creative skills at play etc. The sign that the development of internal organs is completed, and organs are stabilized is falling of the milk teeth and growth of arms to cover the head up to the ears on the opposite side. There is also an external assessment done for identified children for any special needs which Vidyakshetra is not able to take care of at present. If the assessment result suggests that child needs specialists to learn and grow properly and if teachers at Vidyakshetra are not equipped to handle it, then parents are guided with appropriate advice.

This is a year of transition from early childhood (शिशुअवस्था) to childhood (बालावस्था). The child is guided to start doing its age-appropriate work independently. During this transition, the child learns to listen and follow instructions or follow advice. The mindset needs to transition from playfulness to responsibility and to discipline. This is also the time when formal education begins. As this happens, educators focus on its character building, capability building and providing rich experiences of life continues.

Arambha children are at Vidyakshetra from 8:30am to 2:30pm. Following is how the typical timetable of the class looks like:
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Time'''
|'''Activity'''
|-
|8:30 am
|Children arrival
|-
|8:40am to 9:10am
|Panchanga + Bhagavad Gita + Subhashita (at the school assembly)
|-
|9:30am to 9:45am
|prarambha, mandala samaya
|-
|9:45am to 10:10am
|Phalahara
|-
|10:10am to 10:50 am
|Shaikshanika (Academic Period)
|-
|10:55am to 12:15am
|Chatuvatike – Activity Time (activities such as Krishi / Knitting / Sanskrit Sambhashanam)
|-
|12:15am to 1:35pm
|OOTA (Lunch)
|-
|1:35pm to 2:15pm
|Winding Down (Kreeda / Painting)
|-
|2:30pm
|Leave for the day
|}

=== Start of the day (8:30am to 9:10am) ===
The day starts at 8:30am in the morning. Though Vidyakshetra starts at 7:15am for older classes, Arambha students start their day a little later. The first activity of the day is the assembly in Kalamantapa hall. They recite Panchanga, Bhagavad Gita and Subhashitas along with the other class students.
{| class="wikitable"
|+A typical Panchanga
|अद्य्तन पंचांगम,
कल्युगाब्दः द्वाविंशतिः अधिक एक शातोत्तरः पंच सहस्त्रं

शालिवानशकः त्रिचत्वारिम्शत अधिक नव शातोत्तर एक सहत्रम

प्लव नाम संवत्सरः, दक्षिनायानाम,

हेमन्त ऋतुः, मार्गशीर्षः मासः, कृष्ण पक्षः

एकादशी तिथिः, गुरुवासरः, विशाखा नक्षत्रं,

शुभः योगः, शुभः करणं,

इदं दिनं, सर्वेषाम कृते, शुभम् भवतु

तिथेष च श्रियम आपनोती,

वाराद आयुष्य वर्धनम्,

नक्षत्राद हरते पापम्,

योगाद रोग निवारणं,

करणाद कार्य शिद्धिश्च,

पंचांग फलम् उत्तमम्,

एतेषां श्रुनियो नित्यम्,

गंगा स्नानम् फलम् लभेत

सुदिनमस्तु
|adytana paṁcāṁgama,
kalyugābdaḥ dvāviṁśatiḥ adhika eka śātottaraḥ paṁca sahastraṁ

śālivānaśakaḥ tricatvārimśata adhika nava śātottara eka sahatrama

plava nāma saṁvatsaraḥ, dakṣināyānāma,

hemanta r̥tuḥ, mārgaśīrṣaḥ māsaḥ, kr̥ṣṇa pakṣaḥ

ekādaśī tithiḥ, guruvāsaraḥ, viśākhā nakṣatraṁ,

śubhaḥ yogaḥ, śubhaḥ karaṇaṁ,

idaṁ dinaṁ, sarveṣāma kr̥te, śubham bhavatu

titheṣa ca śriyama āpanotī,

vārāda āyuṣya vardhanam,

nakṣatrāda harate pāpam,

yogāda roga nivāraṇaṁ,

karaṇāda kārya śiddhiśca,

paṁcāṁga phalam uttamam,

eteṣāṁ śruniyo nityam,

gaṁgā snānam phalam labheta

sudinamastu
|}
Child is also exposed to Sanskrit shlokas, Subhashitas and Bhagavat Gita recitation apart from daily Panchanga. Children memorize one of chapter of Bhagavad Gita and a few subshitas etc. They typically start with smaller chapters such as chapter 15 or chapter 16. They practice this in class as well.

After this, children walk to the class. The class is a little far from Kalamandapa. To create a rhythm while walking back, children usually sing a song (to depict ants walking on a straight line in search of sugar) or shlokas while walking.

They reach the class by 9:30 am.

=== Class entry rhythm, mandala samaya (9:30am to 9:45am) ===
It is important to create a rhythm with children in everything they do. The first rhythm is for keeping their things in order. This includes lining the slippers outside the class, do Saraswati namaskar as they enter the class, keep their bags on the shelf and their water bottles on the table.

This is followed by mandala samaya. Rhythmic Movement woven into song, dance and activities forms the mandala samaya. It is an activity wherein iccha, kriya and jnana Shakti of the child finds nourishment. Child’s developing Annamayya kosha too gets exercised in the most harmonious manner. It also helps the child in settling down into the classroom rhythm for more learning throughout the day. This mandala samaya would be encouraged for all the subsequent years, though the type of activity and the complexity would differ with each passing year. For Arambha, this is the first class-activity of the day inside the classroom. There is a different thing which happens every day of the week and then these activities get repeated for the subsequent weeks. This is an important activity to transition the students into the classroom environment. Following are the set of activities which are included in mandala samaya:

# Seasonal and festival related with action and movement for songs and Rhymes in Kannada and Sanskrit
# Activity with bean bag: This is a very unique and powerful way of bringing in focus, enabling child’s cross lateral functioning, gross motor skill development at the same time. The complexity level increases every year. In the first year, children do bean bag movement by passing the bean bag to their neighbour. They learn to listen, think and act at the same time.
# Few Surya Namaskaaras
# Skipping: Multiple ways of skipping – single and multiple. This is a very powerful activity to strengthen legs-eye coordination and the ability to anticipate.
# Songs and games related to math tables and skip counting revision.

=== Phalahara (9:45am to 9:55am) ===
Children wash their hands and have their breakfast outside the class. Children bring their fruit boxes from home. The teacher ensure that children are sitting in a mandala on the floor and then having their fruits. Children are observed to eat slowly, chew well, finish what they brought, wash their boxes and keep them back. The rhythm of doing all this by themselves, day after day, week after week is the key aspect. It helps build their sense of responsibility, task completion, as well as drives away laziness.

As the mandala samaya and phalahara is going on, children from senior classes would come into the classroom for Shram Daan. This includes brooming, mopping and cleaning the class room to make it ready for taking the class. One principle of sharm daan at Vidyakshetra is that none of the class children clean their own class room.

=== Shaikshanika (10:10am to 10:50am) ===
This is the time duration for academic subjects. There are four main themes of academic subjects, which children learn, as a part of Shaikshanika:

# Roopchitra (रूपचित्र)
# Math (गणितम्)
# Languages – Sanskrit and Kannada
# Nature Walk (प्रकृति परिचय)

==== Roopchitra (रूपचित्र) ====
Roopchitra is all about imagining and creating forms. There are no picture books, only imagination. The forms are given in story form and then walked by the children in the following day. There are two characters which form a part of many stories – Putta (पुट्टा) and Putti (पुट्टी). This is a common feature of all the primary classes where such favourite characters are chosen specific to classes. With stories of Putta and Putti, certain patterns are formed on the ground and children follow those patterns.

Typical forms which get covered in Arambha are – Straight lines / Curved Lines / Simple Running Forms / Squares / Spirals / Simple horizontal mirror images.

Once they can imagine the forms with movements, they start making those patterns on sand with fingers. This is followed by drawing on slate, then in practice books and then in academic books. For all the writing in books, children use Jumbo crayons. It offers better control and change direction without changing thickness. In Shishuvatika, they were introduced to block crayons. Now they are used for making borders in the academic books.

Children are taught to make the form in one sweeping movement. As much as possible, the crayon should stay on the page from start to finish. They cannot stop and lift the crayon in between. There is a sequences identified as lesson plans, in which the children start learning to get control on their fingers and imagination. Teachers also learn to identify the temperament and nature (प्रकृति) of the child by observing their form drawings. This identification can help the teachers manage the child better. Also, for certain temperaments, specific types of forms can be very healing. Below is an example of some of the form drawing done in Arambha.
[[File:Roopchitra.png|center|thumb|561x561px]]
Roopchitra as a subject is very powerful and supports many learning capabilities: improved hand to eye co-ordination, spatial orientation, observation skills, focusing attention, confident movement, drawing skills and the foundation skills for handwriting.

==== Math (गणितम्) ====
In the past years, we start leaning Math in Kannada language. From 2023, we have started teaching Math in Sanskrit language. Following is achieved in the class:

* Shloka – The class starts with learning and by-hearting 3 shlokas:<blockquote>यथा शिखा मयूराणां, नागानां मणयो यथा । तद् वेदांगशास्त्राणां, गणितं मूर्ध्नि वर्तते ॥ लीलागललुल लोलकालव्याल विलासिने । गणेशाय नमो नीलकमलामलकान्तये ॥ एकं च दश च शतं च सहस्रं तु अयुतनियुते तथा प्रयुतम् । कोट्यर्बुदं च वृन्दं स्थानात्स्थानं दशगुणं स्यात् ॥</blockquote>
* Identifying Numbers – Brahmgupta method of identifying numbers is used. This includes showing pictures and their counts. Like ‘Surya’ is One, ‘Trishool’ is three. Games are played including mental math, count and match etc.
* Counting Numbers – 1 to 100. Oral and written. Writing is done in Devanagari script. Numbers are written and read from right to left, as is the case with Sanskrit. For example, in number 45, first 5 is mentioned and then 40 is mentioned. In Sanskrit, it would be panchachatvarinshat (पञ्चचत्वारिंशत्).
* Tables – Tables and skip counting in Sanskrit from 1 to 5 and 10. Tables are learnt in the form of songs and skip counting is learnt as rhythm of claps.
* Introduction to the four operations – Operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are introduced not as operations but as stories. The characters of the stories are from Ramayana, Mahabharata or Puranas.
[[File:Languages.png|thumb|216x216px]]

==== Languages – Sanskrit and Kannada ====
Children learn two languages – Kannada and Sanskrit. For both the languages, the process of learning follows the sequence of spoken language (संभाषणं) and then Lipi writing. Writing also starts with words and moves on to letters. Example of words with flashcards is shown in the image.

As is the pedagogical principal at Vidyakshetra, there are no textbooks for children. All the delivery happens using songs, stories, drama and board drawings. Board drawings are a big part of this methodology so as to trigger and nourish the imagination of the child. When a child is able to imagine vividly, his creative side is awakened. Teachers are specifically trained to deliver stories via board drawings. Here are some sample board drawings used by the teacher.
[[File:Board Drawings.png|center|thumb|831x831px]]

==== Nature Walk (प्रकृति परिचय) ====
This started with Shishuvatika and continues in Arambha. Children go out to be with nature and observe different things. Once in a month they are taken out to nearly lake, nursery, nearby small hill, temple, Ramakrishna Ashram or park. Remaining days they do their observations within the premise with things like pottery, tree climbing, bird watching, leaves or feather collection, making decorative items out of it etc. Once children are back to the class, everyone expresses their observations, feelings and thoughts. This is an important subject to establish their connection with nature.
[[File:Nature Walk.png|center|thumb|514x514px]]

=== Chatuvatike – Activity Time (10:55am to 12:15am) ===
After Shaikshanika, the rhythm shifts to activity of the hands. This includes Krishi or Knitting or Fireless cooking. One of the two is typically done. Sometimes, Sanskrit Sambhashanam is also practiced during this time.

* '''Knitting''': Finger Knitting is very important for children to establish good amount of control on their hands and fingers. Children learn 2-finger knitting, 4-finger knitting and needle knitting.
[[File:Handwork.png|center|thumb|525x525px]]
* '''Krishi''' - Krishi is very important subject to create the emotional connect between children and nature as well to ignite and inspire its interests in doing work. Children learn and observe how nature functions and nourishes. Children do activities including watering, sowing, cleaning weeds, composting, collecting leaves for composting, making patty etc.
[[File:Krishi-class1.png|center|thumb|459x459px]]
* '''Fireless Cooking''' (bring ingredients from home) - Includes cutting, pounding, grating, peeling etc which help strengthen the hands- develops its gross and fine motor skills as well hand-eye coordination. It helps children connect with food in a very personal manner. Whatever is cooked by them becomes a very precious intake for them. Whatever is cooked, is shared by all the children during lunch time.
[[File:Fireless Cooking.png|center|thumb|608x608px]]

=== Lunch Time (12:15pm to 1:35pm) ===
Lunch is prepared at Vidyakshetra every day. The menu is not decided by the children.

The body (अन्नमय कोष) of the child is developing. Therefore, his nourishment is well taken care of. A balanced menu as per ayurvedic principles has been developed, organic rice, dals and vegetables procured and a roster of parents along with a cook prepare lunch on a daily basis. Such food is offered with love and care to children in Arambha.

Though, there is a lunch space in Vidyakshetra, Arambha children eat lunch in their own class. Lunch time gets divided into three parts:

* Pre-Lunch Shram Daan: Along with the teacher, children clean the classroom and make it ready for lunch. They wash plates, arrange tubs with water and arrange soaps. It is very important to cultivate these good habits at this stage of life. Such activities helps the child develop interest in doing work and helps them develop an eye for cleanliness and habit of doing one’s own work which is a very important life-skill.
* Lunch: Children sit in a mandala and then the teachers serve lunch to the children. They are trained to eat what they are served. Children wash their hands, sit in a mandala and the teachers serve the children. Every child must take a sufficient portion of lunch. They are encouraged to finish the lunch in the stipulated time, chewing well and finishing all what they have taken. Before starting the lunch, they recite the Bhojan mantra (भोजन मंत्र) along with the teacher:

<blockquote>ॐ सहनाववतु, सह नौ भुनक्तु, सह वीर्यं करवाव है ।

तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषाव है ।।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ।।

oṁ sahanāvavatu, saha nau bhunaktu, saha vīryaṁ karavāva hai ।

tejasvi nāvadhītamastu mā vidviṣāva hai ।।

oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ।।</blockquote>

* Post-Lunch Shram Daan: After finishing, children, along with teachers, clean up the whole place along with the teacher. They clean the classroom, wash the plates, and mop the entire place. Teachers predominantly clean up and children are engaged in the process.

=== Winding Down (1:35pm to 2:15pm) ===
It has been a hectic day for the children. They need to wind down before heading home. Two activities which they take up are Games (क्रीडा) or Painting.

Kreeda: Children play a lot of desi games including games like tiger and calf, tree house games etc. The physical development of children at this age is through play. They love to play and therefore ample opportunity is provided for them to play indoor as well as outdoor games.

Painting: This is a very important subject for development of feelings, expressions etc. Colour experience, as already mentioned earlier forms an integral part of nurturing the intellect and giving the child a very rich experience, a very happy and satisfying experience very early in life. Painting is typically done wet-on-wet. Children paint only with single colours with warm and cold version of Red, Yellow and Blue. They learn to make different strokes – horizontal, diagonal and vertical. This is a very silent space to allow the children to immerse themselves and express themselves. The class starts with teacher doing the setup of the class. Teachers shows how to paint with children sitting all around her. Teacher also tells a story while painting. Then the students paint silently on their own. Different strokes by different children are recalled the next day. They try and figure out if they can see some familiar figure emerge due to their strokes.

Post 2:15pm, children start preparing to leave for the day. By 2:30pm, they leave either by bus or with their parents.

== Parent Engagement ==
All this is aided by deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home. This happens at three levels:

# Arivu (3 times a year)
# Study Circles and Manthan (weekly and monthly rhythms)
# Sameeksha (twice a year)

=== Arivu ===
Arivu is a class level discussion. This means that individual children are not the topic of discussion, but class in general is. This happens 3 times a year at one of the parent’s houses on rotation basis. One parent hosts the other parents for a simple dinner. All the parents get an informal environment to interact with each other and the teacher gives a glimpse of the dynamics of Arambha. Parents get to know the curriculum which was covered till now and the curriculum which would be covered in the time to come. Behavioral patterns, ways to handle them, support needed from parents, environment changes at home etc. are typical discussion items.

=== Study Circles and Manthan ===
All the parents engage in study circle with weekly rhythms of meeting. The content of study circle includes a set of books, videos, visits, expert meetings, writings and presentations. The study circle is lead by the acharya of Arambha, supported by some senior acharyas in Vidyakshetra. The topics range from holistic development, Panchkoshas, Kutumb, samaj, Rashtra, varnashrama, seva, Purushartha, Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. The discussion also involves issues, problems, techniques and tools for baal avastha (बालावस्था). The study circle meets in a weekly rhythm on Saturday. In a month, 3 Saturdays are online meetings and 4th Saturday is an in-person meeting. In-person meetings help do manthan (“मंथन”) of ones understanding of various aspects of life and education for life. The goal of this setup is to bring in the alignment between the understanding of the parents and teachers, so that there is consistency in what the child gets both at home and at gurukul. It is a deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home.

=== Sameeksha ===
This is an assessment of a child’s progress and happens as a 1-1 discussion between the parents and the teacher. Panchkosha development, habits, behavior, character etc. gets discussed. If there are learning difficulties for the child or inconsistencies in behavior, they are discussed and possible plan to address those is arrived upon. This Sameeksha happens twice a year.

== Conclusion ==
The change from early childhood (शिशुअवस्था) to childhood (बालावस्था) is gradual. The first two years of childhood are these transition years. Of these, the first year is in Arambha. In these transition years, the child starts doing its own work itself. During this transition, the child learns to listen and follow instructions and advice. The mindset needs to transition from playfulness to responsibility and to discipline. This is also the time when formal education begins. The teachers and parents need to handle this transition well.
[[Category:Vidyakshetra]]

File:Roopchitra.png

2024-05-24T10:04:33Z

MuneetD:

File:Nature Walk.png

2024-05-24T10:04:17Z

MuneetD:

File:Languages.png

2024-05-24T10:04:03Z

MuneetD:

File:Krishi-class1.png

2024-05-24T10:03:47Z

MuneetD:

File:Handwork.png

2024-05-24T10:03:03Z

MuneetD:

File:Fireless Cooking.png

2024-05-24T10:02:51Z

MuneetD:

File:Board Drawings.png

2024-05-24T10:02:33Z

MuneetD:

Class 1 Curriculum at Vidyakshetra

2024-05-24T10:00:37Z

MuneetD: FIrst upload

== Introduction to Baal-avastha (6yrs to 12yrs) ==
Class 1 starts at the age of 6 years and forms a part of the age group called Baal-Avastha (बाल अवस्था) which ranges from 6 years to 12 years.

The first 6 years of the child is likened to the potter preparing the clay. The next 6 years is when he will use that prepared clay by patting it vigorously, moulding it, giving it a perfect shape he desires and by putting it in fire. Likewise, the first 6 years of the child is the preparation for the next 6 years by providing it lot of love, security, fulfilling its every desire etc. The next 6 years focuses on character building, disciplining, and developing the personality of the child as this is the need of the child. If this phase of the child is handled tactfully, purposefully, keeping the goal in mind, without losing one’s self-control and patience, then the objective of giving shape to the child is fulfilled.

In this phase, the child’s school education begins. There are now two centers of learning for the child- one is at home and the other is the vidyalaya. The teachers are the foster parents of the child.

During this phase, the jnanendriyas (ज्ञानेन्द्रियाँ) and karmendriyas (कर्मेन्द्रियाँ) of the child are activated. Thus, they need to be nourished and developed.

For the karmendriyas (कर्मेन्द्रियाँ), hands, legs and speech have to become skillful. For speech development, we introduce languages such as samskrita and local language kannada. To nurture the gross and fine motor skills of the hand, writing is introduced as well as krishi etc Kreeda is a daily affair that ensures the all round physical development of the child and its overall healthy constitution.

To develop the jnanendriyas (ज्ञानेन्द्रियाँ), the child must have beautiful experiences of roopa (रूप), rasa (रस), Gandha (गंध), Sparsha (स्पर्श) and sravana (श्रवण). Therefore, in the later years, sangeeth too is introduced to mould the child’s aspects of beauty, flow, control and feelings. Activities such as painting, drawing helps them gain colour experience. Experience of the colour is more important than information of colour such as name of colour etc. Similar beautiful experiences must become a part of the curriculum in terms of beautiful sights, natural materials, pure foods etc. Such rich experiences build the overall positive outlook of the world for the child.

Thus, the learning for a child in the baal avastha has to be activity based so as to develop and sharpen the child’s karmendriyas, jananedriyas, mind and intelligence. Attention has to be paid so the child follows a good rhythm of the day. Good rhythms promote good habits - both bodily as well as mental habits for the child. These become their lifelong companions. Mental habits such as motivation to do work, faith and trust are natural to a child. They must be preserved and fostered so the goodness of the child emerges in form of its behaviour and attitude.

To build the mental capacity, rote learning is given a lot of importance. Brain capacities are expanded in this way so that that capacity can be used later. Memorization of shlokas, math tables etc. helps build these capacities.

Child is encouraged towards light tasks such as shramadaan (श्रमदान), washing and cleaning its own utensils, little bit of Krishi and watering plants etc. so that it develops a taste for work later in life.

The curriculum, pedagogy thus, is carefully crafted in developing the child’s capacities, moulding its character and giving shape to its intellect, feelings and ability to do work.

== Classroom Rhythms ==
Children typically move from Shishuvatika to class 1 (refered to as Arambha in Vidyakshetra) when they turn 6. Readiness of the child is assessed for getting into formal education with respect to its physical development, its gross & fine motor function, ability to follow multiple step instruction, observing child’s social & creative skills at play etc. The sign that the development of internal organs is completed, and organs are stabilized is falling of the milk teeth and growth of arms to cover the head up to the ears on the opposite side. There is also an external assessment done for identified children for any special needs which Vidyakshetra is not able to take care of at present. If the assessment result suggests that child needs specialists to learn and grow properly and if teachers at Vidyakshetra are not equipped to handle it, then parents are guided with appropriate advice.

This is a year of transition from early childhood (शिशुअवस्था) to childhood (बालावस्था). The child is guided to start doing its age-appropriate work independently. During this transition, the child learns to listen and follow instructions or follow advice. The mindset needs to transition from playfulness to responsibility and to discipline. This is also the time when formal education begins. As this happens, educators focus on its character building, capability building and providing rich experiences of life continues.

Arambha children are at Vidyakshetra from 8:30am to 2:30pm. Following is how the typical timetable of the class looks like:
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Time'''
|'''Activity'''
|-
|8:30 am
|Children arrival
|-
|8:40am to 9:10am
|Panchanga + Bhagavad Gita + Subhashita (at the school assembly)
|-
|9:30am to 9:45am
|prarambha, mandala samaya
|-
|9:45am to 10:10am
|Phalahara
|-
|10:10am to 10:50 am
|Shaikshanika (Academic Period)
|-
|10:55am to 12:15am
|Chatuvatike – Activity Time (activities such as Krishi / Knitting / Sanskrit Sambhashanam)
|-
|12:15am to 1:35pm
|OOTA (Lunch)
|-
|1:35pm to 2:15pm
|Winding Down (Kreeda / Painting)
|-
|2:30pm
|Leave for the day
|}

=== Start of the day (8:30am to 9:10am) ===
The day starts at 8:30am in the morning. Though Vidyakshetra starts at 7:15am for older classes, Arambha students start their day a little later. The first activity of the day is the assembly in Kalamantapa hall. They recite Panchanga, Bhagavad Gita and Subhashitas along with the other class students.
{| class="wikitable"
|+A typical Panchanga
|अद्य्तन पंचांगम,
कल्युगाब्दः द्वाविंशतिः अधिक एक शातोत्तरः पंच सहस्त्रं

शालिवानशकः त्रिचत्वारिम्शत अधिक नव शातोत्तर एक सहत्रम

प्लव नाम संवत्सरः, दक्षिनायानाम,

हेमन्त ऋतुः, मार्गशीर्षः मासः, कृष्ण पक्षः

एकादशी तिथिः, गुरुवासरः, विशाखा नक्षत्रं,

शुभः योगः, शुभः करणं,

इदं दिनं, सर्वेषाम कृते, शुभम् भवतु

तिथेष च श्रियम आपनोती,

वाराद आयुष्य वर्धनम्,

नक्षत्राद हरते पापम्,

योगाद रोग निवारणं,

करणाद कार्य शिद्धिश्च,

पंचांग फलम् उत्तमम्,

एतेषां श्रुनियो नित्यम्,

गंगा स्नानम् फलम् लभेत

सुदिनमस्तु
|adytana paṁcāṁgama,
kalyugābdaḥ dvāviṁśatiḥ adhika eka śātottaraḥ paṁca sahastraṁ

śālivānaśakaḥ tricatvārimśata adhika nava śātottara eka sahatrama

plava nāma saṁvatsaraḥ, dakṣināyānāma,

hemanta r̥tuḥ, mārgaśīrṣaḥ māsaḥ, kr̥ṣṇa pakṣaḥ

ekādaśī tithiḥ, guruvāsaraḥ, viśākhā nakṣatraṁ,

śubhaḥ yogaḥ, śubhaḥ karaṇaṁ,

idaṁ dinaṁ, sarveṣāma kr̥te, śubham bhavatu

titheṣa ca śriyama āpanotī,

vārāda āyuṣya vardhanam,

nakṣatrāda harate pāpam,

yogāda roga nivāraṇaṁ,

karaṇāda kārya śiddhiśca,

paṁcāṁga phalam uttamam,

eteṣāṁ śruniyo nityam,

gaṁgā snānam phalam labheta

sudinamastu
|}
Child is also exposed to Sanskrit shlokas, Subhashitas and Bhagavat Gita recitation apart from daily Panchanga. Children memorize one of chapter of Bhagavad Gita and a few subshitas etc. They typically start with smaller chapters such as chapter 15 or chapter 16. They practice this in class as well.

After this, children walk to the class. The class is a little far from Kalamandapa. To create a rhythm while walking back, children usually sing a song (to depict ants walking on a straight line in search of sugar) or shlokas while walking.

They reach the class by 9:30 am.

=== Class entry rhythm, mandala samaya (9:30am to 9:45am) ===
It is important to create a rhythm with children in everything they do. The first rhythm is for keeping their things in order. This includes lining the slippers outside the class, do Saraswati namaskar as they enter the class, keep their bags on the shelf and their water bottles on the table.

This is followed by mandala samaya. Rhythmic Movement woven into song, dance and activities forms the mandala samaya. It is an activity wherein iccha, kriya and jnana Shakti of the child finds nourishment. Child’s developing Annamayya kosha too gets exercised in the most harmonious manner. It also helps the child in settling down into the classroom rhythm for more learning throughout the day. This mandala samaya would be encouraged for all the subsequent years, though the type of activity and the complexity would differ with each passing year. For Arambha, this is the first class-activity of the day inside the classroom. There is a different thing which happens every day of the week and then these activities get repeated for the subsequent weeks. This is an important activity to transition the students into the classroom environment. Following are the set of activities which are included in mandala samaya:

# Seasonal and festival related with action and movement for songs and Rhymes in Kannada and Sanskrit
# Activity with bean bag: This is a very unique and powerful way of bringing in focus, enabling child’s cross lateral functioning, gross motor skill development at the same time. The complexity level increases every year. In the first year, children do bean bag movement by passing the bean bag to their neighbour. They learn to listen, think and act at the same time.
# Few Surya Namaskaaras
# Skipping: Multiple ways of skipping – single and multiple. This is a very powerful activity to strengthen legs-eye coordination and the ability to anticipate.
# Songs and games related to math tables and skip counting revision.

=== Phalahara (9:45am to 9:55am) ===
Children wash their hands and have their breakfast outside the class. Children bring their fruit boxes from home. The teacher ensure that children are sitting in a mandala on the floor and then having their fruits. Children are observed to eat slowly, chew well, finish what they brought, wash their boxes and keep them back. The rhythm of doing all this by themselves, day after day, week after week is the key aspect. It helps build their sense of responsibility, task completion, as well as drives away laziness.

As the mandala samaya and phalahara is going on, children from senior classes would come into the classroom for Shram Daan. This includes brooming, mopping and cleaning the class room to make it ready for taking the class. One principle of sharm daan at Vidyakshetra is that none of the class children clean their own class room.

=== Shaikshanika (10:10am to 10:50am) ===
This is the time duration for academic subjects. There are four main themes of academic subjects, which children learn, as a part of Shaikshanika:

# Roopchitra (रूपचित्र)
# Math (गणितम्)
# Languages – Sanskrit and Kannada
# Nature Walk (प्रकृति परिचय)

==== Roopchitra (रूपचित्र) ====
Roopchitra is all about imagining and creating forms. There are no picture books, only imagination. The forms are given in story form and then walked by the children in the following day. There are two characters which form a part of many stories – Putta (पुट्टा) and Putti (पुट्टी). This is a common feature of all the primary classes where such favourite characters are chosen specific to classes. With stories of Putta and Putti, certain patterns are formed on the ground and children follow those patterns.

Typical forms which get covered in Arambha are – Straight lines / Curved Lines / Simple Running Forms / Squares / Spirals / Simple horizontal mirror images.

Once they can imagine the forms with movements, they start making those patterns on sand with fingers. This is followed by drawing on slate, then in practice books and then in academic books. For all the writing in books, children use Jumbo crayons. It offers better control and change direction without changing thickness. In Shishuvatika, they were introduced to block crayons. Now they are used for making borders in the academic books.

Children are taught to make the form in one sweeping movement. As much as possible, the crayon should stay on the page from start to finish. They cannot stop and lift the crayon in between. There is a sequences identified as lesson plans, in which the children start learning to get control on their fingers and imagination. Teachers also learn to identify the temperament and nature (प्रकृति) of the child by observing their form drawings. This identification can help the teachers manage the child better. Also, for certain temperaments, specific types of forms can be very healing. Below is an example of some of the form drawing done in Arambha.

Roopchitra as a subject is very powerful and supports many learning capabilities: improved hand to eye co-ordination, spatial orientation, observation skills, focusing attention, confident movement, drawing skills and the foundation skills for handwriting.

==== Math (गणितम्) ====
In the past years, we start leaning Math in Kannada language. From 2023, we have started teaching Math in Sanskrit language. Following is achieved in the class:

* Shloka – The class starts with learning and by-hearting 3 shlokas:
** यथा शिखा मयूराणां, नागानां मणयो यथा । तद् वेदांगशास्त्राणां, गणितं मूर्ध्नि वर्तते ॥
** लीलागललुल लोलकालव्याल विलासिने । गणेशाय नमो नीलकमलामलकान्तये ॥
** एकं च दश च शतं च सहस्रं तु अयुतनियुते तथा प्रयुतम् । कोट्यर्बुदं च वृन्दं स्थानात्स्थानं दशगुणं स्यात् ॥
* Identifying Numbers – Brahmgupta method of identifying numbers is used. This includes showing pictures and their counts. Like ‘Surya’ is One, ‘Trishool’ is three. Games are played including mental math, count and match etc.
* Counting Numbers – 1 to 100. Oral and written. Writing is done in Devanagari script. Numbers are written and read from right to left, as is the case with Sanskrit. For example, in number 45, first 5 is mentioned and then 40 is mentioned. In Sanskrit, it would be panchachatvarinshat (पञ्चचत्वारिंशत्).
* Tables – Tables and skip counting in Sanskrit from 1 to 5 and 10. Tables are learnt in the form of songs and skip counting is learnt as rhythm of claps.
* Introduction to the four operations – Operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are introduced not as operations but as stories. The characters of the stories are from Ramayana, Mahabharata or Puranas.

==== Languages – Sanskrit and Kannada ====
Children learn two languages – Kannada and Sanskrit. For both the languages, the process of learning follows the sequence of spoken language (संभाषणं) and then Lipi writing. Writing also starts with words and moves on to letters. Example of words with flashcards is shown below:

As is the pedagogical principal at Vidyakshetra, there are no textbooks for children. All the delivery happens using songs, stories, drama and board drawings. Board drawings are a big part of this methodology so as to trigger and nourish the imagination of the child. When a child is able to imagine vividly, his creative side is awakened. Teachers are specifically trained to deliver stories via board drawings. Here are some sample board drawings used by the teacher.

==== Nature Walk (प्रकृति परिचय) ====
This started with Shishuvatika and continues in Arambha. Children go out to be with nature and observe different things. Once in a month they are taken out to nearly lake, nursery, nearby small hill, temple, Ramakrishna Ashram or park. Remaining days they do their observations within the premise with things like pottery, tree climbing, bird watching, leaves or feather collection, making decorative items out of it etc. Once children are back to the class, everyone expresses their observations, feelings and thoughts. This is an important subject to establish their connection with nature.

=== Chatuvatike – Activity Time (10:55am to 12:15am) ===
After Shaikshanika, the rhythm shifts to activity of the hands. This includes Krishi or Knitting or Fireless cooking. One of the two is typically done. Sometimes, Sanskrit Sambhashanam is also practiced during this time.

* '''Knitting''': Finger Knitting is very important for children to establish good amount of control on their hands and fingers. Children learn 2-finger knitting, 4-finger knitting and needle knitting.

* '''Krishi''' - Krishi is very important subject to create the emotional connect between children and nature as well to ignite and inspire its interests in doing work. Children learn and observe how nature functions and nourishes. Children do activities including watering, sowing, cleaning weeds, composting, collecting leaves for composting, making patty etc.

* '''Fireless Cooking''' (bring ingredients from home) - Includes cutting, pounding, grating, peeling etc which help strengthen the hands- develops its gross and fine motor skills as well hand-eye coordination. It helps children connect with food in a very personal manner. Whatever is cooked by them becomes a very precious intake for them. Whatever is cooked, is shared by all the children during lunch time.

=== Lunch Time (12:15pm to 1:35pm) ===
Lunch is prepared at Vidyakshetra every day. The menu is not decided by the children.

The body (अन्नमय कोष) of the child is developing. Therefore, his nourishment is well taken care of. A balanced menu as per ayurvedic principles has been developed, organic rice, dals and vegetables procured and a roster of parents along with a cook prepare lunch on a daily basis. Such food is offered with love and care to children in Arambha.

Though, there is a lunch space in Vidyakshetra, Arambha children eat lunch in their own class. Lunch time gets divided into three parts:

* Pre-Lunch Shram Daan: Along with the teacher, children clean the classroom and make it ready for lunch. They wash plates, arrange tubs with water and arrange soaps. It is very important to cultivate these good habits at this stage of life. Such activities helps the child develop interest in doing work and helps them develop an eye for cleanliness and habit of doing one’s own work which is a very important life-skill.
* Lunch: Children sit in a mandala and then the teachers serve lunch to the children. They are trained to eat what they are served. Children wash their hands, sit in a mandala and the teachers serve the children. Every child must take a sufficient portion of lunch. They are encouraged to finish the lunch in the stipulated time, chewing well and finishing all what they have taken. Before starting the lunch, they recite the Bhojan mantra (भोजन मंत्र) along with the teacher:

<blockquote>ॐ सहनाववतु, सह नौ भुनक्तु, सह वीर्यं करवाव है ।

तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषाव है ।।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ।।

oṁ sahanāvavatu, saha nau bhunaktu, saha vīryaṁ karavāva hai ।

tejasvi nāvadhītamastu mā vidviṣāva hai ।।

oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ।।</blockquote>

* Post-Lunch Shram Daan: After finishing, children, along with teachers, clean up the whole place along with the teacher. They clean the classroom, wash the plates, and mop the entire place. Teachers predominantly clean up and children are engaged in the process.

=== Winding Down (1:35pm to 2:15pm) ===
It has been a hectic day for the children. They need to wind down before heading home. Two activities which they take up are Games (क्रीडा) or Painting.

Kreeda: Children play a lot of desi games including games like tiger and calf, tree house games etc. The physical development of children at this age is through play. They love to play and therefore ample opportunity is provided for them to play indoor as well as outdoor games.

Painting: This is a very important subject for development of feelings, expressions etc. Colour experience, as already mentioned earlier forms an integral part of nurturing the intellect and giving the child a very rich experience, a very happy and satisfying experience very early in life. Painting is typically done wet-on-wet. Children paint only with single colours with warm and cold version of Red, Yellow and Blue. They learn to make different strokes – horizontal, diagonal and vertical. This is a very silent space to allow the children to immerse themselves and express themselves. The class starts with teacher doing the setup of the class. Teachers shows how to paint with children sitting all around her. Teacher also tells a story while painting. Then the students paint silently on their own. Different strokes by different children are recalled the next day. They try and figure out if they can see some familiar figure emerge due to their strokes.

Post 2:15pm, children start preparing to leave for the day. By 2:30pm, they leave either by bus or with their parents.

== Parent Engagement ==
All this is aided by deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home. This happens at three levels:

# Arivu (3 times a year)
# Study Circles and Manthan (weekly and monthly rhythms)
# Sameeksha (twice a year)

=== Arivu ===
Arivu is a class level discussion. This means that individual children are not the topic of discussion, but class in general is. This happens 3 times a year at one of the parent’s houses on rotation basis. One parent hosts the other parents for a simple dinner. All the parents get an informal environment to interact with each other and the teacher gives a glimpse of the dynamics of Arambha. Parents get to know the curriculum which was covered till now and the curriculum which would be covered in the time to come. Behavioral patterns, ways to handle them, support needed from parents, environment changes at home etc. are typical discussion items.

=== Study Circles and Manthan ===
All the parents engage in study circle with weekly rhythms of meeting. The content of study circle includes a set of books, videos, visits, expert meetings, writings and presentations. The study circle is lead by the acharya of Arambha, supported by some senior acharyas in Vidyakshetra. The topics range from holistic development, Panchkoshas, Kutumb, samaj, Rashtra, varnashrama, seva, Purushartha, Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. The discussion also involves issues, problems, techniques and tools for baal avastha (बालावस्था). The study circle meets in a weekly rhythm on Saturday. In a month, 3 Saturdays are online meetings and 4th Saturday is an in-person meeting. In-person meetings help do manthan (“मंथन”) of ones understanding of various aspects of life and education for life. The goal of this setup is to bring in the alignment between the understanding of the parents and teachers, so that there is consistency in what the child gets both at home and at gurukul. It is a deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home.

=== Sameeksha ===
This is an assessment of a child’s progress and happens as a 1-1 discussion between the parents and the teacher. Panchkosha development, habits, behavior, character etc. gets discussed. If there are learning difficulties for the child or inconsistencies in behavior, they are discussed and possible plan to address those is arrived upon. This Sameeksha happens twice a year.

== Conclusion ==
The change from early childhood (शिशुअवस्था) to childhood (बालावस्था) is gradual. The first two years of childhood are these transition years. Of these, the first year is in Arambha. In these transition years, the child starts doing its own work itself. During this transition, the child learns to listen and follow instructions and advice. The mindset needs to transition from playfulness to responsibility and to discipline. This is also the time when formal education begins. The teachers and parents need to handle this transition well.

Shishuvatika Curriculum

2024-05-01T05:47:44Z

MuneetD: Spelling mistake corrected, table format

This article is an elaboration of Shishuvatika curriculum at Vidyakshetra.

== Introduction ==
From birth up to 5 years is considered shishuavastha (शिशुअवस्था). This is the age when the developmental focus is on the Annamaya kosha (अन्नमयकोष) and for absorption of knowledge, ‘chitta’ (चित्त) in Anandmaya kosha (आनंदमयकोष), is most active. The mantra for this age is ‘लालयेत् पंचवर्षाणि’ and the goal is to fill the child’s life with love for 5 years.

Shishuvatika, at Vidyakshetra, is an extension of home in many ways. It has a natural, homely atmosphere with motherly adults as its teachers. The environment is made as natural as possible. The main objective is providing good samskaras (संस्कार) to the child of this age whose ‘Chitta’ (चित्त) is just so receptive in this formative stage. These samskaras (संस्कार) become the guiding principles for the child’s life.

The other objectives for Shishu Shiksha (शिशु शिक्षा) at Vidyakshetra-

#Character Building (चरित्र निर्माण)
#Capability Building (क्षमताओं का विकास)
# Provide rich life experiences (जीवन के घनिष्ठ अनुभव देना)

The Annamayya Kosha (अन्नमयकोश) or physical body is made up of panchamahabhootas (पंचमहाभूत). Therefore, panchamahabhootas i.e earth, water, air, fire and sky are the closest to us. A young child has a special relationship with each of these elements. Thus, the child is exposed to the panchamahabhootas through water play, watering plants, wading through waters of stream, sand pit play, clay work, games of blowing air, lighting lamp, cooking on fire etc.

These are provided through the medium of tanmatraas (तन्मात्रा) - by exposing them to rich experiences of roopa (रूप), rasa (रस), gandha (गंध), sparsh (स्पर्श) and dhvani (ध्वनि).

During Prakriti parichaya, they go out in nature and experience the variety of animals, birds, bees, water bodies, hillocks, trees etc. and the exposure is not just restricted to experience of these elements, but the effort is to establish an emotional connect with each element of nature whether it is animate or inanimate. A similar effort is put in their morning circles, during the conversations, through stories and songs etc. to establish an emotional connection with each element of nature. For example, cat becomes billi mausi (बिल्ली मौसी), moon is called Chanda mama (चंदा मामा), brinjal is called baingan raja (बैगन राजा), monkey becomes bandar mama (बन्दर मामा), River Ganges becomes Ganga mata (गंगा माता) etc.

While there is a lot of use of colours, natural wooden toys, plentiful exposure to nature etc, activities to nourishing the Annamayya as well as rich experiences for the child, there is no information or explanation of abstract concepts or reading or writing at this age as the brain is not yet fully developed for this. In the shishuavastha, the physical body is developing which includes the internal organs such as heart, liver, intestines, brain etc. The sign that the development of internal organs is completed, and organs are stabilized, is falling of the milk teeth and growth of arms to cover the head up to the ears. But when children start reading and writing prematurely, energy which is exclusively reserved for the purpose of organ development is diverted for information processing in the brain. When this happens, internal organ development suffers. Therefore, traditionally in Bharat, no formal education was introduced before the age of 7 or 8 yrs of age. Children in shishuavastha stayed at home and they were exposed to home culture, home rhythms, family traditions, family relationships etc. Whatever the child grasped out of its own curiosity from its environment became its education. Therefore, careful attention was given to the environment that the child was growing in and they ensured it was a loving atmosphere, full of vibrancy of our culture, the child was looked upon with lot of love and affection by the family members, proper & timely nourishment was ensured, play was an important part - therefore, in the joint family there were enough and more children around to play with. A very happy childhood experience was ensured for the proper development of its manomaya kosha. Thus, education in this phase is something that is not formal or forced upon but whatever the child grasps naturally out of its curiosity becomes its samskara. As teachers, it is our responsibility therefore, to create such an environment for the child at this stage.

At Vidyakshetra, child is encouraged to wear natural fabric such as cotton. The toys are handpicked, made from natural material such as wood & bamboo. A large play area is made available with fruit bearing trees such as mango and chickoo so the child has vision of auspicious trees and hears melodious sounds of chirping birds, has plentiful exposure to the rays of sun, and cool breezes touch its skin day in and day out. Play area is of utmost importance in this phase as play is nature’s mechanism to exercise the body (remember, Annamayya Kosha is in focus at present) and enable its growth. Children must run around, sweat and play. This keeps them active, ensures good metabolic activity, and therefore good food intake, ensures good growth of all internal and external organs and most of all keeps the child happy.

==Classroom Rhythms==
Shishuvatika children are at Vidyakshetra from 8:30am to 2:30pm. The day gets planned and divided such that children focus on playing, eating, experiential activities and sleeping in a rhythm. Rhythm means that the instructions are minimal. A naughty child is given no harsh instructions but is gently brought into the right space by the teacher using songs and rhythms which forms the primary part of inculcating disciplinary practices in the child. Rhythms of day, of the week, of the month and of the seasons etc. go deep in its understanding and lays the foundation of good discipline for the child.

There is no scope for harshness, chiding the child or punishing it in shishuvatika as it has a deep bearing on its psyche. In this phase of Lalayet panchavarshani (लालयेत् पंचवर्षाणि), the child needs only love, care, warmth, and affection. Therefore, children are handled with utmost love and care.

A typical time table for the day for Shishuvatika looks like the following:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Time Table
!Time
!Activity
|-
|8:30 am
|Start of the day
|-
|8:30am to 9:00am
|Panchanga
|-
|9:00am to 10:00am
|Class entry rhythm and Breakfast
|-
|10:00am to 10:15 am
|Morning Circle
|-
|10:15am to 11:00am
|Activity Time
|-
|11:00am to 12:30pm
|Play time
|-
|12:30pm to 1:15pm
|Lunch Time
|-
|1:15pm to 2:30pm
|Rest Time and leave
|}

=== Panchanga (8:30am to 9:00am)===
The day starts at 8:30am in the morning. Though Vidyakshetra starts at 7:15am for elder children, Shishuvatika children start their day a little later. They are exposed to daily Panchanga Shravana and an attempt to recite along.
{| class="wikitable"
|+A typical Panchanga
|अद्य्तन पंचांगम,
कल्युगाब्दः द्वाविंशतिः अधिक एक शातोत्तरः पंच सहस्त्रं

शालिवानशकः त्रिचत्वारिम्शत अधिक नव शातोत्तर एक सहत्रम

प्लव नाम संवत्सरः, दक्षिनायानाम,

हेमन्त ऋतुः, मार्गशीर्षः मासः, कृष्ण पक्षः

एकादशी तिथिः, गुरुवासरः, विशाखा नक्षत्रं,

शुभः योगः, शुभः करणं,

इदं दिनं, सर्वेषाम कृते, शुभम् भवतु

तिथेष च श्रियम आपनोती,

वाराद आयुष्य वर्धनम्,

नक्षत्राद हरते पापम्,

योगाद रोग निवारणं,

करणाद कार्य शिद्धिश्च,

पंचांग फलम् उत्तमम्,

एतेषां श्रुनियो नित्यम्,

गंगा स्नानम् फलम् लभेत

सुदिनमस्तु
| adytana paṁcāṁgama,
kalyugābdaḥ dvāviṁśatiḥ adhika eka śātottaraḥ paṁca sahastraṁ

śālivānaśakaḥ tricatvārimśata adhika nava śātottara eka sahatrama

plava nāma saṁvatsaraḥ, dakṣināyānāma,

hemanta r̥tuḥ, mārgaśīrṣaḥ māsaḥ, kr̥ṣṇa pakṣaḥ

ekādaśī tithiḥ, guruvāsaraḥ, viśākhā nakṣatraṁ,

śubhaḥ yogaḥ, śubhaḥ karaṇaṁ,

idaṁ dinaṁ, sarveṣāma kr̥te, śubham bhavatu

titheṣa ca śriyama āpanotī,

vārāda āyuṣya vardhanam,

nakṣatrāda harate pāpam,

yogāda roga nivāraṇaṁ,

karaṇāda kārya śiddhiśca,

paṁcāṁga phalam uttamam,

eteṣāṁ śruniyo nityam,

gaṁgā snānam phalam labheta

sudinamastu
|}
Huge emphasis is given to language development. The child is exposed only to Kannada (the local language & mother tongue of over 90% children in shishuvatika) in this stage of its development. Child is also exposed to Sanskrit shlokas and Bhagavat Gita recitation apart from daily Panchanga shravana.

After Panchanga, children walk back to the class. The class is a little far from Panchanga place. To create a rhythm while walking back, children typically sing a song while walking. The song typically sung is - Puṭāṇi iruve galu naavu, sakkare huduki hoguvevu; saalagi naavu hoguvevu, saalagi naavu maraluvevu (A Kannada poem that says we are tiny ants marching in a straight line looking for sugar). Sometimes repeat this song about three times or sing a combination of songs.

They reach the class by 9:00 am.

===Class entry rhythm and Breakfast (9:00am to 10:00am)===
It is important to create a rhythm with children in everything they do. The first rhythm is for keeping their things in order. This includes lining the slippers outside the class, do Saraswati namaskar as they enter the class, keep their bags on the self and their water bottles on the table.

Once everybody is settled, lamp lighting with prayers happen. The lamp lighting is done by the teacher and children recite 4 prayers along with the teacher.<blockquote>
*श्री वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्य कोटी समप्रभा। निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्व-कार्येशु सर्वदा॥
**śrī vakratuṇḍa mahākāya sūrya koṭī samaprabhā। nirvighnaṁ kuru me deva sarva-kāryeśu sarvadā॥
*कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः करमध्ये सरस्वती । करमूले तु गोविन्दः प्रभाते करदर्शनम ॥
**karāgre vasate lakṣmīḥ karamadhye sarasvatī । karamūle tu govindaḥ prabhāte karadarśanama ॥
*समुद्रवसने देवी पर्वतस्थानमंडले । विष्णुपत्नी नमस्तुभ्यं पादस्पर्शं क्षमस्वमे ॥
**samudravasane devī parvatasthānamaṁḍale । viṣṇupatnī namastubhyaṁ pādasparśaṁ kṣamasvame ॥
*यानि कानि च पापानि जन्मांतर कृतानि च। तानि सवार्णि नश्यन्तु प्रदक्षिणे पदे-पदे।।
**yāni kāni ca pāpāni janmāṁtara kr̥tāni ca। tāni savārṇi naśyantu pradakṣiṇe pade-pade॥
</blockquote>Then they wash their hands and have their breakfast. Children bring their breakfast from home. The teacher ensure that children are sitting in a mandala on the floor and then having their breakfast. Children are observed to eat slowly, chew well, finish what they brought, wash their boxes and keep them back. The rhythm of doing all this is the key aspect.
[[File:Breakfast.png|center|thumb|462x462px]]
This typically gets over by 10:00am.

=== Morning Circle (10:00am to 10:15 am)===
[[File:Birthday.png|thumb|556x556px]]
Before starting the activities for the day, children are transitioned into the classroom space with the morning circles. All the children sit in a circle and sing the same song everyday to set started. The song is decided by the teacher. Post that, they greet the nature, do a revision of all the seasons (ऋतु) and sing 3-4 seasonal songs or do a revision of seasonal vegetables.

Morning Cricle is a rhythm of smaller duration but very important to get the class started. This rhythm continues with the children for many years to come, though every subsequent year, the shape and form of it is very different.

If there are any birthdays, they are celebrated during this time. The birthdays are celebrated with lighting the diya, singing the birthday song in Sanskrit, taking blessings from teachers and parents, followed by sweets distribution.

Morning circle rhythm ends at 10:15am.

===Activity Time (10:15am to 11:00am)===
Man has been gifted with hands to do work and serve others. This samskaar has to be developed right in shishuavastha. It develops through holding, breaking and throwing things. Further, hands develop by playing in water, in sand and soil. To develop the karmendriya called hands, sufficient opportunities are provided in shishuvatika- to clean up after play, to fold clothes, to water the plants, to dig, to sweep, to swab etc. If a child is prematurely introduced to reading and writing, its language development skill of proper pronunciation, tonality, meaning, sentence structuring etc becomes debilitated. So, activities do not include any reading or writing.

The activity time is organized into rhythm of 10 days. So, there are 10 activities and each day there is one activity for the child. These activities are conducted inside the classroom and supervised by the teacher. Activities with 10 days rhythm include the following:

# Drawing with block crayons
#Painting, typically wet on wet painting
#Fireless Cooking (bring ingredients from home) - Includes cutting, pounding, grating, peeling etc which help strengthen the hands.[[File:Cooking.png|center|thumb|427x427px]]
#Beading
#Nature Walk, to just walk and observe the nature around.[[File:Prakruti Parichay.png|center|thumb|806x806px]]
#Krishi (कृषि), to participate in growing something.[[File:Krishi.png|center|thumb|794x794px]]
#
#Shrama Daan (श्रम दान), to organize and clean up the classroom environment.
# Finger Knitting, to get control and coordination on their hands.
#Mat Weaving, to get control and coordination on their hands.
#Mud Play

These are repeated in a 10-day cycle, spanning over two weeks. All the activities are made as fun activities to engage each child. Teachers are trained to engage children of different temperament and nature.

If there are any festivals, then they are also celebrated during this time. Below picture shows Diwali celebrations at Vidyakshetra.
[[File:Diwali.png|center|thumb|676x676px]]
The activity time typically ends by 11:00am.

===Play time (11:00am to 12:30pm)===
Post the activities, it is playing time for children. Play in shishuvatika is a serious affair. This time can be utilized between Indoor and outdoor games. The class teacher decides one of them. After that children play the games of their choice. There is supervision but no instructional regulations. Children form their own groups and play the game of their liking. At Vidyakshetra, we have made the following options available to children:

*Indoor Games
**Wooden toys, dolls, kitchen set
**Skipping
**Wollen balls
**Dupatta tents
**Wooden blocks for house-making, zoo etc.
* Outdoor games
**Sandpit
**MonkeyBar
**Jhoola
**Tree House
**Slide

Children are allowed to get dirty, interact with each other, come back to the teacher to resolve any issues etc.

Play time goes on till 12:30pm.

===Lunch Time (12:30pm to 1:15pm)===
Lunch is prepared at Vidyakshetra every day. The menu is not decided by the children.

The body (अन्नमय कोष) of the child is developing. Therefore, his nourishment is well taken care of. A balanced menu as per ayurvedic principles has been developed, organic rice, dals and vegetables procured and a roster of parents along with a cook prepare lunch on a daily basis. Such food is offered with love and care to children in shishuvatika.

Though, there is a lunch space in Vidyakshetra, shihuvatika children eat lunch in their own class. They are trained to eat what they are served. Children wash their hands, sit in a mandala and the teachers serve the children. Before starting the lunch, they recite the Bhojan mantra (भोजन मंत्र) along with the teacher:<blockquote>ॐ सहनाववतु, सह नौ भुनक्तु, सह वीर्यं करवाव है ।

तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषाव है ।।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ।।

oṁ sahanāvavatu, saha nau bhunaktu, saha vīryaṁ karavāva hai ।

tejasvi nāvadhītamastu mā vidviṣāva hai ।।

oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ।।</blockquote>Every child must take a sufficient portion of lunch. They are encouraged to finish the lunch in the stipulated time, chewing well and finishing all what they have taken. After finishing, they clean up the whole place along with the teacher. Teachers predominantly clean up and children are engaged in the process.

Lunch time typically ends by 1:15pm.

===Rest Time and leave (1:15pm to 2:30pm)===
It has been a hectic day for the tiny once. It is time to take rest. Children engage in setting up the resting space. They prepare their own bed. Some of them sleep. Children are engaged by the teacher with songs and stories. This also has a rhythm. The same story is told for 1 week. Subsequent week children will tell the story.

They rest till almost 2pm. Post that they prepare to leave for home. They keep their beds back and make the classroom ready for the next day along with the teacher. As they wait to leave Vidyakshetra, they play in sandpit or on tree house. By 2:30pm, they leave by bus or with their parents.

==Parent Engagement==
All this is aided by deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home. This happens at three levels:

#Arivu (3 times a year)
#Study Circles and Manthan (weekly and monthly rhythms)
#Sameeksha (twice a year)

===Arivu===
Arivu is a class level discussion. This means that individual children are not the topic of discussion, but class in general is. This happens 3 times a year at one of the parent’s houses on rotation basis. One parent hosts the other parents for a simple dinner. All the parents get an informal environment to interact with each other and the teacher gives a glimpse of the dynamics of ShishuVatika. Behavioural patterns, ways to handle them, support needed from parents, environment changes at home etc. are typical discussion items.

===Study Circles and Manthan===
All the parents engage in study circle with weekly rhythms of meeting. The content of study circle includes a set of books, videos, visits, expert meetings, writings and presentations. The study circle is lead by the acharya of Shishuvatika, supported by some senior acharyas in Vidyakshetra. The topics range from holistic development, Panchkoshas, Kutumb, samaj, Rashtra, varnashrama, seva, Purushartha, Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. The discussion also involves issues, problems, techniques, tools for shishu avastha (शिशुअवस्था) and how the children transition to baal avastha (बालावस्था). The study circle meets in a weekly rhythm on Saturday. In a month, 3 Saturdays are online meetings and 4th Saturday is an in-person meeting. In-person meetings help do manthan (“मंथन”) of ones understanding of various aspects of life and education for life. The goal of this setup is to bring in the alignment between the understanding of the parents and teachers, so that there is consistency in what the child gets both at home and at gurukul. It is a deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home.

===Sameeksha===
This is an assessment of a child’s progress and happens as a 1-1 discussion between the parents and the teacher. Panchkosha development, habits, behavior, character etc. gets discussed. If there are learning difficulties for the child or inconsistencies in behavior, they are discussed and possible plan to address those is arrived upon. This Sameeksha happens twice a year.

==Conclusion==
In an ideal scenario, children should not be sent to Gurukul till the age of 5. They should be at home so that the said home culture, traditions etc. are easily absorbed by the child. Unfortunately, we have a generation of parents who do not know how to make it happen. The situation is addressed with a deep engagement with parents and children for some duration. The hope is that in the next few generations the concept of Shishuvatika will cease to exist. Till then, we continue to create a home away from home for this important phase of the life of a child.
[[Category:Vidyakshetra]]

Shishuvatika Curriculum

2024-05-01T05:33:48Z

MuneetD: Added Images

This article is an enaboration of Shishuvatika curriculum at Vidyakshetra.

== Introduction ==
From birth up to 5 years is considered shishuavastha (शिशुअवस्था). This is the age when the developmental focus is on the Annamaya kosha (अन्नमयकोष) and for absorption of knowledge, ‘chitta’ (चित्त) in Anandmaya kosha (आनंदमयकोष), is most active. The mantra for this age is ‘लालयेत पंचवर्षानी’ and the goal is to fill the child’s life with love for 5 years.

Shishuvatika, at Vidyakshetra, is an extension of home in many ways. It has a natural, homely atmosphere with motherly adults as its teachers. The environment is made as natural as possible. The main objective is providing good samskaras (संस्कार) to the child of this age whose ‘Chitta’ (चित्त) is just so receptive in this formative stage. These samskaras (संस्कार) become the guiding principles for the child’s life.

The other objectives for Shishu Shiksha (शिशु शिक्षा) at Vidyakshetra-

# Character Building (चरित्र निर्माण)
# Capability Building (क्षमताओं का विकास)
# Provide rich life experiences (जीवन के घनिष्ठ अनुभव देना)

The Annamayya Kosha (अन्नमयकोश) or physical body is made up of panchamahabhootas (पंचमहाभूत). Therefore, panchamahabhootas i.e earth, water, air, fire and sky are the closest to us. A young child has a special relationship with each of these elements. Thus, the child is exposed to the panchamahabhootas through water play, watering plants, wading through waters of stream, sand pit play, clay work, games of blowing air, lighting lamp, cooking on fire etc.

These are provided through the medium of tanmatraas (तन्मात्रा) - by exposing them to rich experiences of roopa (रूप), rasa (रस), gandha (गंध), sparsh (स्पर्श) and dhvani (ध्वनि).

During Prakriti parichaya, they go out in nature and experience the variety of animals, birds, bees, water bodies, hillocks, trees etc. and the exposure is not just restricted to experience of these elements, but the effort is to establish an emotional connect with each element of nature whether it is animate or inanimate. A similar effort is put in their morning circles, during the conversations, through stories and songs etc. to establish an emotional connection with each element of nature. For example, cat becomes billi mausi (बिल्ली मौसी), moon is called Chanda mama (चंदा मामा), brinjal is called baingan raja (बैगन राजा), monkey becomes bandar mama (बन्दर मामा), River Ganges becomes Ganga mata (गंगा माता) etc.

While there is a lot of use of colours, natural wooden toys, plentiful exposure to nature etc, activities to nourishing the Annamayya as well as rich experiences for the child, there is no information or explanation of abstract concepts or reading or writing at this age as the brain is not yet fully developed for this. In the shishuavastha, the physical body is developing which includes the internal organs such as heart, liver, intestines, brain etc. The sign that the development of internal organs is completed, and organs are stabilized, is falling of the milk teeth and growth of arms to cover the head up to the ears. But when children start reading and writing prematurely, energy which is exclusively reserved for the purpose of organ development is diverted for information processing in the brain. When this happens, internal organ development suffers. Therefore, traditionally in Bharat, no formal education was introduced before the age of 7 or 8 yrs of age. Children in shishuavastha stayed at home and they were exposed to home culture, home rhythms, family traditions, family relationships etc. Whatever the child grasped out of its own curiosity from its environment became its education. Therefore, careful attention was given to the environment that the child was growing in and they ensured it was a loving atmosphere, full of vibrancy of our culture, the child was looked upon with lot of love and affection by the family members, proper & timely nourishment was ensured, play was an important part - therefore, in the joint family there were enough and more children around to play with. A very happy childhood experience was ensured for the proper development of its manomaya kosha. Thus, education in this phase is something that is not formal or forced upon but whatever the child grasps naturally out of its curiosity becomes its samskara. As teachers, it is our responsibility therefore, to create such an environment for the child at this stage.

At Vidyakshetra, child is encouraged to wear natural fabric such as cotton. The toys are handpicked, made from natural material such as wood & bamboo. A large play area is made available with fruit bearing trees such as mango and chickoo so the child has vision of auspicious trees and hears melodious sounds of chirping birds, has plentiful exposure to the rays of sun, and cool breezes touch its skin day in and day out. Play area is of utmost importance in this phase as play is nature’s mechanism to exercise the body (remember, Annamayya Kosha is in focus at present) and enable its growth. Children must run around, sweat and play. This keeps them active, ensures good metabolic activity, and therefore good food intake, ensures good growth of all internal and external organs and most of all keeps the child happy.

== Classroom Rhythms ==
Shishuvatika children are at Vidyakshetra from 8:30am to 2:30pm. The day gets planned and divided such that children focus on playing, eating, experiential activities and sleeping in a rhythm. Rhythm means that the instructions are minimal. A naughty child is given no harsh instructions but is gently brought into the right space by the teacher using songs and rhythms which forms the primary part of inculcating disciplinary practices in the child. Rhythms of day, of the week, of the month and of the seasons etc. go deep in its understanding and lays the foundation of good discipline for the child.

There is no scope for harshness, chiding the child or punishing it in shishuvatika as it has a deep bearing on its psyche. In this phase of Lalayet panchavarshani (लालयेत पंचवर्षानी), the child needs only love, care, warmth, and affection. Therefore, children are handled with utmost love and care.

A typical time table for the day for Shishuvatika looks like the following:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Time Table
!Time
!Activity
|-
|8:30 am
|Start of the day
|-
|8:30am to 9:00am
|Panchanga
|-
|9:00am to 10:00am
|Class entry rhythm and Breakfast
|-
|10:00am to 10:15 am
|Morning Circle
|-
|10:15am to 11:00am
|Activity Time
|-
|11:00am to 12:30pm
|Play time
|-
|12:30pm to 1:15pm
|Lunch Time
|-
|1:15pm to 2:30pm
|Rest Time and leave
|}

=== Panchanga (8:30am to 9:00am) ===
The day starts at 8:30am in the morning. Though Vidyakshetra starts at 7:15am for elder children, Shishuvatika children start their day a little later. They are exposed to daily Panchanga Shravana and an attempt to recite along.
{| class="wikitable"
|+A typical Panchanga
|अद्य्तन पंचांगम,
कल्युगाब्दः द्वाविंशतिः अधिक एक शातोत्तरः पंच सहस्त्रं

शालिवानशकः त्रिचत्वारिम्शत अधिक नव शातोत्तर एक सहत्रम

प्लव नाम संवत्सरः, दक्षिनायानाम,

हेमन्त ऋतुः, मार्गशीर्षः मासः, कृष्ण पक्षः

एकादशी तिथिः, गुरुवासरः, विशाखा नक्षत्रं,

शुभः योगः, शुभः करणं,

इदं दिनं, सर्वेषाम कृते, शुभम् भवतु

तिथेष च श्रियम आपनोती,

वाराद आयुष्य वर्धनम्,

नक्षत्राद हरते पापम्,

योगाद रोग निवारणं,

करणाद कार्य शिद्धिश्च,

पंचांग फलम् उत्तमम्,

एतेषां श्रुनियो नित्यम्,

गंगा स्नानम् फलम् लभेत ||

सुदिनमस्तु ||
|adytana paṁcāṁgama,
kalyugābdaḥ dvāviṁśatiḥ adhika eka śātottaraḥ paṁca sahastraṁ

śālivānaśakaḥ tricatvārimśata adhika nava śātottara eka sahatrama

plava nāma saṁvatsaraḥ, dakṣināyānāma,

hemanta r̥tuḥ, mārgaśīrṣaḥ māsaḥ, kr̥ṣṇa pakṣaḥ

ekādaśī tithiḥ, guruvāsaraḥ, viśākhā nakṣatraṁ,

śubhaḥ yogaḥ, śubhaḥ karaṇaṁ,

idaṁ dinaṁ, sarveṣāma kr̥te, śubham bhavatu

titheṣa ca śriyama āpanotī,

vārāda āyuṣya vardhanam,

nakṣatrāda harate pāpam,

yogāda roga nivāraṇaṁ,

karaṇāda kārya śiddhiśca,

paṁcāṁga phalam uttamam,

eteṣāṁ śruniyo nityam,

gaṁgā snānam phalam labheta, ||

sudinamastu ||
|}
Huge emphasis is given to language development. The child is exposed only to Kannada (the local language & mother tongue of over 90% children in shishuvatika) in this stage of its development. Child is also exposed to Sanskrit shlokas and Bhagavat Gita recitation apart from daily Panchanga shravana.

After Panchanga, children walk back to the class. The class is a little far from Panchanga place. To create a rhythm while walking back, children typically sing a song while walking. The song typically sung is - Puṭāṇi iruve galu naavu, sakkare huduki hoguvevu; saalagi naavu hoguvevu, saalagi naavu maraluvevu (A Kannada poem that says we are tiny ants marching in a straight line looking for sugar). Sometimes repeat this song about three times or sing a combination of songs.

They reach the class by 9:00 am.

=== Class entry rhythm and Breakfast (9:00am to 10:00am) ===
It is important to create a rhythm with children in everything they do. The first rhythm is for keeping their things in order. This includes lining the slippers outside the class, do Saraswati namaskar as they enter the class, keep their bags on the self and their water bottles on the table.

Once everybody is settled, lamp lighting with prayers happen. The lamp lighting is done by the teacher and children recite 4 prayers along with the teacher.<blockquote>
* श्री वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्य कोटी समप्रभा। निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्व-कार्येशु सर्वदा॥
** śrī vakratuṇḍa mahākāya sūrya koṭī samaprabhā। nirvighnaṁ kuru me deva sarva-kāryeśu sarvadā॥
* कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः करमध्ये सरस्वती । करमूले तु गोविन्दः प्रभाते करदर्शनम ॥
** karāgre vasate lakṣmīḥ karamadhye sarasvatī । karamūle tu govindaḥ prabhāte karadarśanama ॥
* समुद्रवसने देवी पर्वतस्थानमंडले । विष्णुपत्नी नमस्तुभ्यं पादस्पर्शं क्षमस्वमे ॥
** samudravasane devī parvatasthānamaṁḍale । viṣṇupatnī namastubhyaṁ pādasparśaṁ kṣamasvame ॥
* यानि कानि च पापानि जन्मांतर कृतानि च। तानि सवार्णि नश्यन्तु प्रदक्षिणे पदे-पदे।।
** yāni kāni ca pāpāni janmāṁtara kr̥tāni ca। tāni savārṇi naśyantu pradakṣiṇe pade-pade॥
</blockquote>Then they wash their hands and have their breakfast. Children bring their breakfast from home. The teacher ensure that children are sitting in a mandala on the floor and then having their breakfast. Children are observed to eat slowly, chew well, finish what they brought, wash their boxes and keep them back. The rhythm of doing all this is the key aspect.
[[File:Breakfast.png|center|thumb|462x462px]]
This typically gets over by 10:00am.

=== Morning Circle (10:00am to 10:15 am) ===
[[File:Birthday.png|thumb|556x556px]]
Before starting the activities for the day, children are transitioned into the classroom space with the morning circles. All the children sit in a circle and sing the same song everyday to set started. The song is decided by the teacher. Post that, they greet the nature, do a revision of all the seasons (ऋतु) and sing 3-4 seasonal songs or do a revision of seasonal vegetables.

Morning Cricle is a rhythm of smaller duration but very important to get the class started. This rhythm continues with the children for many years to come, though every subsequent year, the shape and form of it is very different.

If there are any birthdays, they are celebrated during this time. The birthdays are celebrated with lighting the diya, singing the birthday song in Sanskrit, taking blessings from teachers and parents, followed by sweets distribution.

Morning circle rhythm ends at 10:15am.

=== Activity Time (10:15am to 11:00am) ===
Man has been gifted with hands to do work and serve others. This samskaar has to be developed right in shishuavastha. It develops through holding, breaking and throwing things. Further, hands develop by playing in water, in sand and soil. To develop the karmendriya called hands, sufficient opportunities are provided in shishuvatika- to clean up after play, to fold clothes, to water the plants, to dig, to sweep, to swab etc. If a child is prematurely introduced to reading and writing, its language development skill of proper pronunciation, tonality, meaning, sentence structuring etc becomes debilitated. So, activities do not include any reading or writing.

The activity time is organized into rhythm of 10 days. So, there are 10 activities and each day there is one activity for the child. These activities are conducted inside the classroom and supervised by the teacher. Activities with 10 days rhythm include the following:

# Drawing with block crayons
# Painting, typically wet on wet painting
# Fireless Cooking (bring ingredients from home) - Includes cutting, pounding, grating, peeling etc which help strengthen the hands.[[File:Cooking.png|center|thumb|427x427px]]
# Beading
# Nature Walk, to just walk and observe the nature around.[[File:Prakruti Parichay.png|center|thumb|806x806px]]
# Krishi (कृषि), to participate in growing something.[[File:Krishi.png|center|thumb|794x794px]]
#
# Shrama Daan (श्रम दान), to organize and clean up the classroom environment.
# Finger Knitting, to get control and coordination on their hands.
# Mat Weaving, to get control and coordination on their hands.
# Mud Play

These are repeated in a 10-day cycle, spanning over two weeks. All the activities are made as fun activities to engage each child. Teachers are trained to engage children of different temperament and nature.

If there are any festivals, then they are also celebrated during this time. Below picture shows Diwali celebrations at Vidyakshetra.
[[File:Diwali.png|center|thumb|676x676px]]
The activity time typically ends by 11:00am.

=== Play time (11:00am to 12:30pm) ===
Post the activities, it is playing time for children. Play in shishuvatika is a serious affair. This time can be utilized between Indoor and outdoor games. The class teacher decides one of them. After that children play the games of their choice. There is supervision but no instructional regulations. Children form their own groups and play the game of their liking. At Vidyakshetra, we have made the following options available to children:

* Indoor Games
** Wooden toys, dolls, kitchen set
** Skipping
** Wollen balls
** Dupatta tents
** Wooden blocks for house-making, zoo etc.
* Outdoor games
** Sandpit
** MonkeyBar
** Jhoola
** Tree House
** Slide

Children are allowed to get dirty, interact with each other, come back to the teacher to resolve any issues etc.

Play time goes on till 12:30pm.

=== Lunch Time (12:30pm to 1:15pm) ===
Lunch is prepared at Vidyakshetra every day. The menu is not decided by the children.

The body (अन्नमय कोष) of the child is developing. Therefore, his nourishment is well taken care of. A balanced menu as per ayurvedic principles has been developed, organic rice, dals and vegetables procured and a roster of parents along with a cook prepare lunch on a daily basis. Such food is offered with love and care to children in shishuvatika.

Though, there is a lunch space in Vidyakshetra, shihuvatika children eat lunch in their own class. They are trained to eat what they are served. Children wash their hands, sit in a mandala and the teachers serve the children. Before starting the lunch, they recite the Bhojan mantra (भोजन मंत्र) along with the teacher:<blockquote>ॐ सहनाववतु, सह नौ भुनक्तु, सह वीर्यं करवाव है ।

तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषाव है ।।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ।।

oṁ sahanāvavatu, saha nau bhunaktu, saha vīryaṁ karavāva hai ।

tejasvi nāvadhītamastu mā vidviṣāva hai ।।

oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ।।</blockquote>Every child must take a sufficient portion of lunch. They are encouraged to finish the lunch in the stipulated time, chewing well and finishing all what they have taken. After finishing, they clean up the whole place along with the teacher. Teachers predominantly clean up and children are engaged in the process.

Lunch time typically ends by 1:15pm.

=== Rest Time and leave (1:15pm to 2:30pm) ===
It has been a hectic day for the tiny once. It is time to take rest. Children engage in setting up the resting space. They prepare their own bed. Some of them sleep. Children are engaged by the teacher with songs and stories. This also has a rhythm. The same story is told for 1 week. Subsequent week children will tell the story.

They rest till almost 2pm. Post that they prepare to leave for home. They keep their beds back and make the classroom ready for the next day along with the teacher. As they wait to leave Vidyakshetra, they play in sandpit or on tree house. By 2:30pm, they leave by bus or with their parents.

== Parent Engagement ==
All this is aided by deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home. This happens at three levels:

# Arivu (3 times a year)
# Study Circles and Manthan (weekly and monthly rhythms)
# Sameeksha (twice a year)

=== Arivu ===
Arivu is a class level discussion. This means that individual children are not the topic of discussion, but class in general is. This happens 3 times a year at one of the parent’s houses on rotation basis. One parent hosts the other parents for a simple dinner. All the parents get an informal environment to interact with each other and the teacher gives a glimpse of the dynamics of ShishuVatika. Behavioural patterns, ways to handle them, support needed from parents, environment changes at home etc. are typical discussion items.

=== Study Circles and Manthan ===
All the parents engage in study circle with weekly rhythms of meeting. The content of study circle includes a set of books, videos, visits, expert meetings, writings and presentations. The study circle is lead by the acharya of Shishuvatika, supported by some senior acharyas in Vidyakshetra. The topics range from holistic development, Panchkoshas, Kutumb, samaj, Rashtra, varnashrama, seva, Purushartha, Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. The discussion also involves issues, problems, techniques, tools for shishu avastha (शिशुअवस्था) and how the children transition to baal avastha (बालावस्था). The study circle meets in a weekly rhythm on Saturday. In a month, 3 Saturdays are online meetings and 4th Saturday is an in-person meeting. In-person meetings help do manthan (“मंथन”) of ones understanding of various aspects of life and education for life. The goal of this setup is to bring in the alignment between the understanding of the parents and teachers, so that there is consistency in what the child gets both at home and at gurukul. It is a deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home.

=== Sameeksha ===
This is an assessment of a child’s progress and happens as a 1-1 discussion between the parents and the teacher. Panchkosha development, habits, behavior, character etc. gets discussed. If there are learning difficulties for the child or inconsistencies in behavior, they are discussed and possible plan to address those is arrived upon. This Sameeksha happens twice a year.

== Conclusion ==
In an ideal scenario, children should not be sent to Gurukul till the age of 5. They should be at home so that the said home culture, traditions etc. are easily absorbed by the child. Unfortunately, we have a generation of parents who do not know how to make it happen. The situation is addressed with a deep engagement with parents and children for some duration. The hope is that in the next few generations the concept of Shishuvatika will cease to exist. Till then, we continue to create a home away from home for this important phase of the life of a child.
[[Category:Vidyakshetra]]

File:Birthday.png

2024-05-01T05:11:31Z

MuneetD:

File:Breakfast.png

2024-05-01T05:11:48Z

MuneetD:

File:Cooking.png

2024-05-01T05:12:01Z

MuneetD:

File:Diwali.png

2024-05-01T05:12:17Z

MuneetD:

File:Krishi.png

2024-05-01T05:12:35Z

MuneetD:

File:Prakruti Parichay.png

2024-05-01T05:12:50Z

MuneetD:

Shishuvatika Curriculum

2024-05-01T05:07:04Z

MuneetD: Added a few lines before introduction

This article is an enaboration of Shishuvatika curriculum at Vidyakshetra.

== Introduction ==
From birth up to 5 years is considered shishuavastha (शिशुअवस्था). This is the age when the developmental focus is on the Annamaya kosha (अन्नमयकोष) and for absorption of knowledge, ‘chitta’ (चित्त) in Anandmaya kosha (आनंदमयकोष), is most active. The mantra for this age is ‘लालयेत पंचवर्षानी’ and the goal is to fill the child’s life with love for 5 years.

Shishuvatika, at Vidyakshetra, is an extension of home in many ways. It has a natural, homely atmosphere with motherly adults as its teachers. The environment is made as natural as possible. The main objective is providing good samskaras (संस्कार) to the child of this age whose ‘Chitta’ (चित्त) is just so receptive in this formative stage. These samskaras (संस्कार) become the guiding principles for the child’s life.

The other objectives for Shishu Shiksha (शिशु शिक्षा) at Vidyakshetra-

# Character Building (चरित्र निर्माण)
# Capability Building (क्षमताओं का विकास)
# Provide rich life experiences (जीवन के घनिष्ठ अनुभव देना)

The Annamayya Kosha (अन्नमयकोश) or physical body is made up of panchamahabhootas (पंचमहाभूत). Therefore, panchamahabhootas i.e earth, water, air, fire and sky are the closest to us. A young child has a special relationship with each of these elements. Thus, the child is exposed to the panchamahabhootas through water play, watering plants, wading through waters of stream, sand pit play, clay work, games of blowing air, lighting lamp, cooking on fire etc.

These are provided through the medium of tanmatraas (तन्मात्रा) - by exposing them to rich experiences of roopa (रूप), rasa (रस), gandha (गंध), sparsh (स्पर्श) and dhvani (ध्वनि).

During Prakriti parichaya, they go out in nature and experience the variety of animals, birds, bees, water bodies, hillocks, trees etc. and the exposure is not just restricted to experience of these elements, but the effort is to establish an emotional connect with each element of nature whether it is animate or inanimate. A similar effort is put in their morning circles, during the conversations, through stories and songs etc. to establish an emotional connection with each element of nature. For example, cat becomes billi mausi (बिल्ली मौसी), moon is called Chanda mama (चंदा मामा), brinjal is called baingan raja (बैगन राजा), monkey becomes bandar mama (बन्दर मामा), River Ganges becomes Ganga mata (गंगा माता) etc.

While there is a lot of use of colours, natural wooden toys, plentiful exposure to nature etc, activities to nourishing the Annamayya as well as rich experiences for the child, there is no information or explanation of abstract concepts or reading or writing at this age as the brain is not yet fully developed for this. In the shishuavastha, the physical body is developing which includes the internal organs such as heart, liver, intestines, brain etc. The sign that the development of internal organs is completed, and organs are stabilized, is falling of the milk teeth and growth of arms to cover the head up to the ears. But when children start reading and writing prematurely, energy which is exclusively reserved for the purpose of organ development is diverted for information processing in the brain. When this happens, internal organ development suffers. Therefore, traditionally in Bharat, no formal education was introduced before the age of 7 or 8 yrs of age. Children in shishuavastha stayed at home and they were exposed to home culture, home rhythms, family traditions, family relationships etc. Whatever the child grasped out of its own curiosity from its environment became its education. Therefore, careful attention was given to the environment that the child was growing in and they ensured it was a loving atmosphere, full of vibrancy of our culture, the child was looked upon with lot of love and affection by the family members, proper & timely nourishment was ensured, play was an important part - therefore, in the joint family there were enough and more children around to play with. A very happy childhood experience was ensured for the proper development of its manomaya kosha. Thus, education in this phase is something that is not formal or forced upon but whatever the child grasps naturally out of its curiosity becomes its samskara. As teachers, it is our responsibility therefore, to create such an environment for the child at this stage.

At Vidyakshetra, child is encouraged to wear natural fabric such as cotton. The toys are handpicked, made from natural material such as wood & bamboo. A large play area is made available with fruit bearing trees such as mango and chickoo so the child has vision of auspicious trees and hears melodious sounds of chirping birds, has plentiful exposure to the rays of sun, and cool breezes touch its skin day in and day out. Play area is of utmost importance in this phase as play is nature’s mechanism to exercise the body (remember, Annamayya Kosha is in focus at present) and enable its growth. Children must run around, sweat and play. This keeps them active, ensures good metabolic activity, and therefore good food intake, ensures good growth of all internal and external organs and most of all keeps the child happy.

== Classroom Rhythms ==
Shishuvatika children are at Vidyakshetra from 8:30am to 2:30pm. The day gets planned and divided such that children focus on playing, eating, experiential activities and sleeping in a rhythm. Rhythm means that the instructions are minimal. A naughty child is given no harsh instructions but is gently brought into the right space by the teacher using songs and rhythms which forms the primary part of inculcating disciplinary practices in the child. Rhythms of day, of the week, of the month and of the seasons etc. go deep in its understanding and lays the foundation of good discipline for the child.

There is no scope for harshness, chiding the child or punishing it in shishuvatika as it has a deep bearing on its psyche. In this phase of Lalayet panchavarshani (लालयेत पंचवर्षानी), the child needs only love, care, warmth, and affection. Therefore, children are handled with utmost love and care.

A typical time table for the day for Shishuvatika looks like the following:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Time Table
!Time
!Activity
|-
|8:30 am
|Start of the day
|-
|8:30am to 9:00am
|Panchanga
|-
|9:00am to 10:00am
|Class entry rhythm and Breakfast
|-
|10:00am to 10:15 am
|Morning Circle
|-
|10:15am to 11:00am
|Activity Time
|-
|11:00am to 12:30pm
|Play time
|-
|12:30pm to 1:15pm
|Lunch Time
|-
|1:15pm to 2:30pm
|Rest Time and leave
|}

=== Panchanga (8:30am to 9:00am) ===
The day starts at 8:30am in the morning. Though Vidyakshetra starts at 7:15am for elder children, Shishuvatika children start their day a little later. They are exposed to daily Panchanga Shravana and an attempt to recite along.
{| class="wikitable"
|+A typical Panchanga
!अद्य्तन पंचांगम,

कल्युगाब्दः द्वाविंशतिः अधिक एक शातोत्तरः पंच सहस्त्रं

शालिवानशकः त्रिचत्वारिम्शत अधिक नव शातोत्तर एक सहत्रम

प्लव नाम संवत्सरः, दक्षिनायानाम, हेमन्त ऋतुः, मार्गशीर्षः मासः, कृष्ण पक्षः

एकादशी तिथिः, गुरुवासरः, विशाखा नक्षत्रं, शुभः योगः, शुभः करणं,

इदं दिनं, सर्वेषाम कृते, शुभम् भवतु ||

तिथेष च श्रियम आपनोती,

वाराद आयुष्य वर्धनम्, नक्षत्राद हरते पापम्,

योगाद रोग निवारणं, करणाद कार्य शिद्धिश्च,

पंचांग फलम् उत्तमम्,

एतेषां श्रुनियो नित्यम्, गंगा स्नानम् फलम् लभेत,

<nowiki>||</nowiki> सुदिनमस्तु <nowiki>||</nowiki>
!adytana paṁcāṁgama,
kalyugābdaḥ dvāviṁśatiḥ adhika eka śātottaraḥ paṁca sahastraṁ
śālivānaśakaḥ tricatvārimśata adhika nava śātottara eka sahatrama
plava nāma saṁvatsaraḥ, dakṣināyānāma, hemanta r̥tuḥ, mārgaśīrṣaḥ māsaḥ, kr̥ṣṇa pakṣaḥ
ekādaśī tithiḥ, guruvāsaraḥ, viśākhā nakṣatraṁ, śubhaḥ yogaḥ, śubhaḥ karaṇaṁ,

idaṁ dinaṁ, sarveṣāma kr̥te, śubham bhavatu ||
titheṣa ca śriyama āpanotī,
vārāda āyuṣya vardhanam, nakṣatrāda harate pāpam,
yogāda roga nivāraṇaṁ, karaṇāda kārya śiddhiśca,
paṁcāṁga phalam uttamam,
eteṣāṁ śruniyo nityam, gaṁgā snānam phalam labheta,
<nowiki>||</nowiki> sudinamastu <nowiki>||</nowiki>
|}
Huge emphasis is given to language development. The child is exposed only to Kannada (the local language & mother tongue of over 90% children in shishuvatika) in this stage of its development. Child is also exposed to Sanskrit shlokas and Bhagavat Gita recitation apart from daily Panchanga shravana.

After Panchanga, children walk back to the class. The class is a little far from Panchanga place. To create a rhythm while walking back, children typically sing a song while walking. The song typically sung is - Puṭāṇi iruve galu naavu, sakkare huduki hoguvevu; saalagi naavu hoguvevu, saalagi naavu maraluvevu (A Kannada poem that says we are tiny ants marching in a straight line looking for sugar). Sometimes repeat this song about three times or sing a combination of songs.

They reach the class by 9:00 am.

=== Class entry rhythm and Breakfast (9:00am to 10:00am) ===
It is important to create a rhythm with children in everything they do. The first rhythm is for keeping their things in order. This includes lining the slippers outside the class, do Saraswati namaskar as they enter the class, keep their bags on the self and their water bottles on the table.

Once everybody is settled, lamp lighting with prayers happen. The lamp lighting is done by the teacher and children recite 4 prayers along with the teacher.<blockquote>
* श्री वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्य कोटी समप्रभा। निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्व-कार्येशु सर्वदा॥
** śrī vakratuṇḍa mahākāya sūrya koṭī samaprabhā। nirvighnaṁ kuru me deva sarva-kāryeśu sarvadā॥
* कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः करमध्ये सरस्वती । करमूले तु गोविन्दः प्रभाते करदर्शनम ॥
** karāgre vasate lakṣmīḥ karamadhye sarasvatī । karamūle tu govindaḥ prabhāte karadarśanama ॥
* समुद्रवसने देवी पर्वतस्थानमंडले । विष्णुपत्नी नमस्तुभ्यं पादस्पर्शं क्षमस्वमे ॥
** samudravasane devī parvatasthānamaṁḍale । viṣṇupatnī namastubhyaṁ pādasparśaṁ kṣamasvame ॥
* यानि कानि च पापानि जन्मांतर कृतानि च। तानि सवार्णि नश्यन्तु प्रदक्षिणे पदे-पदे।।
** yāni kāni ca pāpāni janmāṁtara kr̥tāni ca। tāni savārṇi naśyantu pradakṣiṇe pade-pade॥
</blockquote>Then they wash their hands and have their breakfast. Children bring their breakfast from home. The teacher ensure that children are sitting in a mandala on the floor and then having their breakfast. Children are observed to eat slowly, chew well, finish what they brought, wash their boxes and keep them back. The rhythm of doing all this is the key aspect.

This typically gets over by 10:00am.

=== Morning Circle (10:00am to 10:15 am) ===
Before starting the activities for the day, children are transitioned into the classroom space with the morning circles. All the children sit in a circle and sing the same song everyday to set started. The song is decided by the teacher. Post that, they greet the nature, do a revision of all the seasons (ऋतु) and sing 3-4 seasonal songs or do a revision of seasonal vegetables.

Morning Cricle is a rhythm of smaller duration but very important to get the class started. This rhythm continues with the children for many years to come, though every subsequent year, the shape and form of it is very different.

If there are any birthdays, they are celebrated during this time. The birthdays are celebrated with lighting the diya, singing the birthday song in Sanskrit, taking blessings from teachers and parents, followed by sweets distribution.

Morning circle rhythm ends at 10:15am.

=== Activity Time (10:15am to 11:00am) ===
Man has been gifted with hands to do work and serve others. This samskaar has to be developed right in shishuavastha. It develops through holding, breaking and throwing things. Further, hands develop by playing in water, in sand and soil. To develop the karmendriya called hands, sufficient opportunities are provided in shishuvatika- to clean up after play, to fold clothes, to water the plants, to dig, to sweep, to swab etc. If a child is prematurely introduced to reading and writing, its language development skill of proper pronunciation, tonality, meaning, sentence structuring etc becomes debilitated. So, activities do not include any reading or writing.

The activity time is organized into rhythm of 10 days. So, there are 10 activities and each day there is one activity for the child. These activities are conducted inside the classroom and supervised by the teacher. Activities with 10 days rhythm include the following:

# Drawing with block crayons
# Painting, typically wet on wet painting
# Fireless Cooking (bring ingredients from home) - Includes cutting, pounding, grating, peeling etc which help strengthen the hands.
# Beading
# Nature Walk, to just walk and observe the nature around.
#
# Krishi (कृषि), to participate in growing something.
#
# Shrama Daan (श्रम दान), to organize and clean up the classroom environment.
# Finger Knitting, to get control and coordination on their hands.
# Mat Weaving, to get control and coordination on their hands.
# Mud Play

These are repeated in a 10-day cycle, spanning over two weeks. All the activities are made as fun activities to engage each child. Teachers are trained to engage children of different temperament and nature.

If there are any festivals, then they are also celebrated during this time. Below picture shows Diwali celebrations @ Vidyakshetra.

The activity time typically ends by 11:00am.

=== Play time (11:00am to 12:30pm) ===
Post the activities, it is playing time for children. Play in shishuvatika is a serious affair. This time can be utilized between Indoor and outdoor games. The class teacher decides one of them. After that children play the games of their choice. There is supervision but no instructional regulations. Children form their own groups and play the game of their liking. At Vidyakshetra, we have made the following options available to children:

* Indoor Games
** Wooden toys, dolls, kitchen set
** Skipping
** Wollen balls
** Dupatta tents
** Wooden blocks for house-making, zoo etc.
* Outdoor games
** Sandpit
** MonkeyBar
** Jhoola
** Tree House
** Slide

Children are allowed to get dirty, interact with each other, come back to the teacher to resolve any issues etc.

Play time goes on till 12:30pm.

=== Lunch Time (12:30pm to 1:15pm) ===
Lunch is prepared at Vidyakshetra every day. The menu is not decided by the children.

The body (अन्नमय कोष) of the child is developing. Therefore, his nourishment is well taken care of. A balanced menu as per ayurvedic principles has been developed, organic rice, dals and vegetables procured and a roster of parents along with a cook prepare lunch on a daily basis. Such food is offered with love and care to children in shishuvatika.

Though, there is a lunch space in Vidyakshetra, shihuvatika children eat lunch in their own class. They are trained to eat what they are served. Children wash their hands, sit in a mandala and the teachers serve the children. Before starting the lunch, they recite the Bhojan mantra (भोजन मंत्र) along with the teacher:<blockquote>ॐ सहनाववतु, सह नौ भुनक्तु, सह वीर्यं करवाव है ।

तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषाव है ।।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ।।

oṁ sahanāvavatu, saha nau bhunaktu, saha vīryaṁ karavāva hai ।

tejasvi nāvadhītamastu mā vidviṣāva hai ।।

oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ।।</blockquote>Every child must take a sufficient portion of lunch. They are encouraged to finish the lunch in the stipulated time, chewing well and finishing all what they have taken. After finishing, they clean up the whole place along with the teacher. Teachers predominantly clean up and children are engaged in the process.

Lunch time typically ends by 1:15pm.

=== Rest Time and leave (1:15pm to 2:30pm) ===
It has been a hectic day for the tiny once. It is time to take rest. Children engage in setting up the resting space. They prepare their own bed. Some of them sleep. Children are engaged by the teacher with songs and stories. This also has a rhythm. The same story is told for 1 week. Subsequent week children will tell the story.

They rest till almost 2pm. Post that they prepare to leave for home. They keep their beds back and make the classroom ready for the next day along with the teacher. As they wait to leave Vidyakshetra, they play in sandpit or on tree house. By 2:30pm, they leave by bus or with their parents.

== Parent Engagement ==
All this is aided by deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home. This happens at three levels:

# Arivu (3 times a year)
# Study Circles and Manthan (weekly and monthly rhythms)
# Sameeksha (twice a year)

=== Arivu ===
Arivu is a class level discussion. This means that individual children are not the topic of discussion, but class in general is. This happens 3 times a year at one of the parent’s houses on rotation basis. One parent hosts the other parents for a simple dinner. All the parents get an informal environment to interact with each other and the teacher gives a glimpse of the dynamics of ShishuVatika. Behavioural patterns, ways to handle them, support needed from parents, environment changes at home etc. are typical discussion items.

=== Study Circles and Manthan ===
All the parents engage in study circle with weekly rhythms of meeting. The content of study circle includes a set of books, videos, visits, expert meetings, writings and presentations. The study circle is lead by the acharya of Shishuvatika, supported by some senior acharyas in Vidyakshetra. The topics range from holistic development, Panchkoshas, Kutumb, samaj, Rashtra, varnashrama, seva, Purushartha, Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. The discussion also involves issues, problems, techniques, tools for shishu avastha (शिशुअवस्था) and how the children transition to baal avastha (बालावस्था). The study circle meets in a weekly rhythm on Saturday. In a month, 3 Saturdays are online meetings and 4th Saturday is an in-person meeting. In-person meetings help do manthan (“मंथन”) of ones understanding of various aspects of life and education for life. The goal of this setup is to bring in the alignment between the understanding of the parents and teachers, so that there is consistency in what the child gets both at home and at gurukul. It is a deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home.

=== Sameeksha ===
This is an assessment of a child’s progress and happens as a 1-1 discussion between the parents and the teacher. Panchkosha development, habits, behavior, character etc. gets discussed. If there are learning difficulties for the child or inconsistencies in behavior, they are discussed and possible plan to address those is arrived upon. This Sameeksha happens twice a year.

== Conclusion ==
In an ideal scenario, children should not be sent to Gurukul till the age of 5. They should be at home so that the said home culture, traditions etc. are easily absorbed by the child. Unfortunately, we have a generation of parents who do not know how to make it happen. The situation is addressed with a deep engagement with parents and children for some duration. The hope is that in the next few generations the concept of Shishuvatika will cease to exist. Till then, we continue to create a home away from home for this important phase of the life of a child.

Shishuvatika Curriculum

2024-05-01T05:03:54Z

MuneetD: Shishuvatika Curriculum

From birth up to 5 years is considered shishuavastha (शिशुअवस्था). This is the age when the developmental focus is on the Annamaya kosha (अन्नमयकोष) and for absorption of knowledge, ‘chitta’ (चित्त) in Anandmaya kosha (आनंदमयकोष), is most active. The mantra for this age is ‘लालयेत पंचवर्षानी’ and the goal is to fill the child’s life with love for 5 years.

Shishuvatika, at Vidyakshetra, is an extension of home in many ways. It has a natural, homely atmosphere with motherly adults as its teachers. The environment is made as natural as possible. The main objective is providing good samskaras (संस्कार) to the child of this age whose ‘Chitta’ (चित्त) is just so receptive in this formative stage. These samskaras (संस्कार) become the guiding principles for the child’s life.

The other objectives for Shishu Shiksha (शिशु शिक्षा) at Vidyakshetra-

# Character Building (चरित्र निर्माण)
# Capability Building (क्षमताओं का विकास)
# Provide rich life experiences (जीवन के घनिष्ठ अनुभव देना)

The Annamayya Kosha (अन्नमयकोश) or physical body is made up of panchamahabhootas (पंचमहाभूत). Therefore, panchamahabhootas i.e earth, water, air, fire and sky are the closest to us. A young child has a special relationship with each of these elements. Thus, the child is exposed to the panchamahabhootas through water play, watering plants, wading through waters of stream, sand pit play, clay work, games of blowing air, lighting lamp, cooking on fire etc.

These are provided through the medium of tanmatraas (तन्मात्रा) - by exposing them to rich experiences of roopa (रूप), rasa (रस), gandha (गंध), sparsh (स्पर्श) and dhvani (ध्वनि).

During Prakriti parichaya, they go out in nature and experience the variety of animals, birds, bees, water bodies, hillocks, trees etc. and the exposure is not just restricted to experience of these elements, but the effort is to establish an emotional connect with each element of nature whether it is animate or inanimate. A similar effort is put in their morning circles, during the conversations, through stories and songs etc. to establish an emotional connection with each element of nature. For example, cat becomes billi mausi (बिल्ली मौसी), moon is called Chanda mama (चंदा मामा), brinjal is called baingan raja (बैगन राजा), monkey becomes bandar mama (बन्दर मामा), River Ganges becomes Ganga mata (गंगा माता) etc.

While there is a lot of use of colours, natural wooden toys, plentiful exposure to nature etc, activities to nourishing the Annamayya as well as rich experiences for the child, there is no information or explanation of abstract concepts or reading or writing at this age as the brain is not yet fully developed for this. In the shishuavastha, the physical body is developing which includes the internal organs such as heart, liver, intestines, brain etc. The sign that the development of internal organs is completed, and organs are stabilized, is falling of the milk teeth and growth of arms to cover the head up to the ears. But when children start reading and writing prematurely, energy which is exclusively reserved for the purpose of organ development is diverted for information processing in the brain. When this happens, internal organ development suffers. Therefore, traditionally in Bharat, no formal education was introduced before the age of 7 or 8 yrs of age. Children in shishuavastha stayed at home and they were exposed to home culture, home rhythms, family traditions, family relationships etc. Whatever the child grasped out of its own curiosity from its environment became its education. Therefore, careful attention was given to the environment that the child was growing in and they ensured it was a loving atmosphere, full of vibrancy of our culture, the child was looked upon with lot of love and affection by the family members, proper & timely nourishment was ensured, play was an important part - therefore, in the joint family there were enough and more children around to play with. A very happy childhood experience was ensured for the proper development of its manomaya kosha. Thus, education in this phase is something that is not formal or forced upon but whatever the child grasps naturally out of its curiosity becomes its samskara. As teachers, it is our responsibility therefore, to create such an environment for the child at this stage.

At Vidyakshetra, child is encouraged to wear natural fabric such as cotton. The toys are handpicked, made from natural material such as wood & bamboo. A large play area is made available with fruit bearing trees such as mango and chickoo so the child has vision of auspicious trees and hears melodious sounds of chirping birds, has plentiful exposure to the rays of sun, and cool breezes touch its skin day in and day out. Play area is of utmost importance in this phase as play is nature’s mechanism to exercise the body (remember, Annamayya Kosha is in focus at present) and enable its growth. Children must run around, sweat and play. This keeps them active, ensures good metabolic activity, and therefore good food intake, ensures good growth of all internal and external organs and most of all keeps the child happy.

== Classroom Rhythms ==
Shishuvatika children are at Vidyakshetra from 8:30am to 2:30pm. The day gets planned and divided such that children focus on playing, eating, experiential activities and sleeping in a rhythm. Rhythm means that the instructions are minimal. A naughty child is given no harsh instructions but is gently brought into the right space by the teacher using songs and rhythms which forms the primary part of inculcating disciplinary practices in the child. Rhythms of day, of the week, of the month and of the seasons etc. go deep in its understanding and lays the foundation of good discipline for the child.

There is no scope for harshness, chiding the child or punishing it in shishuvatika as it has a deep bearing on its psyche. In this phase of Lalayet panchavarshani (लालयेत पंचवर्षानी), the child needs only love, care, warmth, and affection. Therefore, children are handled with utmost love and care.

A typical time table for the day for Shishuvatika looks like the following:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Time Table
!Time
!Activity
|-
|8:30 am
|Start of the day
|-
|8:30am to 9:00am
|Panchanga
|-
|9:00am to 10:00am
|Class entry rhythm and Breakfast
|-
|10:00am to 10:15 am
|Morning Circle
|-
|10:15am to 11:00am
|Activity Time
|-
|11:00am to 12:30pm
|Play time
|-
|12:30pm to 1:15pm
|Lunch Time
|-
|1:15pm to 2:30pm
|Rest Time and leave
|}

=== Panchanga (8:30am to 9:00am) ===
The day starts at 8:30am in the morning. Though Vidyakshetra starts at 7:15am for elder children, Shishuvatika children start their day a little later. They are exposed to daily Panchanga Shravana and an attempt to recite along.
{| class="wikitable"
|+A typical Panchanga
!अद्य्तन पंचांगम,

कल्युगाब्दः द्वाविंशतिः अधिक एक शातोत्तरः पंच सहस्त्रं

शालिवानशकः त्रिचत्वारिम्शत अधिक नव शातोत्तर एक सहत्रम

प्लव नाम संवत्सरः, दक्षिनायानाम, हेमन्त ऋतुः, मार्गशीर्षः मासः, कृष्ण पक्षः

एकादशी तिथिः, गुरुवासरः, विशाखा नक्षत्रं, शुभः योगः, शुभः करणं,

इदं दिनं, सर्वेषाम कृते, शुभम् भवतु ||

तिथेष च श्रियम आपनोती,

वाराद आयुष्य वर्धनम्, नक्षत्राद हरते पापम्,

योगाद रोग निवारणं, करणाद कार्य शिद्धिश्च,

पंचांग फलम् उत्तमम्,

एतेषां श्रुनियो नित्यम्, गंगा स्नानम् फलम् लभेत,

<nowiki>||</nowiki> सुदिनमस्तु <nowiki>||</nowiki>
!adytana paṁcāṁgama,
kalyugābdaḥ dvāviṁśatiḥ adhika eka śātottaraḥ paṁca sahastraṁ
śālivānaśakaḥ tricatvārimśata adhika nava śātottara eka sahatrama
plava nāma saṁvatsaraḥ, dakṣināyānāma, hemanta r̥tuḥ, mārgaśīrṣaḥ māsaḥ, kr̥ṣṇa pakṣaḥ
ekādaśī tithiḥ, guruvāsaraḥ, viśākhā nakṣatraṁ, śubhaḥ yogaḥ, śubhaḥ karaṇaṁ,
idaṁ dinaṁ, sarveṣāma kr̥te, śubham bhavatu ||
titheṣa ca śriyama āpanotī,
vārāda āyuṣya vardhanam, nakṣatrāda harate pāpam,
yogāda roga nivāraṇaṁ, karaṇāda kārya śiddhiśca,
paṁcāṁga phalam uttamam,
eteṣāṁ śruniyo nityam, gaṁgā snānam phalam labheta,
<nowiki>||</nowiki> sudinamastu <nowiki>||</nowiki>
|}
Huge emphasis is given to language development. The child is exposed only to Kannada (the local language & mother tongue of over 90% children in shishuvatika) in this stage of its development. Child is also exposed to Sanskrit shlokas and Bhagavat Gita recitation apart from daily Panchanga shravana.

After Panchanga, children walk back to the class. The class is a little far from Panchanga place. To create a rhythm while walking back, children typically sing a song while walking. The song typically sung is - Puṭāṇi iruve galu naavu, sakkare huduki hoguvevu; saalagi naavu hoguvevu, saalagi naavu maraluvevu (A Kannada poem that says we are tiny ants marching in a straight line looking for sugar). Sometimes repeat this song about three times or sing a combination of songs.

They reach the class by 9:00 am.

=== Class entry rhythm and Breakfast (9:00am to 10:00am) ===
It is important to create a rhythm with children in everything they do. The first rhythm is for keeping their things in order. This includes lining the slippers outside the class, do Saraswati namaskar as they enter the class, keep their bags on the self and their water bottles on the table.

Once everybody is settled, lamp lighting with prayers happen. The lamp lighting is done by the teacher and children recite 4 prayers along with the teacher.<blockquote>
* श्री वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्य कोटी समप्रभा। निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्व-कार्येशु सर्वदा॥
** śrī vakratuṇḍa mahākāya sūrya koṭī samaprabhā। nirvighnaṁ kuru me deva sarva-kāryeśu sarvadā॥
* कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः करमध्ये सरस्वती । करमूले तु गोविन्दः प्रभाते करदर्शनम ॥
** karāgre vasate lakṣmīḥ karamadhye sarasvatī । karamūle tu govindaḥ prabhāte karadarśanama ॥
* समुद्रवसने देवी पर्वतस्थानमंडले । विष्णुपत्नी नमस्तुभ्यं पादस्पर्शं क्षमस्वमे ॥
** samudravasane devī parvatasthānamaṁḍale । viṣṇupatnī namastubhyaṁ pādasparśaṁ kṣamasvame ॥
* यानि कानि च पापानि जन्मांतर कृतानि च। तानि सवार्णि नश्यन्तु प्रदक्षिणे पदे-पदे।।
** yāni kāni ca pāpāni janmāṁtara kr̥tāni ca। tāni savārṇi naśyantu pradakṣiṇe pade-pade॥
</blockquote>Then they wash their hands and have their breakfast. Children bring their breakfast from home. The teacher ensure that children are sitting in a mandala on the floor and then having their breakfast. Children are observed to eat slowly, chew well, finish what they brought, wash their boxes and keep them back. The rhythm of doing all this is the key aspect.

This typically gets over by 10:00am.

=== Morning Circle (10:00am to 10:15 am) ===
Before starting the activities for the day, children are transitioned into the classroom space with the morning circles. All the children sit in a circle and sing the same song everyday to set started. The song is decided by the teacher. Post that, they greet the nature, do a revision of all the seasons (ऋतु) and sing 3-4 seasonal songs or do a revision of seasonal vegetables.

Morning Cricle is a rhythm of smaller duration but very important to get the class started. This rhythm continues with the children for many years to come, though every subsequent year, the shape and form of it is very different.

If there are any birthdays, they are celebrated during this time. The birthdays are celebrated with lighting the diya, singing the birthday song in Sanskrit, taking blessings from teachers and parents, followed by sweets distribution.

Morning circle rhythm ends at 10:15am.

=== Activity Time (10:15am to 11:00am) ===
Man has been gifted with hands to do work and serve others. This samskaar has to be developed right in shishuavastha. It develops through holding, breaking and throwing things. Further, hands develop by playing in water, in sand and soil. To develop the karmendriya called hands, sufficient opportunities are provided in shishuvatika- to clean up after play, to fold clothes, to water the plants, to dig, to sweep, to swab etc. If a child is prematurely introduced to reading and writing, its language development skill of proper pronunciation, tonality, meaning, sentence structuring etc becomes debilitated. So, activities do not include any reading or writing.

The activity time is organized into rhythm of 10 days. So, there are 10 activities and each day there is one activity for the child. These activities are conducted inside the classroom and supervised by the teacher. Activities with 10 days rhythm include the following:

# Drawing with block crayons
# Painting, typically wet on wet painting
# Fireless Cooking (bring ingredients from home) - Includes cutting, pounding, grating, peeling etc which help strengthen the hands.
# Beading
# Nature Walk, to just walk and observe the nature around.
#
# Krishi (कृषि), to participate in growing something.
#
# Shrama Daan (श्रम दान), to organize and clean up the classroom environment.
# Finger Knitting, to get control and coordination on their hands.
# Mat Weaving, to get control and coordination on their hands.
# Mud Play

These are repeated in a 10-day cycle, spanning over two weeks. All the activities are made as fun activities to engage each child. Teachers are trained to engage children of different temperament and nature.

If there are any festivals, then they are also celebrated during this time. Below picture shows Diwali celebrations @ Vidyakshetra.

The activity time typically ends by 11:00am.

=== Play time (11:00am to 12:30pm) ===
Post the activities, it is playing time for children. Play in shishuvatika is a serious affair. This time can be utilized between Indoor and outdoor games. The class teacher decides one of them. After that children play the games of their choice. There is supervision but no instructional regulations. Children form their own groups and play the game of their liking. At Vidyakshetra, we have made the following options available to children:

* Indoor Games
** Wooden toys, dolls, kitchen set
** Skipping
** Wollen balls
** Dupatta tents
** Wooden blocks for house-making, zoo etc.
* Outdoor games
** Sandpit
** MonkeyBar
** Jhoola
** Tree House
** Slide

Children are allowed to get dirty, interact with each other, come back to the teacher to resolve any issues etc.

Play time goes on till 12:30pm.

=== Lunch Time (12:30pm to 1:15pm) ===
Lunch is prepared at Vidyakshetra every day. The menu is not decided by the children.

The body (अन्नमय कोष) of the child is developing. Therefore, his nourishment is well taken care of. A balanced menu as per ayurvedic principles has been developed, organic rice, dals and vegetables procured and a roster of parents along with a cook prepare lunch on a daily basis. Such food is offered with love and care to children in shishuvatika.

Though, there is a lunch space in Vidyakshetra, shihuvatika children eat lunch in their own class. They are trained to eat what they are served. Children wash their hands, sit in a mandala and the teachers serve the children. Before starting the lunch, they recite the Bhojan mantra (भोजन मंत्र) along with the teacher:<blockquote>ॐ सहनाववतु, सह नौ भुनक्तु, सह वीर्यं करवाव है ।

तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषाव है ।।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ।।

oṁ sahanāvavatu, saha nau bhunaktu, saha vīryaṁ karavāva hai ।

tejasvi nāvadhītamastu mā vidviṣāva hai ।।

oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ।।</blockquote>Every child must take a sufficient portion of lunch. They are encouraged to finish the lunch in the stipulated time, chewing well and finishing all what they have taken. After finishing, they clean up the whole place along with the teacher. Teachers predominantly clean up and children are engaged in the process.

Lunch time typically ends by 1:15pm.

=== Rest Time and leave (1:15pm to 2:30pm) ===
It has been a hectic day for the tiny once. It is time to take rest. Children engage in setting up the resting space. They prepare their own bed. Some of them sleep. Children are engaged by the teacher with songs and stories. This also has a rhythm. The same story is told for 1 week. Subsequent week children will tell the story.

They rest till almost 2pm. Post that they prepare to leave for home. They keep their beds back and make the classroom ready for the next day along with the teacher. As they wait to leave Vidyakshetra, they play in sandpit or on tree house. By 2:30pm, they leave by bus or with their parents.

== Parent Engagement ==
All this is aided by deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home. This happens at three levels:

# Arivu (3 times a year)
# Study Circles and Manthan (weekly and monthly rhythms)
# Sameeksha (twice a year)

=== Arivu ===
Arivu is a class level discussion. This means that individual children are not the topic of discussion, but class in general is. This happens 3 times a year at one of the parent’s houses on rotation basis. One parent hosts the other parents for a simple dinner. All the parents get an informal environment to interact with each other and the teacher gives a glimpse of the dynamics of ShishuVatika. Behavioural patterns, ways to handle them, support needed from parents, environment changes at home etc. are typical discussion items.

=== Study Circles and Manthan ===
All the parents engage in study circle with weekly rhythms of meeting. The content of study circle includes a set of books, videos, visits, expert meetings, writings and presentations. The study circle is lead by the acharya of Shishuvatika, supported by some senior acharyas in Vidyakshetra. The topics range from holistic development, Panchkoshas, Kutumb, samaj, Rashtra, varnashrama, seva, Purushartha, Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. The discussion also involves issues, problems, techniques, tools for shishu avastha (शिशुअवस्था) and how the children transition to baal avastha (बालावस्था). The study circle meets in a weekly rhythm on Saturday. In a month, 3 Saturdays are online meetings and 4th Saturday is an in-person meeting. In-person meetings help do manthan (“मंथन”) of ones understanding of various aspects of life and education for life. The goal of this setup is to bring in the alignment between the understanding of the parents and teachers, so that there is consistency in what the child gets both at home and at gurukul. It is a deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home.

=== Sameeksha ===
This is an assessment of a child’s progress and happens as a 1-1 discussion between the parents and the teacher. Panchkosha development, habits, behavior, character etc. gets discussed. If there are learning difficulties for the child or inconsistencies in behavior, they are discussed and possible plan to address those is arrived upon. This Sameeksha happens twice a year.

== Conclusion ==
In an ideal scenario, children should not be sent to Gurukul till the age of 5. They should be at home so that the said home culture, traditions etc. are easily absorbed by the child. Unfortunately, we have a generation of parents who do not know how to make it happen. The situation is addressed with a deep engagement with parents and children for some duration. The hope is that in the next few generations the concept of Shishuvatika will cease to exist. Till then, we continue to create a home away from home for this important phase of the life of a child.

Knowledge Acquisition Process

2024-03-22T14:17:12Z

MuneetD: Added Images

= Scope of Knowledge =
When we organize knowledge delivery in a system, we call it educational system. The process of acquiring this knowledge is called learning. In general, we use the terms education, knowledge and learning interchangeably. In India, knowledge is given a very high pedestal. Even so that we named our country ‘Bharat’ which latterly means a land of people in pursuit of knowledge. Knowledge is considered very holy, very pure and a manifestation of the source of creation.

Lets understand the term knowledge a little better. But before we get there, lets delve into the term ‘Dharma’. There are innumerable elements that make up this creation and each element is moving at its own speed and has its own unique quality. There are elements that have opposing qualities too however they co-exist harmoniously without clashing with each other. These universal laws that regulates and sustains the creation and gives each element of creation its unique identity & nature is called its ‘Dharma.’

Its definition entails the following aspects too:

# Nature of elements found in the creation can be defined as its ‘guna dharma’ (गुणधर्मं) eg: Guna Dharma of fire is ‘heat’.
# Man has from times immemorial drawn ethics from these universal laws to make arrangements for his life be it system of governance or the societal structure. Such ethics or ‘neeti’ also called ‘dharma’ (नीतिधर्म)
# The various roles that one plays in one’s life such as son, father, teacher etc have its own unique ‘dharma’ eg: ‘putra dharma’ (पुत्रधर्म), ‘pita dharma’ (पिताधर्म), ‘shikshak dharma’ (शिक्षकधर्म). Similarly, in our interaction with the gross material world, we have a unique ‘dharma,’ that enables us to protect it rather than exploit it.
# The systems that man has created called ‘sampradayas’ (सम्प्रदाय) that enable him to transcend his human existence and reach higher realms of consciousness also is called his ‘dharma.’

Thus, the all-encompassing ‘Dharma’ which is grossly misunderstood and equated only to ‘religion’ has a much wider definition.

The main purpose of education is to gain knowledge of all the aspects of ‘Dharma’, from gross to subtle. This involves ‘seeking’. At the highest level, it is seeking the ‘Absolute Truth’ [सत्यं ज्ञानमनन्तं ब्रह्म]. Thus, knowledge of brahman or of the Absolute Truth is equated to Supreme Knowledge, of the highest order. Brahman is believed to be both the underlying as well as the material cause of this entire creation. Brahman is also known as ‘aatma’ (आत्मा) or ‘aatmatattva’ (आत्मतत्व) or ‘parabrahman’ (परब्रह्म) or ‘paramatma’ (परमात्मा) - as is revealed to the ‘seeker’ of that ‘Truth.’

This creation is the ‘universal form’ (or विश्वरूप) of ‘paramatma’ or ‘Brahman’. Man is believed to be made in the same exact ‘form’ as ‘Brahman.’ The unravelling this ’Truth’ is called as ‘Brahmajnana’ (ब्रह्मज्ञान). Two aspects of knowledge are - knowledge about oneself, known as ‘Brahmajnana’ and its material counterpart is knowledge about ‘creation’. Due to the multifarious forms that ‘paramatma’ assumes in this material creation, knowledge also can be sought at various levels & in various forms.

The philosophical history of Bharat has proven that the culture of wisdom and knowledge has given Bharat its immortal status. Because the ‘vision of life’ (जीवनदृष्टि) developed on this highest platform of 'knowledge culture' is the most accepting, devoid of exploitation and can harmoniously co-exist with other differing philosophies & traditions of the world, while holding the capability to guide and reform deviant ones too. Thus, from times immemorial, Bharat has held the beacon light to the world.

Internally, it has preserved this 'vision of life' or Jeevan Drishti by a careful transference of knowledge from one generation to the next and this transference of knowledge is called ‘Bharatiya Shiskha or Education.’

This is how broad is scope of knowledge is.

= Where do we get this knowledge? =
Contrary to our understanding, knowledge is acquired at three centres:

# Home
# Gurukul
# Society

Home and Gurukul are predominant till a certain age while Home and Society becomes predominant after that. It is a lifelong process. When we consider education in this scope, then we will be able to place the Gurukul education in the right context. If home fails and Gurukul succeeds (or vice-versa), we do not get the desired results.

Home is the centre for moulding behaviours, Gurukul is the centre for moulding intellect and society is the centre for action. Education at home is led by parents, at Gurukul by acharyas and in society by Dharmacharyas (remember, the definition of Dharma is much beyond religion).

So, when we are thinking of setting up Bhartiya Education system, we need to ensure that all the three centres are functioning appropriately.

= The Process of Acquiring Knowledge =
There are a number of faculties/tools which we as human beings possess via which knowledge is acquired. When knowledge gets associated with these tools, it manifests itself in various forms:

* There are two sets of tools for interfacing with the external world.

# There are 5 sense organs (ज्ञानेन्द्रियाँ) which help us in making sense of the entire world around us. These sense organs are – eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. When knowledge gets associated with these organs, it takes the form of sensation.
# There are 5 action organs (कर्मेन्द्रियाँ) which help us do things. These are – voice, hands, feet, anus and genitals. When knowledge gets associated with these organs, it takes the form of action.

* There are five tools of knowledge acquisition which are at subtle levels. There are:

# Mind (मन): Knowledge at this level manifests as thoughts and feelings.
# Intellect (बुद्धि): Knowledge at this level manifests as decision making ability.
# Ahankaar (अहंकार): Knowledge at this level manifests as responsibility of doing and enduring the results of doing.
# Chitta (चित्त): Knowledge at this level manifests as samskara (संस्कार), the store house of all our experiences of lifetimes.
# Hriday (ह्रदय): Knowledge at this level manifests as realization. This is the level of knowledge access achieved by all the knowledgeable Rishis of India.

So there are a total of 15 such tools which nature has given us to acquire knowledge. The level or evolution and skill at each of these tools determines the level of knowledge one can acquire. The education system should be such that all these faculties are developed to their full potential to allow smoother acquisition of knowledge. The education system today is so focused on just one of these faculties – the intellect. This makes it very constrained and incomplete.

Getting the right understanding of how these faculties functions, using various means to develop these faculties and once the faculties are developed, using them to achieve knowledge excellence in the area of interest, should be primary goal of the education system.

Once we recognize this, the next is to develop the level of understanding of order of growth of these faculties. Each faculty becomes active at a certain age. If a specific faculty is not yet active, the child cannot acquire knowledge meant to be acquired by that faculty. It is the responsibility of the acharyas to understand this and teach in a way that facilitates knowledge acquisition based on knowledge acquiring faculties at that age. Without this, all knowledge delivered by the acharyas do not reach the student, nor can an acharya create an environment which can strengthen these faculties.

Clearly, the first part of the education needs to focus on developing the growth of faculties using subjects as a medium. Once the faculties are developed, we can use them to develop the proficiency in subjects. These subjects obviously needs to be aligned to the child’s inclination. This means that there is a clear demarcation between these two stages. We could call these two stages as ‘FOUNDATION’ and ‘ADVANCED’.
[[File:Foundation and Advanced.png|center|thumb|669x669px]]
Here we delve into each of these life stages and explore the panchkoshas, curriculum and pedagogy:

=== Pregnancy (गर्भावस्था) and early childhood (शिशुअवस्था, 0-5 years) ===
When a child is born, it carries ‘samskaaras’ (संस्कार) from three different sources: samskara from previous births, samskara from its predecessors i.e. through genetics and samskara via the mother in the womb during pregnancy. While the previous two are predetermined, the ones the child obtains from the womb are significant. Therefore, mother is called the first teacher of the child & thus, educating the mother is vital. Thus, she undergoes samskaaras such as garbhadaan (गर्भाधान), pumsavan (पुंसवन), seemantonayan (सीमन्तोन्नयन) which bear favourable impressions on the child in the womb.

From birth upto 5 years is considered shishuavastha. Whatever child receives becomes its foundational samskaaras as its ‘chitta’ (चित्त) is most active. The knowledge seeking indriyas (इन्द्रियाँ) too are activated.

Its experience with sound, touch, form, juice, smell has to be auspicious, beautiful & happy as it lays the foundation for it to develop its own approach to life & it has to be a positive one. He has to experience that life is beautiful and world has a lot of goodness to offer. Therefore, the mantra for this age is ‘lalayet panchavarshani’ (लालयेत पंचवर्षानी) or fill the child’s life with love.

Shishuvatika @ Vidyakshetra has a natural, homely atmosphere with motherly adults as its teachers. Child is encouraged to wear natural fabric such as cotton. The toys are handpicked, made from natural material such as wood & bamboo. A large play area is made available with fruit bearing trees such as mango and chickoo so the child has vision of auspicious trees and hears melodious sounds of chirping birds, has plentiful exposure to the rays of sun, and cool breezes touch its skin day in and day out.

The child is exposed to fine languages such as Sanskrit shlokas, Bhagavat Gita, daily Panchanga shravana. Huge emphasis is given to language development and in the womb the child is exposed to mother tongue. Therefore, child is exposed only to Kannada (the local language & mother tongue of over 90% children in shishuvatika) in this stage of its development. If a child is prematurely introduced to reading and writing, its language development skill of proper pronunciation, tonality, meaning, sentence structuring etc becomes debilitated.

A naughty child is given no harsh instructions but is gently brought into the right space by the teacher using songs and rhythms which forms the primary part of inculcating disciplinary practices in the child. Rhythms of day, of the week, of the month and of the seasons etc go deep in its understanding the seasons, the days etc and this also lays the foundation of a good discipline for the child.  There is no scope for harshness, chiding the child or punishing it in shishuvatika as it has a deep bearing on its psyche.

The body (अन्नमय कोष) of the child is developing. Therefore, his nourishment is well taken care of. A balanced menu as per ayurvedic principles has been developed, organic rice, dals and vegetables procured and a roster of parents along with a cook prepare lunch on daily basis. Such food is offered with love and care to children in shishuvatika.

Play in shishuvatika is a serious affair. Man has been gifted with hands to do work and serve others. This samskaar has to be developed right in shishuavastha. It develops through holding, breaking and throwing things. Further, hands develop by playing in water, in sand and soil. To develop the karmendriya called hands, sufficient opportunities are provided in shishuvatika- to clean up after play, to fold clothes, to water the plants, to dig, to sweep, to swab etc. Children have the rhythm of cooking once a week- they experience cutting, pounding, grating, peeling etc which help strengthen the hands and ready the hands for the work it is meant for.

All this is aided by deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home.

=== Childhood (बालावस्था, 6-12 years) ===
This phase starts when the child becomes 6 years old. This is the age of action and experiential learning. Parents should focus on creating interest in all the types of work and development of skills to get things done. Inculcation of good habits, development of virtues, teaching aspects of self-control and modesty, humility, and discipline is the responsibility of the parents. Children should get opportunities to play hard and work hard. Reading, painting, music, productions, languages are the areas which should become more and more experiential.

This is the age of loving discipline. The mind is capable of following directions and getting inspired. Hence inspirational conversations and stories should be used. With all this the orientation towards home and society would increase.

The change from early childhood (शिशुअवस्था) to childhood (बालावस्था) is gradual. The first two years of childhood are these transition years. In these transition years, the child starts doing its own work itself. During this transition, the child learns to listen and follow instructions and advice. The mindset needs to transition from playfulness to responsibility and to discipline. This is also the time when formal education begins. The parents need to handle this transition well.

Now the two centres of knowledge – home and gurukul. Probably, home is still primary. The aspect of action and experiential learning applies to both the places. The goal of education in gurukul is to develop the panchkoshas and use subjects as a means of developing those. Hence the process of learning needs to give specific focus on this process of development. For example, for development of Annamayakosha there should be sports and a lot of physical activities. For development of Manomayakosha, there should be Yoga and Sangeeta, for Vigyanmayakosha there should be Maths and Science, for anandmayakosha there should be kalas, literature, poetry etc. Then there needs to be aspects of home science, sociology, dharma, culture, Itihaasa, geography, environment, Adhyaatm (आध्यात्म) etc. All these subjects will help the child start relating to home, society, country and the world. It is the skill of the acharya to weave and link every small activity to learning goals and make learning a pleasant experience.

==== Education at home ====
Education at home should focus on developing qualities like love, empathy, putting others before oneself, helping others, the aspect of seva etc. All these can only be taught to the child by displaying these qualities at home by the parents, by narrating and discussing inspiring stories and incidents or by insisting on them to learn these aspects. Daily routines need to develop like sleeping time, wake up time, eating time, proper habits of eating etc. Then they should start gaining proficiency in doing household work. In all this, there should be a sense of taking forward the family traditions.

==== Education in Gurukul ====
The education in Gurukul should start focusing on laying the foundation of panchkosha development using subjects. This would encompass three aspects: the subjects, the developmental goals and the pedagogical principles.

===== Subject Categories =====
We could map the development of Panchkosha to three categories of subjects: Kriya (क्रिया), Ichcha (इच्छा) and Gyaan (ज्ञान). Following figure shows a rough mapping:
[[File:Panchkosha to Subjects Category.png|center|thumb|421x421px]]
In our traditional text, there is a mention of 64 subjects (कलाएं) which were taught in the Gurukul. Though it requires a deeper research on how to make these contextual in today’s world, there is a definition of 24 subjects which we have done at Vidyakshetra which are making to the three categories. Here are the list of subjects:

* '''Kriya (क्रिया) subjects''': These subjects focus on Annamaya and Pranmaya koshas. The goal is to increase the intensity of the activities which were being done in early childhood (4 and 5 years). There are 6 subjects in this category:
** Agriculture, House Construction, Cloth making and Handwork, Pottery, Kalari / Yoga and Woodwork.
* '''Ichcha (इच्छा) subjects''': These subjects focus on Pranmaya and Manomaya kosha. These koshas would start developing during this phase. There are 6 subjects in this category:
** Tabla, Flute, Sangeeta, Bharatnatyam, Painting and Theatre
* '''Gyan (ज्ञान) subjects''': These subjects focus on manomaya and vygyanmaya kosha. The goal is to crate an intellectual base for the child. There are 12 subjects in this category, which are further divided into 5 areas:
** 3 Language: These include Kannada, Sanskrit and English. Spoken Hindi is also included but is not treated as subject.
** 3 aspects of Maths: Apart from the aspects of core, mathematics, there is a very elaborate curriculum for geometry which starts at a very early age. Then there is an introduction to astronomy as well.
** 3 aspects of Science: These include Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
** 3 aspects of Sociology: These include History (इतिहास), Geography (भूगोल) and Culture (संस्कृति).
[[File:Subject List.png|center|thumb|789x789px]]

===== Developmental Goals =====
These subjects are introduced to children at different ages based on the developmental stages of all the koshas. As these subjects are used to develop panchkoshas, the manifestation of these developments are expected to be seen in the following aspects:

* '''Cultural Development ('''सांस्कृतिक विकास''')''': There are multiple aspects to this development. Children should learn about purity and righteousness. Experientially it may mean things like not entering the temple or kitchen with taking bath, washing both hands and legs before eating food, not using outside slippers/shoes inside the house etc. Children should learn how to establish relationship with nature including plants, animals and all the things around. Experientially this may mean feeding the birds/animals, watering the plants, creating family relations like calling rivers, cow and Tulasi as mother or invocation to mother earth as you get up early in the morning and many more. All these should happen through stories. Wherever possible these aspects should be added to the subject being taught.
* '''Etiquettes and Virtues ('''शिष्टाचार और सदाचार''')''': This also in many ways is a part of the cultural development but needs a special mention. It is important to understand what is indecent and what is misconduct in specific situations. Avoiding them would be a good starting point for etiquettes. Virtues like speaking truth, respecting elders, giving seva, empathy towards the weak and protecting them, protecting the environment, understanding tangible and intangible profit, contentment while understanding the difference between needs and wants etc. are things that should be weaved in the education fabric while teaching various topics and subjects.
* '''Self-Control ('''संयम''')''': Childhood (6+ years) marks the beginning of the Bhrahmcharya ashram for the students. This is the age to learn and practice various types of self control to mould the character, develop qualities and enhance mental and intellectual potential. Four important types of controls which should be focused on are:
*# Taste: Eating everything cooked at home without being critical or wasting it. Controlling the urge to eat junk food or outside food.
*# Money: Being thrift, maintaining your possessions for longer usage, knowing the difference between cost and value, ability to judge the quality and cost of things etc.
*# Words: Usage of good words, sweet language, speaking softly, not getting into unnecessary arguments, not making fun of elders etc.
*# Time: Finishing things well but on time, not wasting time etc.
* '''Tenacity and Endurance ('''तपश्चर्या और तितिक्षा''')''': This has an extraordinary importance in the life of a human being. The practice of this should being in the childhood. Various behavioural aspects should be identified to build it. Some of the easiest ways would be the practice of fasting, developing ability to work for longer hours, being in silence, doing japa (जप), following the rules, not giving into attractions of food/clothes/mobile, learning not to complain in adverse situations etc.
* '''Aspects of Yagya (यज्ञ), Daan (दान), Tyaag (त्याग) and Seva (सेवा)''' should become an integral part of the development of the child.

So, we see that the entire focus of the curriculum in Gurukul is to develop character, develop Panchkosha using the subjects and build a foundation of the subjects themselves. It is important to understand that children spend only a part of their day at Gurukul. The other part is spent at home. What the child learns at both the places should be in sync and rhythm. If the learnings at the two places are out of sync, we will end up creating a confused character. What child learns at Gurukul, the actual practice of it happens at home. Hence it is of utmost importance that the parents understand the nuances of the Gurukul and compliment it with the right atmosphere at home. Parents are guided on ways of controlling habits before minds (मनोमयकोष) becomes active. Gurukul is responsible for creating this engagement levels with the parents.

===== Pedagogical Principles =====
Some of the pedagogical principles we apply at Vidyakshetra to offer all of these to children as as follows:

# Personalized lesson plans based on nature and temperament.
# Development of habits to control nature of the child.
# Development of daily routines, seasonal routines and life routines.
# Approach of self-control as against external control
# Instruction led and experiential Acharya-Kulam. This is a concept of same acharya being the class teacher for a group of students for 7 years, all through the childhood duration.
# Learning from experts
# For some subjects, children from multiple age groups are grouped together for more effective learning.
# No Books. No exams.
# Experiential learning aided by experiments, trips and workshops.
# Panchkosh based assessment & reporting.

Children are exposed to all the 24 subjects covering Kriya, Ichcha and Gyaan. By the time they are 12 years, they would have explored all these dimensions. At the end of 12 years, children should have identified their Vritti (वृत्ति) with the help and guidance of the acharya. It is a skill that the acharya should develop where he/she is aware of the needs of the nation and society, match it with the vritti of the child and mould the child to meet those needs.

With this foundation in childhood, the child would be ready to take up the journey of the next stage, aligned to his/her vritti.

=== Adolescence (किशोरावस्था, 13-15 years) ===
This is the time when teenage sets in. This is an infectious age filled with confusion. Hormonal changes aggrevate the 6 doshas of manomayakosha and intellect starts becoming hungry. The child cannot decide whether to behave as an adult or as a child. Parents specifically need to be vey cautious. Hormonal changes set in. Masculine and Feminine indications start showing up. Subconscious attraction to opposite sex sets in which can be very distracting for the children. Educating children regarding this is of utmost importance at this time for the parents. This is the time when hard work, physical fitness, self-control, virtuous behaviour, following instructions etc. needs to be observed under strict discipline. The strictness and the discipline of the parents is usually responded with a sense of rebellion. Parents need to develop the skill to manage it. This becomes a little easier if the aspects of education mentioned in the childhood are practiced well. At the same time, now, children should get an opportunity to shoulder some responsibilities and enhance their thinking faculty.

==== Subject Categories ====
This is also the time when the 24 subjects, they got exposed to in childhood, of which they did all the subjects for atleast 2 years, the number of subjects should reduce. There should be more focus on the areas which are aligned to their vritti, and hence the profession, which was identified at the end of 12 years. The subjects aligned to the vritti should be taught in greater depth.

Keeping these in mind, the curriculum and pedagogy should be designed in the Gurukul. It might be beneficial to segregate the closeness between boys and girls at this time. Closeness with parents and acharyas should be orchestrated. The attitude of rebellion should not be countered by anger or anxiety. It should be countered by straight forward, clear, confident and calm orders.

Some of the key aspects of the curriculum are as follows:

* 12-13 years – Ramayana
* 14-15 years – Mahabharata
* Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti integrated curriculum.
* Kala and Painting – intense and precise
* Language – Debates, grammar
* Projects integrating व्यष्टि, समष्टि, सृष्टि and परमेष्ठी
* Analytical/logical/synthesis – Science, Math, Geometry, Astronomy
* Physical fitness, tenacity, flexibility, strength

From the perspective of Panchkoshas, childhood (previous stage) was the time when 5 sense organs and 5 action organs of the annamayakosha, and feeling realm of the Manomayakisha were predominantly developing. Hence the pedagogy was more experiential and inspirational. Instructions and following the instructions were main tools. But now during adolescence, the thinking faculty of the Manomayakosha and inspection/test/asses of Vigyaanmayakosha are developing. Thinking faculty of Manomayakosha means that when the child sees or hears something, it will remember it, will try to look at various aspects of it, will try to understand it, will try to imagine the impact and consequences of it and conclude on what is right and what is wrong. There isn’t a lot of analysis in this process. Good foundation in childhood makes adolescence easier to handle.

This is also the time when parents and children should strengthen the aspects of courage, self-confidence, fearlessness, eagerness to take up challenges and string desire to overcome them.

==== Developmental Goals ====
As we design this curriculum and pedagogy, we can have a laundry list of expectations from the child at the end of 15 years. This should be worked backwards and incorporated. Few expectations or goals should be:

* Intellectual expectations

# Recitation of Bhagwad Gita and little understanding of the content.
# Little understanding of our Veda, Upanishad and related Bharatiya knowledge systems.
# Fluency in Sanskrit
# Proficiency in math tables from 1 to 30 and mental math
# Language expertise in spoken mother-tongue
# Knowledge of at least 10 great kings of Bahratiya Itihaasa.
# Panchang knowledge with 9 planets, 12 Indian months, 12 Rashis and 27 Nakshatras.
# Good knowledge of Indian geography including rivers, mountains, states, languages, local cultural traditions etc.
# Sangeeta, Abhinaya
# Beautiful written expressions
# The list is only indicative and can be enhanced or modified.

* Behavioural expectations

# Is the child capable of going to the market to get groceries, daily need items, shoes, clothes etc? Can the child assess the quality and cost combination for the items?
# Is the child capable of making a monthly budget for the household needs?
# Can the child do reservations for travel to any corner of India?
# Can the child celebrate occasions like birthday or any other happy occasion in a beautiful way, maintaining the balance on expenses.
# Can the child prepare the menu for a meal for guests?
# Has the child developed skills to clean the house, utensils, clothes etc.
# Can the child stay alone at home for few days and manage? Can the child host guests?
# Can the child happily spend 24 hours without TV, mobile or gadgets?
# Can the child conduct a pooja, yagya or decoration of pooja ghar?
# The list is only indicative and can be enhanced or modified.

* Cultural expectations

# Can the child select the personal items which do not damage the environment?
# Does the child have awareness of issues like terrorism, Hindutva, economic crisis, difference between disrespect and disagreement etc.?
# Does the child have awareness of the ideologies of various political parties?
# Is there a thought of the type of contributions they would do to make Bharat a ‘VishvaGuru’ or contribute to ‘Make in India’ initiative?
# Do they want to visit various places of cultural significance in Bharat?
# Can they culturally represent Bharat in Europe, America, Australia or Africa?
# Have they identified an area of samaj seva for themselves?
# Is there awareness of social traditions, can they discriminate between good and bad rituals?
# Do they discuss about the state of the Bharat in general?

Some of these topics may be heavy for their age. But they are essential for them to formulate a direction of life for themselves in years to come. They are worth giving a thought both for the parents and for the acharyas.

* Professional Expectations

# As mentioned earlier, this is the age where they start acquiring the skills to excel in the identified professional area. This identification was done by the time they were 12 years of age. Whatever is the area of profession, the mindset and the context which needs to be built is that of seva for the society and mother nature. The understanding that the wellbeing of the society and the world would eventually render personal wellbeing.
# The orientation of the child should be either to continue the tradition of family profession or if that does not exist then, start off that tradition. The goal should be to enhance the traditional knowledge, make it contextually relevant and take it forward.
# The skills required to undertake the profession should start getting enhanced by this time. By the time the child is 15, he should be able to do apprenticeship under professionals. Achieving that level of expertise should be a key expectation.
# The chosen profession, whether employment or own production, should be looked at as a way of earning for the child.

This gives us a comprehensive list of expectations around which the curriculum and pedagogy needs to be designed and delivered.

==== Pedagogical Principles ====
The pedagogical principles should change based on this development. Gurukul and acharyas should ensure that the information levels start becoming universal, difficulty levels should start increasing, they should understand the problems, plan for solutions and actually solve problems. For example, if you have to go from Bangalore to Delhi, then what are the different ways, what are the pros and cons of each way could be a good challenge. If there is an earthquake in some part of the world, how could relief efforts reach that place. Various types of surveys in the social/cultural realm would be very good for the children. These are all examples of pedagogical principals.

Some of the aspects of pedagogy which is kept in mind are:

# Inspiration Lead by a subject matter expert
# Draw connections.
# Dialogue, Debates and projects driven.
# Demand for intensity, precision and beauty.
# Identification and alignment to Vritti.
# Learn to make mistakes, develop ability for proper discrimination and decision.
# Introduction to community centred socio-economics systems

One key question which we should also address is the whole concept of equality of men and women. The western distorted definition of equality is that women should be able to do all the things a man can do. Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti helps us clear this myth by understanding the similarities and the differences between a man and a woman. Nature created two different categories of human beings for a purpose. The education should be structured such that every girl can become a woman of full potential and every boy should become a man of full potential. Distorted views lead to cultural crisis and wokeness we are seeing in the world today.

There is no difference between boy and a girl as far as spiritual (आध्यात्मिक) and intellectual (बौद्धिक) topics are concerned. Both should be exposed to the same books, discussions and understanding. But the difference between them at physical level and mental level is natural and expected. In Bharatiya society, the two would eventually come together to form a single, inseparable unit of the society. The woman runs the family, and the man supports, protects and helps her in all possible ways to make it happen. It is ideal that the husband and wife have developed skills in the same profession. This lays the foundation of family profession and allows for starting off a tradition. The children in this age are not yet married or are expected to fulfil these expectations. But their mindset should be developed so that such a possibility can become a reality in the future. Towards this, there should be provision to get them the understanding of concepts of Kula, Gotra, Vansh, Ishta Devta, Kula Devta etc. as well.

Children will become 15 years old as they undergo a few years of self-control, strict discipline and hard work. They would start feeling that they are grownups and the people around them would also attest to it. As that happens, the instinct to become more independent will also start growing. They have the direction, skills, ability to handle responsibilities. They may still need some support in decision making, but that is a part of the process.

=== Young Adulthood (युवावस्था, 16-21 years) ===
This stage of the student can be divided into two parts – 16-19 years and 19+ years. The reason we have capped it to 21 years is because that would define the formal association of the child with the Gurukul. The reason they are clubbed together is because this represents the time span when panchakoshas are developed, prudence and decision-making ability has come in but the family life has not yet started. This is the final leg of preparation before the child is handed over to the society for the remaining part of his or her life. It is the time life’s directions and Jeevan Drishti takes final shape before independent practice of it begins.

This is the age where Brahmcharya must be strictly practiced. This is the way to strengthen self-control and concentration, physical fitness and ability, reign in the physical and mental faculties. Sense of responsibility should get stronger; decision-making should be with prudence and scientific in nature. Youth is the treasure for the family, society, and the nation. He or she should become worthy of being one.

This is the age when the child tastes independence and at the same time energy levels, physical, mental and intellectual, are high. This is time to become serious about workmanship, exercise and sports. At least 2 hours of physical exertion which results in profuse sweating should become a part of the curriculum. So does some serious yoga practice. Specifically, the focus should be on the first 5 out of 8 limbs propounded by Patanjali – Yam (यम), Niyam (नियम), Aasan (आसन), Pranayama (प्राणायाम) and Pratyaahaar (प्रत्याहार). This is the time when the student should understand the responsibilities and expectations of various stages of life, various ashramas and the Jeevan Drishti of how everything should be done from now on. There should be absolute control on modern fashion, perverted entertainment, boy-girl relationships and addictions.

This is the age to get deeper education in the chosen life’s direction. This means reading the right shastra and granth. All the intellectual capacity should get deployed into Adhyayan. Collect all possible information, understand concepts and contexts, analyse and synthesize behavioural aspects. Professional competence in the chose area should be fully developed between 16-19 years. This is aided by working under a professional subject matter expert. Post 19 years, the student should be in a position to start earning either independently or under guidance. He should have a clear understanding of what it means to be a Dharmic Professional. Few points which may guide the student are:

* First choice, family profession.

# If there is a family profession, continue and enhance that.
# If there was a family profession but your father stopped doing it, restart it.
# If there was no family profession or you have strong reasons to change it, consult learned people, your acharyas and parents to understand your vritti and chose a profession accordingly.

* Second choice, production. If you get into production, then base it on life energies (of human or animals) rather than energy forms developed by humans like electricity or electricity driven machines. This may take some time to become a reality, but a bridge should be created in that direction. Also avoid the modern industrial setups of employer and employee. Avoid anything which harms and impacts the health of environment and consumer. Focus should be on researching for alternates if modern professional practices are otherwise.

* If you chose to be in trade and commerce, rather than production, design the setup such that the investment in non-productive aspects is minimal.
* If you chose to dedicate your life in the service of the society with professions like acharya, doctor, Dharmacharya or Priest, then you would not do it for money. Have faith in the societal support to take care of you.
* The lowest form of profession would be to get employed under a person who is into production.

The curriculum and pedagogy should be designed to get these indicators imprinted in the student’s mind. There are gaps today in the society to allow the youth to adopt a professional model listed above. It is the duty of the acharya and the institute to spend adequate time in research, in creating the right network of professionals who are subject matter experts and help the students experience a working model. This is very important till the time such a setup becomes a norm in the society.

The design at Vidyakshetra considers this design as a combination of two streams: Professional stream and Bharatiya Jeevan Drishti stream. One stream runs with professional mentors and the other is anchored with acharyas in Vidyakshetra.
[[File:16-21.png|center|thumb|825x825px]]

By the time children are out of Vidyakshetra, at the age of 21, they should be in a position to start their professional life, should have a sound foundation of Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti and should have laid a foundation to achieve the purpose of their lives.

== Conclusion ==
Hope we got a gist of the thought process, goals and outcomes of the curriculum and pedagogy which needs to be designed in a Gurukul. Education is life long but the goals and methods are different in different stages of life. Here, our focus was to cover the stages which are there till the Gurukul education gets over. Achieving all the desired outcomes is a journey which Vidyakshetra has taken up in partnership with the parents and society at large. We are on a continuous improvement journey and we seek blessings from all of you to be successful in making this a main stream education system in Vikasit Bharat of 2047.
[[Category:Vidyakshetra]]

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2024-03-22T14:09:47Z

MuneetD:

File:Panchkosha to Subjects Category.png

2024-03-22T14:09:34Z

MuneetD:

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2024-03-22T14:09:21Z

MuneetD:

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2024-03-22T14:08:57Z

MuneetD:

Knowledge Acquisition Process

2024-03-22T14:04:31Z

MuneetD: First Version

= Scope of Knowledge =
When we organize knowledge delivery in a system, we call it educational system. The process of acquiring this knowledge is called learning. In general, we use the terms education, knowledge and learning interchangeably. In India, knowledge is given a very high pedestal. Even so that we named our country ‘Bharat’ which latterly means a land of people in pursuit of knowledge. Knowledge is considered very holy, very pure and a manifestation of the source of creation.

Lets understand the term knowledge a little better. But before we get there, lets delve into the term ‘Dharma’. There are innumerable elements that make up this creation and each element is moving at its own speed and has its own unique quality. There are elements that have opposing qualities too however they co-exist harmoniously without clashing with each other. These universal laws that regulates and sustains the creation and gives each element of creation its unique identity & nature is called its ‘Dharma.’

Its definition entails the following aspects too:

# Nature of elements found in the creation can be defined as its ‘guna dharma’ (गुणधर्मं) eg: Guna Dharma of fire is ‘heat’.
# Man has from times immemorial drawn ethics from these universal laws to make arrangements for his life be it system of governance or the societal structure. Such ethics or ‘neeti’ also called ‘dharma’ (नीतिधर्म)
# The various roles that one plays in one’s life such as son, father, teacher etc have its own unique ‘dharma’ eg: ‘putra dharma’ (पुत्रधर्म), ‘pita dharma’ (पिताधर्म), ‘shikshak dharma’ (शिक्षकधर्म). Similarly, in our interaction with the gross material world, we have a unique ‘dharma,’ that enables us to protect it rather than exploit it.
# The systems that man has created called ‘sampradayas’ (सम्प्रदाय) that enable him to transcend his human existence and reach higher realms of consciousness also is called his ‘dharma.’

Thus, the all-encompassing ‘Dharma’ which is grossly misunderstood and equated only to ‘religion’ has a much wider definition.

The main purpose of education is to gain knowledge of all the aspects of ‘Dharma’, from gross to subtle. This involves ‘seeking’. At the highest level, it is seeking the ‘Absolute Truth’ [सत्यं ज्ञानमनन्तं ब्रह्म]. Thus, knowledge of brahman or of the Absolute Truth is equated to Supreme Knowledge, of the highest order. Brahman is believed to be both the underlying as well as the material cause of this entire creation. Brahman is also known as ‘aatma’ (आत्मा) or ‘aatmatattva’ (आत्मतत्व) or ‘parabrahman’ (परब्रह्म) or ‘paramatma’ (परमात्मा) - as is revealed to the ‘seeker’ of that ‘Truth.’

This creation is the ‘universal form’ (or विश्वरूप) of ‘paramatma’ or ‘Brahman’. Man is believed to be made in the same exact ‘form’ as ‘Brahman.’ The unravelling this ’Truth’ is called as ‘Brahmajnana’ (ब्रह्मज्ञान). Two aspects of knowledge are - knowledge about oneself, known as ‘Brahmajnana’ and its material counterpart is knowledge about ‘creation’. Due to the multifarious forms that ‘paramatma’ assumes in this material creation, knowledge also can be sought at various levels & in various forms.

The philosophical history of Bharat has proven that the culture of wisdom and knowledge has given Bharat its immortal status. Because the ‘vision of life’ (जीवनदृष्टि) developed on this highest platform of 'knowledge culture' is the most accepting, devoid of exploitation and can harmoniously co-exist with other differing philosophies & traditions of the world, while holding the capability to guide and reform deviant ones too. Thus, from times immemorial, Bharat has held the beacon light to the world.

Internally, it has preserved this 'vision of life' or Jeevan Drishti by a careful transference of knowledge from one generation to the next and this transference of knowledge is called ‘Bharatiya Shiskha or Education.’

This is how broad is scope of knowledge is.

= Where do we get this knowledge? =
Contrary to our understanding, knowledge is acquired at three centres:

# Home
# Gurukul
# Society

Home and Gurukul are predominant till a certain age while Home and Society becomes predominant after that. It is a lifelong process. When we consider education in this scope, then we will be able to place the Gurukul education in the right context. If home fails and Gurukul succeeds (or vice-versa), we do not get the desired results.

Home is the centre for moulding behaviours, Gurukul is the centre for moulding intellect and society is the centre for action. Education at home is led by parents, at Gurukul by acharyas and in society by Dharmacharyas (remember, the definition of Dharma is much beyond religion).

So, when we are thinking of setting up Bhartiya Education system, we need to ensure that all the three centres are functioning appropriately.

= The Process of Acquiring Knowledge =
There are a number of faculties/tools which we as human beings possess via which knowledge is acquired. When knowledge gets associated with these tools, it manifests itself in various forms:

* There are two sets of tools for interfacing with the external world.

# There are 5 sense organs (ज्ञानेन्द्रियाँ) which help us in making sense of the entire world around us. These sense organs are – eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. When knowledge gets associated with these organs, it takes the form of sensation.
# There are 5 action organs (कर्मेन्द्रियाँ) which help us do things. These are – voice, hands, feet, anus and genitals. When knowledge gets associated with these organs, it takes the form of action.

* There are five tools of knowledge acquisition which are at subtle levels. There are:

# Mind (मन): Knowledge at this level manifests as thoughts and feelings.
# Intellect (बुद्धि): Knowledge at this level manifests as decision making ability.
# Ahankaar (अहंकार): Knowledge at this level manifests as responsibility of doing and enduring the results of doing.
# Chitta (चित्त): Knowledge at this level manifests as samskara (संस्कार), the store house of all our experiences of lifetimes.
# Hriday (ह्रदय): Knowledge at this level manifests as realization. This is the level of knowledge access achieved by all the knowledgeable Rishis of India.

So there are a total of 15 such tools which nature has given us to acquire knowledge. The level or evolution and skill at each of these tools determines the level of knowledge one can acquire. The education system should be such that all these faculties are developed to their full potential to allow smoother acquisition of knowledge. The education system today is so focused on just one of these faculties – the intellect. This makes it very constrained and incomplete.

Getting the right understanding of how these faculties functions, using various means to develop these faculties and once the faculties are developed, using them to achieve knowledge excellence in the area of interest, should be primary goal of the education system.

Once we recognize this, the next is to develop the level of understanding of order of growth of these faculties. Each faculty becomes active at a certain age. If a specific faculty is not yet active, the child cannot acquire knowledge meant to be acquired by that faculty. It is the responsibility of the acharyas to understand this and teach in a way that facilitates knowledge acquisition based on knowledge acquiring faculties at that age. Without this, all knowledge delivered by the acharyas do not reach the student, nor can an acharya create an environment which can strengthen these faculties.

Clearly, the first part of the education needs to focus on developing the growth of faculties using subjects as a medium. Once the faculties are developed, we can use them to develop the proficiency in subjects. These subjects obviously needs to be aligned to the child’s inclination. This means that there is a clear demarcation between these two stages. We could call these two stages as ‘FOUNDATION’ and ‘ADVANCED’.

Here we delve into each of these life stages and explore the panchkoshas, curriculum and pedagogy:

=== Pregnancy (गर्भावस्था) and early childhood (शिशुअवस्था, 0-5 years) ===
When a child is born, it carries ‘samskaaras’ (संस्कार) from three different sources: samskara from previous births, samskara from its predecessors i.e. through genetics and samskara via the mother in the womb during pregnancy. While the previous two are predetermined, the ones the child obtains from the womb are significant. Therefore, mother is called the first teacher of the child & thus, educating the mother is vital. Thus, she undergoes samskaaras such as garbhadaan (गर्भाधान), pumsavan (पुंसवन), seemantonayan (सीमन्तोन्नयन) which bear favourable impressions on the child in the womb.

From birth upto 5 years is considered shishuavastha. Whatever child receives becomes its foundational samskaaras as its ‘chitta’ (चित्त) is most active. The knowledge seeking indriyas (इन्द्रियाँ) too are activated.

Its experience with sound, touch, form, juice, smell has to be auspicious, beautiful & happy as it lays the foundation for it to develop its own approach to life & it has to be a positive one. He has to experience that life is beautiful and world has a lot of goodness to offer. Therefore, the mantra for this age is ‘lalayet panchavarshani’ (लालयेत पंचवर्षानी) or fill the child’s life with love.

Shishuvatika @ Vidyakshetra has a natural, homely atmosphere with motherly adults as its teachers. Child is encouraged to wear natural fabric such as cotton. The toys are handpicked, made from natural material such as wood & bamboo. A large play area is made available with fruit bearing trees such as mango and chickoo so the child has vision of auspicious trees and hears melodious sounds of chirping birds, has plentiful exposure to the rays of sun, and cool breezes touch its skin day in and day out.

The child is exposed to fine languages such as Sanskrit shlokas, Bhagavat Gita, daily Panchanga shravana. Huge emphasis is given to language development and in the womb the child is exposed to mother tongue. Therefore, child is exposed only to Kannada (the local language & mother tongue of over 90% children in shishuvatika) in this stage of its development. If a child is prematurely introduced to reading and writing, its language development skill of proper pronunciation, tonality, meaning, sentence structuring etc becomes debilitated.

A naughty child is given no harsh instructions but is gently brought into the right space by the teacher using songs and rhythms which forms the primary part of inculcating disciplinary practices in the child. Rhythms of day, of the week, of the month and of the seasons etc go deep in its understanding the seasons, the days etc and this also lays the foundation of a good discipline for the child.  There is no scope for harshness, chiding the child or punishing it in shishuvatika as it has a deep bearing on its psyche.

The body (अन्नमय कोष) of the child is developing. Therefore, his nourishment is well taken care of. A balanced menu as per ayurvedic principles has been developed, organic rice, dals and vegetables procured and a roster of parents along with a cook prepare lunch on daily basis. Such food is offered with love and care to children in shishuvatika.

Play in shishuvatika is a serious affair. Man has been gifted with hands to do work and serve others. This samskaar has to be developed right in shishuavastha. It develops through holding, breaking and throwing things. Further, hands develop by playing in water, in sand and soil. To develop the karmendriya called hands, sufficient opportunities are provided in shishuvatika- to clean up after play, to fold clothes, to water the plants, to dig, to sweep, to swab etc. Children have the rhythm of cooking once a week- they experience cutting, pounding, grating, peeling etc which help strengthen the hands and ready the hands for the work it is meant for.

All this is aided by deep engagement with parents to educate them as well for the right environment at home.

=== Childhood (बालावस्था, 6-12 years) ===
This phase starts when the child becomes 6 years old. This is the age of action and experiential learning. Parents should focus on creating interest in all the types of work and development of skills to get things done. Inculcation of good habits, development of virtues, teaching aspects of self-control and modesty, humility, and discipline is the responsibility of the parents. Children should get opportunities to play hard and work hard. Reading, painting, music, productions, languages are the areas which should become more and more experiential.

This is the age of loving discipline. The mind is capable of following directions and getting inspired. Hence inspirational conversations and stories should be used. With all this the orientation towards home and society would increase.

The change from early childhood (शिशुअवस्था) to childhood (बालावस्था) is gradual. The first two years of childhood are these transition years. In these transition years, the child starts doing its own work itself. During this transition, the child learns to listen and follow instructions and advice. The mindset needs to transition from playfulness to responsibility and to discipline. This is also the time when formal education begins. The parents need to handle this transition well.

Now the two centres of knowledge – home and gurukul. Probably, home is still primary. The aspect of action and experiential learning applies to both the places. The goal of education in gurukul is to develop the panchkoshas and use subjects as a means of developing those. Hence the process of learning needs to give specific focus on this process of development. For example, for development of Annamayakosha there should be sports and a lot of physical activities. For development of Manomayakosha, there should be Yoga and Sangeeta, for Vigyanmayakosha there should be Maths and Science, for anandmayakosha there should be kalas, literature, poetry etc. Then there needs to be aspects of home science, sociology, dharma, culture, Itihaasa, geography, environment, Adhyaatm (आध्यात्म) etc. All these subjects will help the child start relating to home, society, country and the world. It is the skill of the acharya to weave and link every small activity to learning goals and make learning a pleasant experience.

==== '''Education at home''' ====
Education at home should focus on developing qualities like love, empathy, putting others before oneself, helping others, the aspect of seva etc. All these can only be taught to the child by displaying these qualities at home by the parents, by narrating and discussing inspiring stories and incidents or by insisting on them to learn these aspects. Daily routines need to develop like sleeping time, wake up time, eating time, proper habits of eating etc. Then they should start gaining proficiency in doing household work. In all this, there should be a sense of taking forward the family traditions.

==== '''Education in Gurukul''' ====
The education in Gurukul should start focusing on laying the foundation of panchkosha development using subjects. This would encompass three aspects: the subjects, the developmental goals and the pedagogical principles.

===== Subject Categories =====
We could map the development of Panchkosha to three categories of subjects: Kriya (क्रिया), Ichcha (इच्छा) and Gyaan (ज्ञान). Following figure shows a rough mapping:

In our traditional text, there is a mention of 64 subjects (कलाएं) which were taught in the Gurukul. Though it requires a deeper research on how to make these contextual in today’s world, there is a definition of 24 subjects which we have done at Vidyakshetra which are making to the three categories. Here are the list of subjects:

* '''Kriya (क्रिया) subjects''': These subjects focus on Annamaya and Pranmaya koshas. The goal is to increase the intensity of the activities which were being done in early childhood (4 and 5 years). There are 6 subjects in this category:
** Agriculture, House Construction, Cloth making and Handwork, Pottery, Kalari / Yoga and Woodwork.
* '''Ichcha (इच्छा) subjects''': These subjects focus on Pranmaya and Manomaya kosha. These koshas would start developing during this phase. There are 6 subjects in this category:
** Tabla, Flute, Sangeeta, Bharatnatyam, Painting and Theatre
* '''Gyan (ज्ञान) subjects''': These subjects focus on manomaya and vygyanmaya kosha. The goal is to crate an intellectual base for the child. There are 12 subjects in this category, which are further divided into 5 areas:
** 3 Language: These include Kannada, Sanskrit and English. Spoken Hindi is also included but is not treated as subject.
** 3 aspects of Maths: Apart from the aspects of core, mathematics, there is a very elaborate curriculum for geometry which starts at a very early age. Then there is an introduction to astronomy as well.
** 3 aspects of Science: These include Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
** 3 aspects of Sociology: These include History (इतिहास), Geography (भूगोल) and Culture (संस्कृति).

===== Developmental Goals =====
These subjects are introduced to children at different ages based on the developmental stages of all the koshas. As these subjects are used to develop panchkoshas, the manifestation of these developments are expected to be seen in the following aspects:

* '''Cultural Development ('''सांस्कृतिक विकास''')''': There are multiple aspects to this development. Children should learn about purity and righteousness. Experientially it may mean things like not entering the temple or kitchen with taking bath, washing both hands and legs before eating food, not using outside slippers/shoes inside the house etc. Children should learn how to establish relationship with nature including plants, animals and all the things around. Experientially this may mean feeding the birds/animals, watering the plants, creating family relations like calling rivers, cow and Tulasi as mother or invocation to mother earth as you get up early in the morning and many more. All these should happen through stories. Wherever possible these aspects should be added to the subject being taught.
* '''Etiquettes and Virtues ('''शिष्टाचार और सदाचार''')''': This also in many ways is a part of the cultural development but needs a special mention. It is important to understand what is indecent and what is misconduct in specific situations. Avoiding them would be a good starting point for etiquettes. Virtues like speaking truth, respecting elders, giving seva, empathy towards the weak and protecting them, protecting the environment, understanding tangible and intangible profit, contentment while understanding the difference between needs and wants etc. are things that should be weaved in the education fabric while teaching various topics and subjects.
* '''Self-Control ('''संयम''')''': Childhood (6+ years) marks the beginning of the Bhrahmcharya ashram for the students. This is the age to learn and practice various types of self control to mould the character, develop qualities and enhance mental and intellectual potential. Four important types of controls which should be focused on are:
*# Taste: Eating everything cooked at home without being critical or wasting it. Controlling the urge to eat junk food or outside food.
*# Money: Being thrift, maintaining your possessions for longer usage, knowing the difference between cost and value, ability to judge the quality and cost of things etc.
*# Words: Usage of good words, sweet language, speaking softly, not getting into unnecessary arguments, not making fun of elders etc.
*# Time: Finishing things well but on time, not wasting time etc.
* '''Tenacity and Endurance ('''तपश्चर्या और तितिक्षा''')''': This has an extraordinary importance in the life of a human being. The practice of this should being in the childhood. Various behavioural aspects should be identified to build it. Some of the easiest ways would be the practice of fasting, developing ability to work for longer hours, being in silence, doing japa (जप), following the rules, not giving into attractions of food/clothes/mobile, learning not to complain in adverse situations etc.
* '''Aspects of Yagya (यज्ञ), Daan (दान), Tyaag (त्याग) and Seva (सेवा)''' should become an integral part of the development of the child.

So, we see that the entire focus of the curriculum in Gurukul is to develop character, develop Panchkosha using the subjects and build a foundation of the subjects themselves. It is important to understand that children spend only a part of their day at Gurukul. The other part is spent at home. What the child learns at both the places should be in sync and rhythm. If the learnings at the two places are out of sync, we will end up creating a confused character. What child learns at Gurukul, the actual practice of it happens at home. Hence it is of utmost importance that the parents understand the nuances of the Gurukul and compliment it with the right atmosphere at home. Parents are guided on ways of controlling habits before minds (मनोमयकोष) becomes active. Gurukul is responsible for creating this engagement levels with the parents.

===== Pedagogical Principles =====
Some of the pedagogical principles we apply at Vidyakshetra to offer all of these to children as as follows:

# Personalized lesson plans based on nature and temperament.
# Development of habits to control nature of the child.
# Development of daily routines, seasonal routines and life routines.
# Approach of self-control as against external control
# Instruction led and experiential Acharya-Kulam. This is a concept of same acharya being the class teacher for a group of students for 7 years, all through the childhood duration.
# Learning from experts
# For some subjects, children from multiple age groups are grouped together for more effective learning.
# No Books. No exams.
# Experiential learning aided by experiments, trips and workshops.
# Panchkosh based assessment & reporting.

Children are exposed to all the 24 subjects covering Kriya, Ichcha and Gyaan. By the time they are 12 years, they would have explored all these dimensions. At the end of 12 years, children should have identified their Vritti (वृत्ति) with the help and guidance of the acharya. It is a skill that the acharya should develop where he/she is aware of the needs of the nation and society, match it with the vritti of the child and mould the child to meet those needs.

With this foundation in childhood, the child would be ready to take up the journey of the next stage, aligned to his/her vritti.

=== Adolescence (किशोरावस्था, 13-15 years) ===
This is the time when teenage sets in. This is an infectious age filled with confusion. Hormonal changes aggrevate the 6 doshas of manomayakosha and intellect starts becoming hungry. The child cannot decide whether to behave as an adult or as a child. Parents specifically need to be vey cautious. Hormonal changes set in. Masculine and Feminine indications start showing up. Subconscious attraction to opposite sex sets in which can be very distracting for the children. Educating children regarding this is of utmost importance at this time for the parents. This is the time when hard work, physical fitness, self-control, virtuous behaviour, following instructions etc. needs to be observed under strict discipline. The strictness and the discipline of the parents is usually responded with a sense of rebellion. Parents need to develop the skill to manage it. This becomes a little easier if the aspects of education mentioned in the childhood are practiced well. At the same time, now, children should get an opportunity to shoulder some responsibilities and enhance their thinking faculty.

==== Subject Categories ====
This is also the time when the 24 subjects, they got exposed to in childhood, of which they did all the subjects for atleast 2 years, the number of subjects should reduce. There should be more focus on the areas which are aligned to their vritti, and hence the profession, which was identified at the end of 12 years. The subjects aligned to the vritti should be taught in greater depth.

Keeping these in mind, the curriculum and pedagogy should be designed in the Gurukul. It might be beneficial to segregate the closeness between boys and girls at this time. Closeness with parents and acharyas should be orchestrated. The attitude of rebellion should not be countered by anger or anxiety. It should be countered by straight forward, clear, confident and calm orders.

Some of the key aspects of the curriculum are as follows:

* 12-13 years – Ramayana
* 14-15 years – Mahabharata
* Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti integrated curriculum.
* Kala and Painting – intense and precise
* Language – Debates, grammar
* Projects integrating व्यष्टि, समष्टि, सृष्टि and परमेष्ठी
* Analytical/logical/synthesis – Science, Math, Geometry, Astronomy
* Physical fitness, tenacity, flexibility, strength

From the perspective of Panchkoshas, childhood (previous stage) was the time when 5 sense organs and 5 action organs of the annamayakosha, and feeling realm of the Manomayakisha were predominantly developing. Hence the pedagogy was more experiential and inspirational. Instructions and following the instructions were main tools. But now during adolescence, the thinking faculty of the Manomayakosha and inspection/test/asses of Vigyaanmayakosha are developing. Thinking faculty of Manomayakosha means that when the child sees or hears something, it will remember it, will try to look at various aspects of it, will try to understand it, will try to imagine the impact and consequences of it and conclude on what is right and what is wrong. There isn’t a lot of analysis in this process. Good foundation in childhood makes adolescence easier to handle.

This is also the time when parents and children should strengthen the aspects of courage, self-confidence, fearlessness, eagerness to take up challenges and string desire to overcome them.

==== Developmental Goals ====
As we design this curriculum and pedagogy, we can have a laundry list of expectations from the child at the end of 15 years. This should be worked backwards and incorporated. Few expectations or goals should be:

* Intellectual expectations

# Recitation of Bhagwad Gita and little understanding of the content.
# Little understanding of our Veda, Upanishad and related Bharatiya knowledge systems.
# Fluency in Sanskrit
# Proficiency in math tables from 1 to 30 and mental math
# Language expertise in spoken mother-tongue
# Knowledge of at least 10 great kings of Bahratiya Itihaasa.
# Panchang knowledge with 9 planets, 12 Indian months, 12 Rashis and 27 Nakshatras.
# Good knowledge of Indian geography including rivers, mountains, states, languages, local cultural traditions etc.
# Sangeeta, Abhinaya
# Beautiful written expressions
# The list is only indicative and can be enhanced or modified.

* Behavioural expectations

# Is the child capable of going to the market to get groceries, daily need items, shoes, clothes etc? Can the child assess the quality and cost combination for the items?
# Is the child capable of making a monthly budget for the household needs?
# Can the child do reservations for travel to any corner of India?
# Can the child celebrate occasions like birthday or any other happy occasion in a beautiful way, maintaining the balance on expenses.
# Can the child prepare the menu for a meal for guests?
# Has the child developed skills to clean the house, utensils, clothes etc.
# Can the child stay alone at home for few days and manage? Can the child host guests?
# Can the child happily spend 24 hours without TV, mobile or gadgets?
# Can the child conduct a pooja, yagya or decoration of pooja ghar?
# The list is only indicative and can be enhanced or modified.

* Cultural expectations

# Can the child select the personal items which do not damage the environment?
# Does the child have awareness of issues like terrorism, Hindutva, economic crisis, difference between disrespect and disagreement etc.?
# Does the child have awareness of the ideologies of various political parties?
# Is there a thought of the type of contributions they would do to make Bharat a ‘VishvaGuru’ or contribute to ‘Make in India’ initiative?
# Do they want to visit various places of cultural significance in Bharat?
# Can they culturally represent Bharat in Europe, America, Australia or Africa?
# Have they identified an area of samaj seva for themselves?
# Is there awareness of social traditions, can they discriminate between good and bad rituals?
# Do they discuss about the state of the Bharat in general?

Some of these topics may be heavy for their age. But they are essential for them to formulate a direction of life for themselves in years to come. They are worth giving a thought both for the parents and for the acharyas.

* Professional Expectations

# As mentioned earlier, this is the age where they start acquiring the skills to excel in the identified professional area. This identification was done by the time they were 12 years of age. Whatever is the area of profession, the mindset and the context which needs to be built is that of seva for the society and mother nature. The understanding that the wellbeing of the society and the world would eventually render personal wellbeing.
# The orientation of the child should be either to continue the tradition of family profession or if that does not exist then, start off that tradition. The goal should be to enhance the traditional knowledge, make it contextually relevant and take it forward.
# The skills required to undertake the profession should start getting enhanced by this time. By the time the child is 15, he should be able to do apprenticeship under professionals. Achieving that level of expertise should be a key expectation.
# The chosen profession, whether employment or own production, should be looked at as a way of earning for the child.

This gives us a comprehensive list of expectations around which the curriculum and pedagogy needs to be designed and delivered.

==== Pedagogical Principles ====
The pedagogical principles should change based on this development. Gurukul and acharyas should ensure that the information levels start becoming universal, difficulty levels should start increasing, they should understand the problems, plan for solutions and actually solve problems. For example, if you have to go from Bangalore to Delhi, then what are the different ways, what are the pros and cons of each way could be a good challenge. If there is an earthquake in some part of the world, how could relief efforts reach that place. Various types of surveys in the social/cultural realm would be very good for the children. These are all examples of pedagogical principals.

Some of the aspects of pedagogy which is kept in mind are:

# Inspiration Lead by a subject matter expert
# Draw connections.
# Dialogue, Debates and projects driven.
# Demand for intensity, precision and beauty.
# Identification and alignment to Vritti.
# Learn to make mistakes, develop ability for proper discrimination and decision.
# Introduction to community centred socio-economics systems

One key question which we should also address is the whole concept of equality of men and women. The western distorted definition of equality is that women should be able to do all the things a man can do. Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti helps us clear this myth by understanding the similarities and the differences between a man and a woman. Nature created two different categories of human beings for a purpose. The education should be structured such that every girl can become a woman of full potential and every boy should become a man of full potential. Distorted views lead to cultural crisis and wokeness we are seeing in the world today.

There is no difference between boy and a girl as far as spiritual (आध्यात्मिक) and intellectual (बौद्धिक) topics are concerned. Both should be exposed to the same books, discussions and understanding. But the difference between them at physical level and mental level is natural and expected. In Bharatiya society, the two would eventually come together to form a single, inseparable unit of the society. The woman runs the family, and the man supports, protects and helps her in all possible ways to make it happen. It is ideal that the husband and wife have developed skills in the same profession. This lays the foundation of family profession and allows for starting off a tradition. The children in this age are not yet married or are expected to fulfil these expectations. But their mindset should be developed so that such a possibility can become a reality in the future. Towards this, there should be provision to get them the understanding of concepts of Kula, Gotra, Vansh, Ishta Devta, Kula Devta etc. as well.

Children will become 15 years old as they undergo a few years of self-control, strict discipline and hard work. They would start feeling that they are grownups and the people around them would also attest to it. As that happens, the instinct to become more independent will also start growing. They have the direction, skills, ability to handle responsibilities. They may still need some support in decision making, but that is a part of the process.

=== Young Adulthood (युवावस्था, 16-21 years) ===
This stage of the student can be divided into two parts – 16-19 years and 19+ years. The reason we have capped it to 21 years is because that would define the formal association of the child with the Gurukul. The reason they are clubbed together is because this represents the time span when panchakoshas are developed, prudence and decision-making ability has come in but the family life has not yet started. This is the final leg of preparation before the child is handed over to the society for the remaining part of his or her life. It is the time life’s directions and Jeevan Drishti takes final shape before independent practice of it begins.

This is the age where Brahmcharya must be strictly practiced. This is the way to strengthen self-control and concentration, physical fitness and ability, reign in the physical and mental faculties. Sense of responsibility should get stronger; decision-making should be with prudence and scientific in nature. Youth is the treasure for the family, society, and the nation. He or she should become worthy of being one.

This is the age when the child tastes independence and at the same time energy levels, physical, mental and intellectual, are high. This is time to become serious about workmanship, exercise and sports. At least 2 hours of physical exertion which results in profuse sweating should become a part of the curriculum. So does some serious yoga practice. Specifically, the focus should be on the first 5 out of 8 limbs propounded by Patanjali – Yam (यम), Niyam (नियम), Aasan (आसन), Pranayama (प्राणायाम) and Pratyaahaar (प्रत्याहार). This is the time when the student should understand the responsibilities and expectations of various stages of life, various ashramas and the Jeevan Drishti of how everything should be done from now on. There should be absolute control on modern fashion, perverted entertainment, boy-girl relationships and addictions.

This is the age to get deeper education in the chosen life’s direction. This means reading the right shastra and granth. All the intellectual capacity should get deployed into Adhyayan. Collect all possible information, understand concepts and contexts, analyse and synthesize behavioural aspects. Professional competence in the chose area should be fully developed between 16-19 years. This is aided by working under a professional subject matter expert. Post 19 years, the student should be in a position to start earning either independently or under guidance. He should have a clear understanding of what it means to be a Dharmic Professional. Few points which may guide the student are:

* First choice, family profession.

# If there is a family profession, continue and enhance that.
# If there was a family profession but your father stopped doing it, restart it.
# If there was no family profession or you have strong reasons to change it, consult learned people, your acharyas and parents to understand your vritti and chose a profession accordingly.

* Second choice, production. If you get into production, then base it on life energies (of human or animals) rather than energy forms developed by humans like electricity or electricity driven machines. This may take some time to become a reality, but a bridge should be created in that direction. Also avoid the modern industrial setups of employer and employee. Avoid anything which harms and impacts the health of environment and consumer. Focus should be on researching for alternates if modern professional practices are otherwise.

* If you chose to be in trade and commerce, rather than production, design the setup such that the investment in non-productive aspects is minimal.
* If you chose to dedicate your life in the service of the society with professions like acharya, doctor, Dharmacharya or Priest, then you would not do it for money. Have faith in the societal support to take care of you.
* The lowest form of profession would be to get employed under a person who is into production.

The curriculum and pedagogy should be designed to get these indicators imprinted in the student’s mind. There are gaps today in the society to allow the youth to adopt a professional model listed above. It is the duty of the acharya and the institute to spend adequate time in research, in creating the right network of professionals who are subject matter experts and help the students experience a working model. This is very important till the time such a setup becomes a norm in the society.

The design at Vidyakshetra considers this design as a combination of two streams: Professional stream and Bharatiya Jeevan Drishti stream. One stream runs with professional mentors and the other is anchored with acharyas in Vidyakshetra.

By the time children are out of Vidyakshetra, at the age of 21, they should be in a position to start their professional life, should have a sound foundation of Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti and should have laid a foundation to achieve the purpose of their lives.

== Conclusion ==
Hope we got a gist of the thought process, goals and outcomes of the curriculum and pedagogy which needs to be designed in a Gurukul. Education is life long but the goals and methods are different in different stages of life. Here, our focus was to cover the stages which are there till the Gurukul education gets over. Achieving all the desired outcomes is a journey which Vidyakshetra has taken up in partnership with the parents and society at large. We are on a continuous improvement journey and we seek blessings from all of you to be successful in making this a main stream education system in Vikasit Bharat of 2047.

Gurukul in the 21st century

2023-10-29T01:19:17Z

MuneetD:

= Introduction =
Bharat literally refers to someone who is absorbed in the pursuit of knowledge. This has been the cultural identity of India from time immemorial. Traditionally there have been many forms of educational institutions in India – ‘AcharyaKul’, ‘Gurukul’, ‘Paathshala’, ‘Vidyalaya’, ‘Agrahara’, ‘Vidyapeeth’, ‘Vishva Vidyalaya’ etc. When we visualize such an educational institution or a Gurukul, then the picture which comes in front of us is that of a natural environment in a jungle with an ashram, in the ashram there are many small, thatched huts and rishis are doing yagya. There are deer running around, some students studying under a tree, somewhere vedas are being recited. Everyone seems to be happy and content.

But when we look at the education institutions of today, we cannot see this imagery. Today’s picture is that of a large concrete building boasting of electronic boards and latest technology, concrete ground with little or no greenery, bored & tired children wearing blazer suits travelling long distances in yellow school buses on crowded streets and polluted environment. The benchmark of a good institution seems to be correlated to large buildings, latest technology, air-conditioned classrooms & school buses- basically good amenities! Institutions which do not have that sort of infrastructure are not considered good institutions. This is having a stark difference from the imagery of a traditional Gurukul. A lot seems to have changed since those days. This includes the uniforms, language, subjects, context, mentality of the students and the teachers etc. Everything seems to have changed.

If someone wants to start a Gurukul in today’s time and age, then, there needs to be absolute clarity on the concept of a traditional Gurukul, how it can be made contemporary & set in today’s context. This understanding should become the foundation of the educational institute. There should be clarity on all its elements- from the vision to its principles to putting the team together, to its infrastructure to managing its operations efficiently, etc.

When there is clarity of thought process then there will be two aspects of execution – One to transform the existing educational institutions running under the governmental framework and second would be to create a new Gurukul grounds up. There is higher probability of maintaining the purity of the concept of a Gurukul when we start from scratch. That is the audience this article is addressing.

= Various aspects of a Gurukul =
To start a Gurukul, there are 6 important aspects where clarity of understanding is required. Two of these aspects are before the start of the Gurukul and four aspects kick in after the Gurukul is started.

Aspects to be considered before starting the Gurukul are:

# Who should start a Gurukul? Should it be the education department of the government, should it be an industrialist, should it be someone very rich, should it be a teacher or somebody else.
# What should be the preparation?

Aspects to be considered after starting the Gurukul are:

# How do I get teachers and acharyas in the Gurukul? This is where most of the Gurukuls struggle.
# What standards of child development should the Gurukul follow? The definition of the standards of development is very important in ensuring the Gurukul is going in the right direction.
# What would be the economic model to run Gurukul operations? Money is needed to run the operations in a Gurukul. We need to consider in what form and shape the cash flow needs to be managed.
# What would be the other operational aspects of the Gurukul? Aspects of day-to-day management, systems, processes, etc needs to be considered.

We will delve into each of these aspects one by one.

= Who should start a Gurukul? =
One of the characteristics of Indian way of building systems is whoever is supposed to do a specific task should do it with a sense of utmost responsibility and sincerity. For example, if the citizens of a country need food to eat, then it is the farmers responsibility to cater to their needs. Traders are supposed to manage the supply chain to ensure that every person has access to the yield. If there is life threat to citizens of any country, then their protection is the responsibility of the army and the police. In the same way, if the citizens of a country want to become knowledgeable, it is the responsibility of the acharyas to cater to that need. In this way, whoever is assigned a responsibility based on their capability, then that responsibility is his duty. This has been a tradition of this country. Gurukul and related education system is the responsibility of the acharyas. It is not the responsibility of the government.

When an acharya decides to create a Gurukul, one main distinction needs to be understood. That distinction is between the service sector and commercial sector. Traditionally too, commercial sector involves activities where the driving force is profit making, albeit in a ‘dharmic’ way. Service Sector involves activities wherein the intention is serving to nourish the life of fellow human beings without the intention of profit making. So, when one serves, money is not exchanged as a return for that service. Gurukul and education system in general, is a system which falls under service sector. There are many people in the society who want to serve the society. They can be rich people, people who are a part of government administration, parents, teachers etc. The usual steps of opening an educational institute have been either of the two ways:

# Some rich people, philanthropists, who feel that children in the society should get good education, start an educational institute.
# Government under some welfare scheme establishes a public educational institute.

Once the institute is set in one of the above two ways, then teachers are recruited to teach. This processes of opening a Gurukul is the source of all the problems in the education system today.

The right process of opening a Gurukul involves a capable acharya, who decides to setup the institution. Such an acharya should have three fundamental qualities:

# He should be a well-wisher of the society. He should be willing to work for the betterment of the society as a goal of his life.
# He should be knowledgeable and should be looking forward to expanding his realm of knowledge. Knowledgeable means knowledgeable in Indian Knowledge Systems. He should understand the Indian philosophy of life, should understand how to create a lifestyle based on that philosophy, understand the resulting behaviours in depth and are knowledgeable about how the political systems, economic systems, social systems are created based on those behaviour patterns. He is an acharya who understands the national problems and has an intention of catering to national needs.
# He should have the skill of teaching and must be well versed in dealing with students and in dealing with his subject.

These qualities make an acharya eligible to establish a Gurukul. One needs to spend time and effort to acquire this eligibility. The more capable the acharya, the stronger the foundation of the Gurukul. To attain more and more maturity as an acharya is very important. Understanding national needs in the global context and creating a local setup to cater to it is the mantra. Understanding it conceptually, creating a practical approach to it, planning to build a conducive environment, appropriate systems and a suitable mentality would be some of the elements of pre-preparation by acharyas.

Such acharya’s mindset should be based on Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti. In Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti, there is deeper understanding and appreciation of aspects such as sacrifice (त्याग), restraint (संयम), selfless service (सेवा), cultivating meditatively (साधना), asceticism (तपश्चर्या) in social life. These aspects are placed at a higher pedestal than wealth, position or glory. While wealth, position and glory have its place but doing things which are in everybody’s interest, for everybody’s welfare and service to all are some of our ultimate life values. When social and political systems are built on these values, its look and feel is entirely different. That changed look and feel is the need of the hour.

Such would be the type of acharyas which would be required to start a Gurukul. If it means to spend a little more time to get to this stage, it is advisable to give that time. It is also a great idea to form a core team of 3-4 aligned people. If these things are in place, then the acharya should show the guts to start a Gurukul. This evaluation is the first steps towards the journey.

= What should be the preparation? =
At the outset, the Gurukul idea is being conceptualized and nurtured and this activity must be given sufficient time and energy. Physical institution creation can wait. It can be done at ease & must not become the focus in the initial phase. Enough time must be spent on getting a sense of the reality and operational details. This process can have the following sequence of steps:

# Visiting all the institutions which that run as Gurukuls.
#* Collect information, get to know about their inspirations, about the favourable situations they had, their challenges and how they faced them.
#* This should become the foundation of your Gurukul’s journey and help you articulate your own ideology.
# Getting to know the history of Indian education of last 150-200 years.
#* Understanding the effect of impairment for Indian Education, how the society and systems changed, how the Indian mentality changed.
#* Analysing the chronology of events and reaching to the right conclusions.
# Thinking about and creating a mental map of how the curriculum and pedagogy should look like based on today’s time, circumstance and need.

The curriculum of the Gurukul will be based on the research and the preparation of the acharya who is starting the Gurukul. It depends on acharya’s understanding of the problems the nation is facing, understanding various aspects of development including educational aspects, systemic aspects and economic aspects, and understanding the philosophy of Indian life. The curriculum of the Gurukul should not be influenced by or be based on the government accreditation. Government accreditation of curriculum or passing examination conducted by government agencies is not what a Gurukul aims at or stands for.

If this aspect is not thought through, then there is very high probability that the curriculum being used in regular government schools will eventually be adopted in the Gurukul, succumbing to parental or external pressures because of lack of clarity on our own vision. And that would mean that there would be no difference between the Gurukul and regular run-of-the-mill schooling system. In a Gurukul, we want to sow the seeds for the next generation to uphold good virtues, ethics, cultured and become a generation who can give shape to the society based on Indian ethos, who can guide the administration to build systems based on forethought & foresight (Indian knowledge traditions) etc. When this happens, we can say that the curriculum has achieved its goals.

As the curriculum is being carved, we need to have clarity on two aspects in the area of knowledge. These are ‘aspects of principles’ and ‘aspects of implementation’. The principles are eternal whereas the implementation changes based on the country, times and circumstances. Implementation plan should take into consideration the local situation (place where foundation of Gurukul will be laid), holistic situation of the nation, the mentality of the local population and the conditions in the world. That is why there should be clarity on both the aspects:

# What are the principles which would characterize development?
# Based on those principles, how should implementation look like for 21st century?

This step requires study, deliberation, contemplation and spending time with it.

The Gurukul can start with 10 to 12 small children also, but its goals and context should be comprehensive. Comprehensiveness would mean having the context of the needs of the nation, covering education from childhood to becoming a youth ready to take on responsibilities, covering at least two generations in its setup. When we think with such a comprehensive and long-term context, we realize that just because we thought about it, just because we did some ad-hoc preparation and we quickly started the Gurukul, things would not work out. Such an exercise would have major implications. We should take at least 3-5 years to contemplate, study, research and articulate the vision of Gurukul and its operations. This exercise should be done along the seed team of acharyas. Without this, we would not be able to achieve the goals for which Gurukul was started. First, a holistic conceptualization needs to be done, then as a small part of a big picture, Gurukul should be started at a smaller level. This would create the right foundation of a Gurukul.

= How to create a team of acharyas? =
An acharya is the central axis around which the whole Gurukul revolves. Acharya is not an asset or a resource. First few years of a Gurukul should be focused on creating a team of aligned acharyas. It should also be focused on creating the entire educational program, the curriculum, and the pedagogy. Land, building, corpus, resources etc. are also to be considered but these are not core requirements to start the Gurukul as is creating a team of aligned acharyas. This clarity should be there in our mind.

How should the people joining the Gurukul as acharya be? They should have a mentality for serving the society and the country, rather than viewing it as a way of making money earning. The spirit of seva via education should be primary. Money is required to meet the needs, but the needs should be based on the concept of austerity. People with such mindset are the people who would pass the minimum criteria of becoming associated with the Gurukul. The core team of Gurukul should conduct regular outreach programs for people in their immediate circle of influence. The aim of these programs would be to inspire them and get their mindshare. A rough outline for these outreach programs could be:

# Arrange for regular meetings, video shows, talk shows on wide range of topics which depict the world situation at large, situation of Bharat, situation of the education system etc. These topics could range from ‘chemical farming disasters,’ ‘forest cutting,’ ‘state of education,’ ‘state of rivers/water bodies in Bharat’, ‘family system in Bharat’ and many more…
# Get them to think about issues, in the discussions keep observing their inclinations, attitudes and suitability.
# Some people will stay on and show interest. Focus on people who continue to show interest, are ‘doers,’ ‘have a deeper sense of seva bhava’. Get them to come observe the Gurukul, find ways of engaging them, spend time in understanding their needs, their temperament and give them time to understand the working of Gurukul. This is your potential target lot.
# The initial set of people have to be hand-picked- one at a time, and this is the longest process as there is no set pattern here.
# Once a core team is formed, trainings can be strengthened, and mentorship program can be formalized.

Apart from these another important set of people to be groomed are parents of the children who would take admission in the Gurukul. All these aspects require some thinking about the training modules for the prospective teachers.

Following could be some of the aspects of such a preparation plan:

# Preparation for activities within the Gurukul
#* First thing is to understand what it means to be an acharya and acquiring the skill and capability on those lines.
#* Second is to understand the type of students which come to a Gurukul and realizing, understanding and creating capability to get those students.
#* Understanding the relationship between an acharya and student, and creating capabilities to build such a relationship.
# Preparation for activities outside the Gurukul
#* Understanding the type of relationship which needs to be established with the parents / guardians of the children.
#* Creation of awareness in the society about the need to Gurukul education, about need for supporting the Gurukul economics via events, workshops etc.
#* Engaging the government authorities to ensure that policy frameworks for the society allows the Gurukul system to flourish.

All these aspects are very important for a Gurukul apart from polishing the proficiency in the subject which needs to be taught.

= Understanding the developmental model in a Gurukul =
The developmental model of a Gurukul is not based on the marks students get in an exam. Rather it needs to be much more comprehensive. There are three aspects of these which needs to be considered and accordingly systems need to be created for them. These aspects are:

=== Education ===
There are two vital parts of development in the educational aspect

# '''Education for internal development''': This would entail development of the Panchkoshas. While deciding on the curriculum and pedagogy, the subjects would be used as a medium to bring out the innate possibilities of the human potential. This requires good development of the Annamaya kosha, praanmaya kosha, manomaya kosha, vigyaanmaya kosha and anandmaya kosha.
# '''Education for external development''': This would entail how well we adjust with the fellow human beings in family, society, nation and the world. It also entails our connections with the nature including non-living things, plant life and animal life. It would also entail our journey towards our Moksha (मोक्ष) as we continue to take care of our desires (काम) and ways of fulfilling them (अर्थ) as we live our lives as per the guidance of Dharma (धर्मं).

Considering these as the fundamental principles, we need to focus on creating the following systems in a Gurukul:

# Subjects and Curriculum
# Pedagogy
# Assessment techniques
# Relationship between the acharya and the student
# Process of acquiring knowledge
# Primary and secondary tools of acquiring knowledge.
# Personal, societal, national and global context of education.

Not only do we have to study about all these topics, we need to understand it as per our context or Bharatiya context.

For example: The subjects and curriculum need to be detailed out to cover the head (ज्ञानात्मक), heart (भावनात्मक) and hands (क्रियात्मक). aspects. We need to consider how to contextualise it as per the child development cycle i.e., age appropriateness. The planning and execution of this needs to be in accordance with the following age brackets & in sequence:

* 0 – 5 years – Shishu Avastha (शिशु अवस्था)
* 6 – 12 years – Baal Avastha (बाल अवस्था)
* 12 – 18 years – Kishore Avastha (किशोर अवस्था)
* 18 – 21 years – Tarun Avastha (तरुण अवस्था)
* 21+ years – Yuva Avastha (युवावस्था)

=== System ===
Two fundamental principles of this aspect would be:

* Knowledge should always be held above economics, politics, governance. Governing bodies and society in general must be seek guidance and advice of knowledge keepers of the society i.e. the acharyas.
* The teacher must be at the helm of any education system. He should have complete autonomy (स्वायत्त) and freedom to run the institution. Government and Businesses should play a supporting role rather than controlling role.

=== Economics ===
Three fundamental principles of this aspect would be:

# Free Education: Knowledge should be freely shared (निःशुल्क). The exchange of knowledge should not involve price tags.
# The goal of education should be acquisition of knowledge, not earning a living.
# The responsibility of managing the economic needs of the Gurukul should be with the society.

Based on these three aspects, the systems of the gurukul should be designed. The importance of these aspects would only be realized when the content and systems are Bharatiya in nature. How the content impacts the thought process, worldview, mindset, understanding of life and the world, the decisions of life, all these needs to be in the centre, in focus.

Another aspect which needs to be established is the understanding for relationship between subjects. This relationship is in the form of an inverted tree structure with each node having primary-secondary relationship with its sub-nodes. This is also referred in Chapter 15 of Bhagwat Gita. The methodology of teaching and learning should be based on this methodology. There should be clarity on what is primary and what is secondary. Of all the subjects, aadhyatm shastra (आध्यात्म शास्त्र) is primary and all the other shastras are secondary to it. This is the uniqueness of Bharatiya Jeevan Drishti.

All this is going to be a journey. This is also a journey of growth for the acharya. Acharya should keep the following two important things in mind during this journey:

# Become a strong link in the knowledge traditions. This means that the knowledge which came to us from our acharyas, we internalise it, keep it pure, add our own flavour to it, enhance it (in Hindi, typically referred as सवाया करना, i.e. making it 125%), and then pass it on to the next generation of students.
# Live our life according to the discipline of the shastras. This means lifestyle, dietary habits, daily routines, seasonal routines etc. needs to be as per the shastras.
# Live our life according to the concept of duty (स्वधर्म). This duty is to show the right path to the students, the society and the nation.

Learning is a continuous process. Growth & refinement of the acharya too is a continuous process. As the acharya becomes more and more refined, the student can learn a lot in his mere presence. Thus, transference of knowledge from the acharya to the student (शिष्य) becomes more and more subtler. This is the path of sadhana (साधना) and austerity (तपश्चर्या) for the acharya.

= Economic setup of a Gurukul =
One of the fundamental principles of a Gurukul is to keep the education free from economic shackles. The practical aspect of this is that if there is somebody who does not have money, he or she should not be deprived of education. Another aspect is that knowledge is superior to money, so we cannot evaluate a superior thing with an inferior thing. With this as the foundation, as the framework, we really need to think about ways of meeting the needs of the Gurukul and sustain the acharyas’ livelihoods. If it is a residential Gurukul, then their boarding, lodging and all the other requirements needs to be taken care of by the Gurukul. The acharyas needs are to be taken care of by the Gurukul. Money is required to build infrastructure, for the resources, land, etc. How to setup systems for this needs to be thought through.

Our Rishi’s have suggested 4 ways managing the economics of the Gurukul. They are:

=== Samitpaani (समित्पाणि) ===
When a child starts his or her formal education, then based on the financial condition of the family, he brings something for the acharya out of respect, gratitude and freewill. This is not admission fee since what needs to be given and how much to be given is not decided by the acharya.

=== Bhiksha (भिक्षा) ===
To manage the economic operations of a Gurukul, Bhiksha is an accredited channel. This should not be equated to begging. Both the acharya and students go out for collecting bhiksha. Through this they arrange for food, clothing and other necessary items. Traditionally, the rules for bhiksha collection were-

# Not to go to the same house everyday for bhiksha collection.
# You cannot go to your relatives or loved once for bhiksha collection.
# You cannot go to a house where there is a possibility of getting a lot of bhiksha (pre-calculated).
# You should not cut a sorry figure while collecting bhiksha. Since it is being done for the Gurukul, there should be a sense of pride in the same.
# Since it is a social right of the Gurukul to raise the money through this means, it is important to maintain dignity and be your natural self.

These rules may need to be contextualized to today’s times as the gurukul’s were traditionally nurtured by the king who generously gave the acharya things such as land, food, cows, resources etc. In the absence of such benevolent kings, as well as citizens (praja) who don’t fully understand the concept of bhiksha. In Gurukul traditions, Bhiksha is thought of as one of the powerful mediums for managing the needs.

=== Guru Dakshina (गुरु दक्षिणा) ===
Via this medium, the student gives financial donation to acharya. It is given on completion of the formal education. This should not be confused with fee. This is given without any evaluation of the seva extended by acharya and was traditionally given as much as possible based on the financial capacity of the student’s family. Here also nothing is decided by the acharya. Today we have changed this methodology into fee and salary. We should look at how we can contextualise Guru Dakshina in today’s time and age.

=== Donations (दान) ===
{{Main article|Dana (दानम्)}}
Donation differs from Bhiksha. Bhiksha is given when you ask for it. Donation is when you receive without asking for it. It is based on will and feeling of the donor. Various people in the society and those holding government & corporate positions recognize the seva being done by the Gurukul and come forward to support the effort. Today this is called a government grant and CSR funds, respectively. These come with its own terms and conditions. No Gurukul would want to take donations with terms and conditions. In today’s times, the number of people giving voluntary donations have reduced. But still there are people who give donations, and this is considered a legitimate means of managing financial needs.

It is the responsibility of the society to ensure that the financial needs of the Gurukul are met. The systems for making it happen needs to be set up by the acharyas of the Gurukul. It requires some thinking and experimentation before a methodology is settled.

= Running the operations of a Gurukul =
Many aspects needs to be considered to run day to day operations of the Gurukul. This section tries to cover some of those aspects. This is an indicative list. These things can be learnt from various Gurukul and decisions can be made based on once own understanding.

# Admission process and number of students: This includes the process discussion with the students and parents, process of evaluation, number of students in each class, overall number of students in the Gurukul.
# Infrastructural needs: This includes the number and size of classroom, green spaces, pooja space, gaushala, arrangement for various activities, playground etc. These need not be vary elaborate and can be as close to nature as possible.
# Gurukul timings: Start time, closing time, number of hours, division of time across subjects, sequencing of subjects, holidays etc.
# Uniform: Types of clothes, shoes, hair styles, amount of makeup required, ornaments etc. Who all need to have a uniform.
# Sitting arrangements: Consider the seating arrangements as mentioned in shastras. Consider these arrangements for classrooms, office space, dining room, library, library etc. This should be according to the workspace, with practical and financial considerations.
# Schools Bags of the students: Do we need them? What things are allowed in the bag. Ways to reduce the weight and spending on such things need to be thought through.
# Transportation System: Should there be a limit to the distance of the house of the students, should there be arrangement to walk to the school, role of acharyas and parents in managing the transportation system, vehicle parking arrangements needs to be looked into.
# Resources required by the Acharyas and Students: Segregation of useful and useless resources, usage of mechanical tools, equipment required for various experiments, consideration of alternatives to costly equipment, their upkeep etc.
# Homework: How much, different ways to give it, reasons to give it, how to evaluate the homework, role of parents etc.
# Classrooms: Form and shape of the classes, windows, doors, blackboards, almirah, decoration etc.
# Cleanliness: Who all should participate in the cleanliness of the Gurukul area, toilets, ensuring cleanliness before and after food, arrangement for keeping the bags/shoes/lunch boxes, mindset of acharyas and students, their habits and behaviours, ways of maintaining purity of the space.
# Environment Friendly: Building construction methods and the material used for construction, choice of land, careful consideration of things like AC/Refrigerator/Vehicles etc., methods used in agriculture etc.
# Lunch Breaks: Arrangements of breakfast / lunch, ways of improving the understanding and scientific temperament of parents about food, ways of serving and eating, guest managements within the premise etc.
# Daily activities: Timetable of various subjects, good mix of subjects of head/heart/hands, frequency of various activities like agriculture, cleanliness drives, sports, Panchang, Gita recitation, prayers etc.
# Other Facilities: First-aid kit, library, food, water, toilets, garden, purity, love, happiness etc.
# Austerity: Controlled spending on various resources, maintaining simplicity and beauty, upkeep of everything, multiuse of various objects, usage of things without spending too much, keeping the systems as natural as possible etc.
# Cultural Activities: Activities which happen on daily basis, which happen on certain frequency, connecting these activities for various subjects which are taught in class, creating relationship with parents and the society via these activities etc.
# Educational Tours: Choice of places, connection to subjects, using these as ways to develop cultural/social/national understanding, development of practical knowledge etc.

= Conclusion =
Thus, we delved into various aspects of a Gurukul. It is a long journey, it is of national importance, it should be based on right fundamentals and right concepts, it requires a lot of patience and perseverance. May we all succeed in our endeavours.
[[Category:Vidyakshetra]]

Gurukul in the 21st century

2023-10-28T04:00:29Z

MuneetD:

= Introduction =
Bharat literally refers to someone who is absorbed in the pursuit of knowledge. This has been the cultural identity of India from time immemorial. Traditionally there have been many forms of educational institutions in India – ‘AcharyaKul’, ‘Gurukul’, ‘Paathshala’, ‘Vidyalaya’, ‘Agrahara’, ‘Vidyapeeth’, ‘Vishva Vidyalaya’ etc. When we visualize such an educational institution or a Gurukul, then the picture which comes in front of us is that of a natural environment in a jungle with an ashram, in the ashram there are many small, thatched huts and rishis are doing yagya. There are deer running around, some students studying under a tree, somewhere vedas are being recited. Everyone seems to be happy and content.

But when we look at the education institutions of today, we cannot see this imagery. Today’s picture is that of a large concrete building boasting of electronic boards and latest technology, concrete ground with little or no greenery, bored & tired children wearing blazer suits travelling long distances in yellow school buses on crowded streets and polluted environment. The benchmark of a good institution seems to be correlated to large buildings, latest technology, air-conditioned classrooms & school buses- basically good amenities! Institutions which do not have that sort of infrastructure are not considered good institutions. This is having a stark difference from the imagery of a traditional Gurukul. A lot seems to have changed since those days. This includes the uniforms, language, subjects, context, mentality of the students and the teachers etc. Everything seems to have changed.

If someone wants to start a Gurukul in today’s time and age, then, there needs to be absolute clarity on the concept of a traditional Gurukul, how it can be made contemporary & set in today’s context. This understanding should become the foundation of the educational institute. There should be clarity on all its elements- from the vision to its principles to putting the team together, to its infrastructure to managing its operations efficiently, etc.

When there is clarity of thought process then there will be two aspects of execution – One to transform the existing educational institutions running under the governmental framework and second would be to create a new Gurukul grounds up. There is higher probability of maintaining the purity of the concept of a Gurukul when we start from scratch. That is the audience this article is addressing.

= Various aspects of a Gurukul =
To start a Gurukul, there are 6 important aspects where clarity of understanding is required. Two of these aspects are before the start of the Gurukul and four aspects kick in after the Gurukul is started.

Aspects to be considered before starting the Gurukul are:

# Who should start a Gurukul? Should it be the education department of the government, should it be an industrialist, should it be someone very rich, should it be a teacher or somebody else.
# What should be the preparation?

Aspects to be considered after starting the Gurukul are:

# How do I get teachers and acharyas in the Gurukul? This is where most of the Gurukuls struggle.
# What standards of child development should the Gurukul follow? The definition of the standards of development is very important in ensuring the Gurukul is going in the right direction.
# What would be the economic model to run Gurukul operations? Money is needed to run the operations in a Gurukul. We need to consider in what form and shape the cash flow needs to be managed.
# What would be the other operational aspects of the Gurukul? Aspects of day-to-day management, systems, processes, etc needs to be considered.

We will delve into each of these aspects one by one.

= Who should start a Gurukul? =
One of the characteristics of Indian way of building systems is whoever is supposed to do a specific task should do it with a sense of utmost responsibility and sincerity. For example, if the citizens of a country need food to eat, then it is the farmers responsibility to cater to their needs. Traders are supposed to manage the supply chain to ensure that every person has access to the yield. If there is life threat to citizens of any country, then their protection is the responsibility of the army and the police. In the same way, if the citizens of a country want to become knowledgeable, it is the responsibility of the acharyas to cater to that need. In this way, whoever is assigned a responsibility based on their capability, then that responsibility is his duty. This has been a tradition of this country. Gurukul and related education system is the responsibility of the acharyas. It is not the responsibility of the government.

When an acharya decides to create a Gurukul, one main distinction needs to be understood. That distinction is between the service sector and commercial sector. Traditionally too, commercial sector involves activities where the driving force is profit making, albeit in a ‘dharmic’ way. Service Sector involves activities wherein the intention is serving to nourish the life of fellow human beings without the intention of profit making. So, when one serves, money is not exchanged as a return for that service. Gurukul and education system in general, is a system which falls under service sector. There are many people in the society who want to serve the society. They can be rich people, people who are a part of government administration, parents, teachers etc. The usual steps of opening an educational institute have been either of the two ways:

# Some rich people, philanthropists, who feel that children in the society should get good education, start an educational institute.
# Government under some welfare scheme establishes a public educational institute.

Once the institute is set in one of the above two ways, then teachers are recruited to teach. This processes of opening a Gurukul is the source of all the problems in the education system today.

The right process of opening a Gurukul involves a capable acharya, who decides to setup the institution. Such an acharya should have three fundamental qualities:

# He should be a well-wisher of the society. He should be willing to work for the betterment of the society as a goal of his life.
# He should be knowledgeable and should be looking forward to expanding his realm of knowledge. Knowledgeable means knowledgeable in Indian Knowledge Systems. He should understand the Indian philosophy of life, should understand how to create a lifestyle based on that philosophy, understand the resulting behaviours in depth and are knowledgeable about how the political systems, economic systems, social systems are created based on those behaviour patterns. He is an acharya who understands the national problems and has an intention of catering to national needs.
# He should have the skill of teaching and must be well versed in dealing with students and in dealing with his subject.

These qualities make an acharya eligible to establish a Gurukul. One needs to spend time and effort to acquire this eligibility. The more capable the acharya, the stronger the foundation of the Gurukul. To attain more and more maturity as an acharya is very important. Understanding national needs in the global context and creating a local setup to cater to it is the mantra. Understanding it conceptually, creating a practical approach to it, planning to build a conducive environment, appropriate systems and a suitable mentality would be some of the elements of pre-preparation by acharyas.

Such acharya’s mindset should be based on Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti. In Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti, there is deeper understanding and appreciation of aspects such as sacrifice (त्याग), restraint (संयम), selfless service (सेवा), cultivating meditatively (साधना), asceticism (तपश्चर्या) in social life. These aspects are placed at a higher pedestal than wealth, position or glory. While wealth, position and glory have its place but doing things which are in everybody’s interest, for everybody’s welfare and service to all are some of our ultimate life values. When social and political systems are built on these values, its look and feel is entirely different. That changed look and feel is the need of the hour.

Such would be the type of acharyas which would be required to start a Gurukul. If it means to spend a little more time to get to this stage, it is advisable to give that time. It is also a great idea to form a core team of 3-4 aligned people. If these things are in place, then the acharya should show the guts to start a Gurukul. This evaluation is the first steps towards the journey.

= What should be the preparation? =
At the outset, the Gurukul idea is being conceptualized and nurtured and this activity must be given sufficient time and energy. Physical institution creation can wait. It can be done at ease & must not become the focus in the initial phase. Enough time must be spent on getting a sense of the reality and operational details. This process can have the following sequence of steps:

# Visiting all the institutions which that run as Gurukuls.
#* Collect information, get to know about their inspirations, about the favourable situations they had, their challenges and how they faced them.
#* This should become the foundation of your Gurukul’s journey and help you articulate your own ideology.
# Getting to know the history of Indian education of last 150-200 years.
#* Understanding the effect of impairment for Indian Education, how the society and systems changed, how the Indian mentality changed.
#* Analysing the chronology of events and reaching to the right conclusions.
# Thinking about and creating a mental map of how the curriculum and pedagogy should look like based on today’s time, circumstance and need.

The curriculum of the Gurukul will be based on the research and the preparation of the acharya who is starting the Gurukul. It depends on acharya’s understanding of the problems the nation is facing, understanding various aspects of development including educational aspects, systemic aspects and economic aspects, and understanding the philosophy of Indian life. The curriculum of the Gurukul should not be influenced by or be based on the government accreditation. Government accreditation of curriculum or passing examination conducted by government agencies is not what a Gurukul aims at or stands for.

If this aspect is not thought through, then there is very high probability that the curriculum being used in regular government schools will eventually be adopted in the Gurukul, succumbing to parental or external pressures because of lack of clarity on our own vision. And that would mean that there would be no difference between the Gurukul and regular run-of-the-mill schooling system. In a Gurukul, we want to sow the seeds for the next generation to uphold good virtues, ethics, cultured and become a generation who can give shape to the society based on Indian ethos, who can guide the administration to build systems based on forethought & foresight (Indian knowledge traditions) etc. When this happens, we can say that the curriculum has achieved its goals.

As the curriculum is being carved, we need to have clarity on two aspects in the area of knowledge. These are ‘aspects of principles’ and ‘aspects of implementation’. The principles are eternal whereas the implementation changes based on the country, times and circumstances. Implementation plan should take into consideration the local situation (place where foundation of Gurukul will be laid), holistic situation of the nation, the mentality of the local population and the conditions in the world. That is why there should be clarity on both the aspects:

# What are the principles which would characterize development?
# Based on those principles, how should implementation look like for 21st century?

This step requires study, deliberation, contemplation and spending time with it.

The Gurukul can start with 10 to 12 small children also, but its goals and context should be comprehensive. Comprehensiveness would mean having the context of the needs of the nation, covering education from childhood to becoming a youth ready to take on responsibilities, covering at least two generations in its setup. When we think with such a comprehensive and long-term context, we realize that just because we thought about it, just because we did some ad-hoc preparation and we quickly started the Gurukul, things would not work out. Such an exercise would have major implications. We should take at least 3-5 years to contemplate, study, research and articulate the vision of Gurukul and its operations. This exercise should be done along the seed team of acharyas. Without this, we would not be able to achieve the goals for which Gurukul was started. First, a holistic conceptualization needs to be done, then as a small part of a big picture, Gurukul should be started at a smaller level. This would create the right foundation of a Gurukul.

= How to create a team of acharyas? =
An acharya is the central axis around which the whole Gurukul revolves. Acharya is not an asset or a resource. First few years of a Gurukul should be focused on creating a team of aligned acharyas. It should also be focused on creating the entire educational program, the curriculum, and the pedagogy. Land, building, corpus, resources etc. are also to be considered but these are not core requirements to start the Gurukul as is creating a team of aligned acharyas. This clarity should be there in our mind.

How should the people joining the Gurukul as acharya be? They should have a mentality for serving the society and the country, rather than viewing it as a way of making money earning. The spirit of seva via education should be primary. Money is required to meet the needs, but the needs should be based on the concept of austerity. People with such mindset are the people who would pass the minimum criteria of becoming associated with the Gurukul. The core team of Gurukul should conduct regular outreach programs for people in their immediate circle of influence. The aim of these programs would be to inspire them and get their mindshare. A rough outline for these outreach programs could be:

# Arrange for regular meetings, video shows, talk shows on wide range of topics which depict the world situation at large, situation of Bharat, situation of the education system etc. These topics could range from ‘chemical farming disasters,’ ‘forest cutting,’ ‘state of education,’ ‘state of rivers/water bodies in Bharat’, ‘family system in Bharat’ and many more…
# Get them to think about issues, in the discussions keep observing their inclinations, attitudes and suitability.
# Some people will stay on and show interest. Focus on people who continue to show interest, are ‘doers,’ ‘have a deeper sense of seva bhava’. Get them to come observe the Gurukul, find ways of engaging them, spend time in understanding their needs, their temperament and give them time to understand the working of Gurukul. This is your potential target lot.
# The initial set of people have to be hand-picked- one at a time, and this is the longest process as there is no set pattern here.
# Once a core team is formed, trainings can be strengthened, and mentorship program can be formalized.

Apart from these another important set of people to be groomed are parents of the children who would take admission in the Gurukul. All these aspects require some thinking about the training modules for the prospective teachers.

Following could be some of the aspects of such a preparation plan:

# Preparation for activities within the Gurukul
#* First thing is to understand what it means to be an acharya and acquiring the skill and capability on those lines.
#* Second is to understand the type of students which come to a Gurukul and realizing, understanding and creating capability to get those students.
#* Understanding the relationship between an acharya and student, and creating capabilities to build such a relationship.
# Preparation for activities outside the Gurukul
#* Understanding the type of relationship which needs to be established with the parents / guardians of the children.
#* Creation of awareness in the society about the need to Gurukul education, about need for supporting the Gurukul economics via events, workshops etc.
#* Engaging the government authorities to ensure that policy frameworks for the society allows the Gurukul system to flourish.

All these aspects are very important for a Gurukul apart from polishing the proficiency in the subject which needs to be taught.

= Understanding the developmental model in a Gurukul =
The developmental model of a Gurukul is not based on the marks students get in an exam. Rather it needs to be much more comprehensive. There are three aspects of these which needs to be considered and accordingly systems need to be created for them. These aspects are:

=== Education ===
There are two vital parts of development in the educational aspect

# '''Education for internal development''': This would entail development of the Panchkoshas. While deciding on the curriculum and pedagogy, the subjects would be used as a medium to bring out the innate possibilities of the human potential. This requires good development of the Annamaya kosha, praanmaya kosha, manomaya kosha, vigyaanmaya kosha and anandmaya kosha.
# '''Education for external development''': This would entail how well we adjust with the fellow human beings in family, society, nation and the world. It also entails our connections with the nature including non-living things, plant life and animal life. It would also entail our journey towards our Moksha (मोक्ष) as we continue to take care of our desires (काम) and ways of fulfilling them (अर्थ) as we live our lives as per the guidance of Dharma (धर्मं).

Considering these as the fundamental principles, we need to focus on creating the following systems in a Gurukul:

# Subjects and Curriculum
# Pedagogy
# Assessment techniques
# Relationship between the acharya and the student
# Process of acquiring knowledge
# Primary and secondary tools of acquiring knowledge.
# Personal, societal, national and global context of education.

Not only do we have to study about all these topics, we need to understand it as per our context or Bharatiya context.

For example: The subjects and curriculum need to be detailed out to cover the head (ज्ञानात्मक), heart (भावनात्मक) and hands (क्रियात्मक). aspects. We need to consider how to contextualise it as per the child development cycle i.e., age appropriateness. The planning and execution of this needs to be in accordance with the following age brackets & in sequence:

* 0 – 5 years – Shishu Avastha (शिशु अवस्था)
* 6 – 12 years – Baal Avastha (बाल अवस्था)
* 12 – 18 years – Kishore Avastha (किशोर अवस्था)
* 18 – 21 years – Tarun Avastha (तरुण अवस्था)
* 21+ years – Yuva Avastha (युवावस्था)

=== System ===
Two fundamental principles of this aspect would be:

* Knowledge should always be held above economics, politics, governance. Governing bodies and society in general must be seek guidance and advice of knowledge keepers of the society i.e. the acharyas.
* The teacher must be at the helm of any education system. He should have complete autonomy (स्वायत्त) and freedom to run the institution. Government and Businesses should play a supporting role rather than controlling role.

=== Economics ===
Three fundamental principles of this aspect would be:

# Free Education: Knowledge should be freely shared (निःशुल्क). The exchange of knowledge should not involve price tags.
# The goal of education should be acquisition of knowledge, not earning a living.
# The responsibility of managing the economic needs of the Gurukul should be with the society.

Based on these three aspects, the systems of the gurukul should be designed. The importance of these aspects would only be realized when the content and systems are Bharatiya in nature. How the content impacts the thought process, worldview, mindset, understanding of life and the world, the decisions of life, all these needs to be in the centre, in focus.

Another aspect which needs to be established is the understanding for relationship between subjects. This relationship is in the form of an inverted tree structure with each node having primary-secondary relationship with its sub-nodes. This is also referred in Chapter 15 of Bhagwat Gita. The methodology of teaching and learning should be based on this methodology. There should be clarity on what is primary and what is secondary. Of all the subjects, aadhyatm shastra (आध्यात्म शास्त्र) is primary and all the other shastras are secondary to it. This is the uniqueness of Bharatiya Jeevan Drishti.

All this is going to be a journey. This is also a journey of growth for the acharya. Acharya should keep the following two important things in mind during this journey:

# Become a strong link in the knowledge traditions. This means that the knowledge which came to us from our acharyas, we internalise it, keep it pure, add our own flavour to it, enhance it (in Hindi, typically referred as सवाया करना, i.e. making it 125%), and then pass it on to the next generation of students.
# Live our life according to the discipline of the shastras. This means lifestyle, dietary habits, daily routines, seasonal routines etc. needs to be as per the shastras.
# Live our life according to the concept of duty (स्वधर्म). This duty is to show the right path to the students, the society and the nation.

Learning is a continuous process. Growth & refinement of the acharya too is a continuous process. As the acharya becomes more and more refined, the student can learn a lot in his mere presence. Thus, transference of knowledge from the acharya to the student (शिष्य) becomes more and more subtler. This is the path of sadhana (साधना) and austerity (तपश्चर्या) for the acharya.

= Economic setup of a Gurukul =
One of the fundamental principles of a Gurukul is to keep the education free from economic shackles. The practical aspect of this is that if there is somebody who does not have money, he or she should not be deprived of education. Another aspect is that knowledge is superior to money, so we cannot evaluate a superior thing with an inferior thing. With this as the foundation, as the framework, we really need to think about ways of meeting the needs of the Gurukul and sustain the acharyas’ livelihoods. If it is a residential Gurukul, then their boarding, lodging and all the other requirements needs to be taken care of by the Gurukul. The acharyas needs are to be taken care of by the Gurukul. Money is required to build infrastructure, for the resources, land, etc. How to setup systems for this needs to be thought through.

Our Rishi’s have suggested 4 ways managing the economics of the Gurukul. They are:

=== Samitpaani (समित्पाणि) ===
When a child starts his or her formal education, then based on the financial condition of the family, he brings something for the acharya out of respect, gratitude and freewill. This is not admission fee since what needs to be given and how much to be given is not decided by the acharya.

=== Bhiksha (भिक्षा) ===
To manage the economic operations of a Gurukul, Bhiksha is an accredited channel. This should not be equated to begging. Both the acharya and students go out for collecting bhiksha. Through this they arrange for food, clothing and other necessary items. Traditionally, the rules for bhiksha collection were-

# Not to go to the same house everyday for bhiksha collection.
# You cannot go to your relatives or loved once for bhiksha collection.
# You cannot go to a house where there is a possibility of getting a lot of bhiksha (pre-calculated).
# You should not cut a sorry figure while collecting bhiksha. Since it is being done for the Gurukul, there should be a sense of pride in the same.
# Since it is a social right of the Gurukul to raise the money through this means, it is important to maintain dignity and be your natural self.

These rules may need to be contextualized to today’s times as the gurukul’s were traditionally nurtured by the king who generously gave the acharya things such as land, food, cows, resources etc. In the absence of such benevolent kings, as well as citizens (praja) who don’t fully understand the concept of bhiksha. In Gurukul traditions, Bhiksha is thought of as one of the powerful mediums for managing the needs.

=== Guru Dakshina (गुरु दक्षिणा) ===
Via this medium, the student gives financial donation to acharya. It is given on completion of the formal education. This should not be confused with fee. This is given without any evaluation of the seva extended by acharya and was traditionally given as much as possible based on the financial capacity of the student’s family. Here also nothing is decided by the acharya. Today we have changed this methodology into fee and salary. We should look at how we can contextualise Guru Dakshina in today’s time and age.

=== Donations (दान) ===
Donation differs from Bhiksha. Bhiksha is given when you ask for it. Donation is when you receive without asking for it. It is based on will and feeling of the donor. Various people in the society and those holding government & corporate positions recognize the seva being done by the Gurukul and come forward to support the effort. Today this is called a government grant and CSR funds, respectively. These come with its own terms and conditions. No Gurukul would want to take donations with terms and conditions. In today’s times, the number of people giving voluntary donations have reduced. But still there are people who give donations, and this is considered a legitimate means of managing financial needs.

It is the responsibility of the society to ensure that the financial needs of the Gurukul are met. The systems for making it happen needs to be set up by the acharyas of the Gurukul. It requires some thinking and experimentation before a methodology is settled.

= Running the operations of a Gurukul =
Many aspects needs to be considered to run day to day operations of the Gurukul. This section tries to cover some of those aspects. This is an indicative list. These things can be learnt from various Gurukul and decisions can be made based on once own understanding.

# Admission process and number of students: This includes the process discussion with the students and parents, process of evaluation, number of students in each class, overall number of students in the Gurukul.
# Infrastructural needs: This includes the number and size of classroom, green spaces, pooja space, gaushala, arrangement for various activities, playground etc. These need not be vary elaborate and can be as close to nature as possible.
# Gurukul timings: Start time, closing time, number of hours, division of time across subjects, sequencing of subjects, holidays etc.
# Uniform: Types of clothes, shoes, hair styles, amount of makeup required, ornaments etc. Who all need to have a uniform.
# Sitting arrangements: Consider the seating arrangements as mentioned in shastras. Consider these arrangements for classrooms, office space, dining room, library, library etc. This should be according to the workspace, with practical and financial considerations.
# Schools Bags of the students: Do we need them? What things are allowed in the bag. Ways to reduce the weight and spending on such things need to be thought through.
# Transportation System: Should there be a limit to the distance of the house of the students, should there be arrangement to walk to the school, role of acharyas and parents in managing the transportation system, vehicle parking arrangements needs to be looked into.
# Resources required by the Acharyas and Students: Segregation of useful and useless resources, usage of mechanical tools, equipment required for various experiments, consideration of alternatives to costly equipment, their upkeep etc.
# Homework: How much, different ways to give it, reasons to give it, how to evaluate the homework, role of parents etc.
# Classrooms: Form and shape of the classes, windows, doors, blackboards, almirah, decoration etc.
# Cleanliness: Who all should participate in the cleanliness of the Gurukul area, toilets, ensuring cleanliness before and after food, arrangement for keeping the bags/shoes/lunch boxes, mindset of acharyas and students, their habits and behaviours, ways of maintaining purity of the space.
# Environment Friendly: Building construction methods and the material used for construction, choice of land, careful consideration of things like AC/Refrigerator/Vehicles etc., methods used in agriculture etc.
# Lunch Breaks: Arrangements of breakfast / lunch, ways of improving the understanding and scientific temperament of parents about food, ways of serving and eating, guest managements within the premise etc.
# Daily activities: Timetable of various subjects, good mix of subjects of head/heart/hands, frequency of various activities like agriculture, cleanliness drives, sports, Panchang, Gita recitation, prayers etc.
# Other Facilities: First-aid kit, library, food, water, toilets, garden, purity, love, happiness etc.
# Austerity: Controlled spending on various resources, maintaining simplicity and beauty, upkeep of everything, multiuse of various objects, usage of things without spending too much, keeping the systems as natural as possible etc.
# Cultural Activities: Activities which happen on daily basis, which happen on certain frequency, connecting these activities for various subjects which are taught in class, creating relationship with parents and the society via these activities etc.
# Educational Tours: Choice of places, connection to subjects, using these as ways to develop cultural/social/national understanding, development of practical knowledge etc.

== Conclusion ==
Thus, we delved into various aspects of a Gurukul. It is a long journey, it is of national importance, it should be based on right fundamentals and right concepts, it requires a lot of patience and perseverance. May we all succeed in our endeavours.

Gurukul in the 21st century

2023-10-28T03:59:32Z

MuneetD: FIrst upload

= Introduction =
Bharat literally refers to someone who is absorbed in the pursuit of knowledge. This has been the cultural identity of India from time immemorial. Traditionally there have been many forms of educational institutions in India – ‘AcharyaKul’, ‘Gurukul’, ‘Paathshala’, ‘Vidyalaya’, ‘Agrahara’, ‘Vidyapeeth’, ‘Vishva Vidyalaya’ etc. When we visualize such an educational institution or a Gurukul, then the picture which comes in front of us is that of a natural environment in a jungle with an ashram, in the ashram there are many small, thatched huts and rishis are doing yagya. There are deer running around, some students studying under a tree, somewhere vedas are being recited. Everyone seems to be happy and content.

But when we look at the education institutions of today, we cannot see this imagery. Today’s picture is that of a large concrete building boasting of electronic boards and latest technology, concrete ground with little or no greenery, bored & tired children wearing blazer suits travelling long distances in yellow school buses on crowded streets and polluted environment. The benchmark of a good institution seems to be correlated to large buildings, latest technology, air-conditioned classrooms & school buses- basically good amenities! Institutions which do not have that sort of infrastructure are not considered good institutions. This is having a stark difference from the imagery of a traditional Gurukul. A lot seems to have changed since those days. This includes the uniforms, language, subjects, context, mentality of the students and the teachers etc. Everything seems to have changed.

If someone wants to start a Gurukul in today’s time and age, then, there needs to be absolute clarity on the concept of a traditional Gurukul, how it can be made contemporary & set in today’s context. This understanding should become the foundation of the educational institute. There should be clarity on all its elements- from the vision to its principles to putting the team together, to its infrastructure to managing its operations efficiently, etc.

When there is clarity of thought process then there will be two aspects of execution – One to transform the existing educational institutions running under the governmental framework and second would be to create a new Gurukul grounds up. There is higher probability of maintaining the purity of the concept of a Gurukul when we start from scratch. That is the audience this article is addressing.

= Various aspects of a Gurukul =
To start a Gurukul, there are 6 important aspects where clarity of understanding is required. Two of these aspects are before the start of the Gurukul and four aspects kick in after the Gurukul is started.

Aspects to be considered before starting the Gurukul are:

# Who should start a Gurukul? Should it be the education department of the government, should it be an industrialist, should it be someone very rich, should it be a teacher or somebody else.
# What should be the preparation?

Aspects to be considered after starting the Gurukul are:

# How do I get teachers and acharyas in the Gurukul? This is where most of the Gurukuls struggle.
# What standards of child development should the Gurukul follow? The definition of the standards of development is very important in ensuring the Gurukul is going in the right direction.
# What would be the economic model to run Gurukul operations? Money is needed to run the operations in a Gurukul. We need to consider in what form and shape the cash flow needs to be managed.
# What would be the other operational aspects of the Gurukul? Aspects of day-to-day management, systems, processes, etc needs to be considered.

We will delve into each of these aspects one by one.

= Who should start a Gurukul? =
One of the characteristics of Indian way of building systems is whoever is supposed to do a specific task should do it with a sense of utmost responsibility and sincerity. For example, if the citizens of a country need food to eat, then it is the farmers responsibility to cater to their needs. Traders are supposed to manage the supply chain to ensure that every person has access to the yield. If there is life threat to citizens of any country, then their protection is the responsibility of the army and the police. In the same way, if the citizens of a country want to become knowledgeable, it is the responsibility of the acharyas to cater to that need. In this way, whoever is assigned a responsibility based on their capability, then that responsibility is his duty. This has been a tradition of this country. Gurukul and related education system is the responsibility of the acharyas. It is not the responsibility of the government.

When an acharya decides to create a Gurukul, one main distinction needs to be understood. That distinction is between the service sector and commercial sector. Traditionally too, commercial sector involves activities where the driving force is profit making, albeit in a ‘dharmic’ way. Service Sector involves activities wherein the intention is serving to nourish the life of fellow human beings without the intention of profit making. So, when one serves, money is not exchanged as a return for that service. Gurukul and education system in general, is a system which falls under service sector. There are many people in the society who want to serve the society. They can be rich people, people who are a part of government administration, parents, teachers etc. The usual steps of opening an educational institute have been either of the two ways:

# Some rich people, philanthropists, who feel that children in the society should get good education, start an educational institute.
# Government under some welfare scheme establishes a public educational institute.

Once the institute is set in one of the above two ways, then teachers are recruited to teach. This processes of opening a Gurukul is the source of all the problems in the education system today.

The right process of opening a Gurukul involves a capable acharya, who decides to setup the institution. Such an acharya should have three fundamental qualities:

# He should be a well-wisher of the society. He should be willing to work for the betterment of the society as a goal of his life.
# He should be knowledgeable and should be looking forward to expanding his realm of knowledge. Knowledgeable means knowledgeable in Indian Knowledge Systems. He should understand the Indian philosophy of life, should understand how to create a lifestyle based on that philosophy, understand the resulting behaviours in depth and are knowledgeable about how the political systems, economic systems, social systems are created based on those behaviour patterns. He is an acharya who understands the national problems and has an intention of catering to national needs.
# He should have the skill of teaching and must be well versed in dealing with students and in dealing with his subject.

These qualities make an acharya eligible to establish a Gurukul. One needs to spend time and effort to acquire this eligibility. The more capable the acharya, the stronger the foundation of the Gurukul. To attain more and more maturity as an acharya is very important. Understanding national needs in the global context and creating a local setup to cater to it is the mantra. Understanding it conceptually, creating a practical approach to it, planning to build a conducive environment, appropriate systems and a suitable mentality would be some of the elements of pre-preparation by acharyas.

Such acharya’s mindset should be based on Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti. In Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti, there is deeper understanding and appreciation of aspects such as sacrifice (त्याग), restraint (संयम), selfless service (सेवा), cultivating meditatively (साधना), asceticism (तपश्चर्या) in social life. These aspects are placed at a higher pedestal than wealth, position or glory. While wealth, position and glory have its place but doing things which are in everybody’s interest, for everybody’s welfare and service to all are some of our ultimate life values. When social and political systems are built on these values, its look and feel is entirely different. That changed look and feel is the need of the hour.

Such would be the type of acharyas which would be required to start a Gurukul. If it means to spend a little more time to get to this stage, it is advisable to give that time. It is also a great idea to form a core team of 3-4 aligned people. If these things are in place, then the acharya should show the guts to start a Gurukul. This evaluation is the first steps towards the journey.

= What should be the preparation? =
At the outset, the Gurukul idea is being conceptualized and nurtured and this activity must be given sufficient time and energy. Physical institution creation can wait. It can be done at ease & must not become the focus in the initial phase. Enough time must be spent on getting a sense of the reality and operational details. This process can have the following sequence of steps:

# Visiting all the institutions which that run as Gurukuls.
#* Collect information, get to know about their inspirations, about the favourable situations they had, their challenges and how they faced them.
#* This should become the foundation of your Gurukul’s journey and help you articulate your own ideology.
# Getting to know the history of Indian education of last 150-200 years.
#* Understanding the effect of impairment for Indian Education, how the society and systems changed, how the Indian mentality changed.
#* Analysing the chronology of events and reaching to the right conclusions.
# Thinking about and creating a mental map of how the curriculum and pedagogy should look like based on today’s time, circumstance and need.

The curriculum of the Gurukul will be based on the research and the preparation of the acharya who is starting the Gurukul. It depends on acharya’s understanding of the problems the nation is facing, understanding various aspects of development including educational aspects, systemic aspects and economic aspects, and understanding the philosophy of Indian life. The curriculum of the Gurukul should not be influenced by or be based on the government accreditation. Government accreditation of curriculum or passing examination conducted by government agencies is not what a Gurukul aims at or stands for.

If this aspect is not thought through, then there is very high probability that the curriculum being used in regular government schools will eventually be adopted in the Gurukul, succumbing to parental or external pressures because of lack of clarity on our own vision. And that would mean that there would be no difference between the Gurukul and regular run-of-the-mill schooling system. In a Gurukul, we want to sow the seeds for the next generation to uphold good virtues, ethics, cultured and become a generation who can give shape to the society based on Indian ethos, who can guide the administration to build systems based on forethought & foresight (Indian knowledge traditions) etc. When this happens, we can say that the curriculum has achieved its goals.

As the curriculum is being carved, we need to have clarity on two aspects in the area of knowledge. These are ‘aspects of principles’ and ‘aspects of implementation’. The principles are eternal whereas the implementation changes based on the country, times and circumstances. Implementation plan should take into consideration the local situation (place where foundation of Gurukul will be laid), holistic situation of the nation, the mentality of the local population and the conditions in the world. That is why there should be clarity on both the aspects:

# What are the principles which would characterize development?
# Based on those principles, how should implementation look like for 21st century?

This step requires study, deliberation, contemplation and spending time with it.

The Gurukul can start with 10 to 12 small children also, but its goals and context should be comprehensive. Comprehensiveness would mean having the context of the needs of the nation, covering education from childhood to becoming a youth ready to take on responsibilities, covering at least two generations in its setup. When we think with such a comprehensive and long-term context, we realize that just because we thought about it, just because we did some ad-hoc preparation and we quickly started the Gurukul, things would not work out. Such an exercise would have major implications. We should take at least 3-5 years to contemplate, study, research and articulate the vision of Gurukul and its operations. This exercise should be done along the seed team of acharyas. Without this, we would not be able to achieve the goals for which Gurukul was started. First, a holistic conceptualization needs to be done, then as a small part of a big picture, Gurukul should be started at a smaller level. This would create the right foundation of a Gurukul.

= How to create a team of acharyas? =
An acharya is the central axis around which the whole Gurukul revolves. Acharya is not an asset or a resource. First few years of a Gurukul should be focused on creating a team of aligned acharyas. It should also be focused on creating the entire educational program, the curriculum, and the pedagogy. Land, building, corpus, resources etc. are also to be considered but these are not core requirements to start the Gurukul as is creating a team of aligned acharyas. This clarity should be there in our mind.

How should the people joining the Gurukul as acharya be? They should have a mentality for serving the society and the country, rather than viewing it as a way of making money earning. The spirit of seva via education should be primary. Money is required to meet the needs, but the needs should be based on the concept of austerity. People with such mindset are the people who would pass the minimum criteria of becoming associated with the Gurukul. The core team of Gurukul should conduct regular outreach programs for people in their immediate circle of influence. The aim of these programs would be to inspire them and get their mindshare. A rough outline for these outreach programs could be:

# Arrange for regular meetings, video shows, talk shows on wide range of topics which depict the world situation at large, situation of Bharat, situation of the education system etc. These topics could range from ‘chemical farming disasters,’ ‘forest cutting,’ ‘state of education,’ ‘state of rivers/water bodies in Bharat’, ‘family system in Bharat’ and many more…
# Get them to think about issues, in the discussions keep observing their inclinations, attitudes and suitability.
# Some people will stay on and show interest. Focus on people who continue to show interest, are ‘doers,’ ‘have a deeper sense of seva bhava’. Get them to come observe the Gurukul, find ways of engaging them, spend time in understanding their needs, their temperament and give them time to understand the working of Gurukul. This is your potential target lot.
# The initial set of people have to be hand-picked- one at a time, and this is the longest process as there is no set pattern here.
# Once a core team is formed, trainings can be strengthened, and mentorship program can be formalized.

Apart from these another important set of people to be groomed are parents of the children who would take admission in the Gurukul. All these aspects require some thinking about the training modules for the prospective teachers.

Following could be some of the aspects of such a preparation plan:

# Preparation for activities within the Gurukul
#* First thing is to understand what it means to be an acharya and acquiring the skill and capability on those lines.
#* Second is to understand the type of students which come to a Gurukul and realizing, understanding and creating capability to get those students.
#* Understanding the relationship between an acharya and student, and creating capabilities to build such a relationship.
# Preparation for activities outside the Gurukul
#* Understanding the type of relationship which needs to be established with the parents / guardians of the children.
#* Creation of awareness in the society about the need to Gurukul education, about need for supporting the Gurukul economics via events, workshops etc.
#* Engaging the government authorities to ensure that policy frameworks for the society allows the Gurukul system to flourish.

All these aspects are very important for a Gurukul apart from polishing the proficiency in the subject which needs to be taught.

= Understanding the developmental model in a Gurukul =
The developmental model of a Gurukul is not based on the marks students get in an exam. Rather it needs to be much more comprehensive. There are three aspects of these which needs to be considered and accordingly systems need to be created for them. These aspects are:

=== '''Education''' ===
There are two vital parts of development in the educational aspect

# '''Education for internal development''': This would entail development of the Panchkoshas. While deciding on the curriculum and pedagogy, the subjects would be used as a medium to bring out the innate possibilities of the human potential. This requires good development of the Annamaya kosha, praanmaya kosha, manomaya kosha, vigyaanmaya kosha and anandmaya kosha.
# '''Education for external development''': This would entail how well we adjust with the fellow human beings in family, society, nation and the world. It also entails our connections with the nature including non-living things, plant life and animal life. It would also entail our journey towards our Moksha (मोक्ष) as we continue to take care of our desires (काम) and ways of fulfilling them (अर्थ) as we live our lives as per the guidance of Dharma (धर्मं).

Considering these as the fundamental principles, we need to focus on creating the following systems in a Gurukul:

# Subjects and Curriculum
# Pedagogy
# Assessment techniques
# Relationship between the acharya and the student
# Process of acquiring knowledge
# Primary and secondary tools of acquiring knowledge.
# Personal, societal, national and global context of education.

Not only do we have to study about all these topics, we need to understand it as per our context or Bharatiya context.

For example: The subjects and curriculum need to be detailed out to cover the head (ज्ञानात्मक), heart (भावनात्मक) and hands (क्रियात्मक). aspects. We need to consider how to contextualise it as per the child development cycle i.e., age appropriateness. The planning and execution of this needs to be in accordance with the following age brackets & in sequence:

* 0 – 5 years – Shishu Avastha (शिशु अवस्था)
* 6 – 12 years – Baal Avastha (बाल अवस्था)
* 12 – 18 years – Kishore Avastha (किशोर अवस्था)
* 18 – 21 years – Tarun Avastha (तरुण अवस्था)
* 21+ years – Yuva Avastha (युवावस्था)

=== System ===
Two fundamental principles of this aspect would be:

* Knowledge should always be held above economics, politics, governance. Governing bodies and society in general must be seek guidance and advice of knowledge keepers of the society i.e. the acharyas.
* The teacher must be at the helm of any education system. He should have complete autonomy (स्वायत्त) and freedom to run the institution. Government and Businesses should play a supporting role rather than controlling role.

=== Economics ===
Three fundamental principles of this aspect would be:

# Free Education: Knowledge should be freely shared (निःशुल्क). The exchange of knowledge should not involve price tags.
# The goal of education should be acquisition of knowledge, not earning a living.
# The responsibility of managing the economic needs of the Gurukul should be with the society.

Based on these three aspects, the systems of the gurukul should be designed. The importance of these aspects would only be realized when the content and systems are Bharatiya in nature. How the content impacts the thought process, worldview, mindset, understanding of life and the world, the decisions of life, all these needs to be in the centre, in focus.

Another aspect which needs to be established is the understanding for relationship between subjects. This relationship is in the form of an inverted tree structure with each node having primary-secondary relationship with its sub-nodes. This is also referred in Chapter 15 of Bhagwat Gita. The methodology of teaching and learning should be based on this methodology. There should be clarity on what is primary and what is secondary. Of all the subjects, aadhyatm shastra (आध्यात्म शास्त्र) is primary and all the other shastras are secondary to it. This is the uniqueness of Bharatiya Jeevan Drishti.

All this is going to be a journey. This is also a journey of growth for the acharya. Acharya should keep the following two important things in mind during this journey:

# Become a strong link in the knowledge traditions. This means that the knowledge which came to us from our acharyas, we internalise it, keep it pure, add our own flavour to it, enhance it (in Hindi, typically referred as सवाया करना, i.e. making it 125%), and then pass it on to the next generation of students.
# Live our life according to the discipline of the shastras. This means lifestyle, dietary habits, daily routines, seasonal routines etc. needs to be as per the shastras.
# Live our life according to the concept of duty (स्वधर्म). This duty is to show the right path to the students, the society and the nation.

Learning is a continuous process. Growth & refinement of the acharya too is a continuous process. As the acharya becomes more and more refined, the student can learn a lot in his mere presence. Thus, transference of knowledge from the acharya to the student (शिष्य) becomes more and more subtler. This is the path of sadhana (साधना) and austerity (तपश्चर्या) for the acharya.

= Economic setup of a Gurukul =
One of the fundamental principles of a Gurukul is to keep the education free from economic shackles. The practical aspect of this is that if there is somebody who does not have money, he or she should not be deprived of education. Another aspect is that knowledge is superior to money, so we cannot evaluate a superior thing with an inferior thing. With this as the foundation, as the framework, we really need to think about ways of meeting the needs of the Gurukul and sustain the acharyas’ livelihoods. If it is a residential Gurukul, then their boarding, lodging and all the other requirements needs to be taken care of by the Gurukul. The acharyas needs are to be taken care of by the Gurukul. Money is required to build infrastructure, for the resources, land, etc. How to setup systems for this needs to be thought through.

Our Rishi’s have suggested 4 ways managing the economics of the Gurukul. They are:

=== Samitpaani (समित्पाणि) ===
When a child starts his or her formal education, then based on the financial condition of the family, he brings something for the acharya out of respect, gratitude and freewill. This is not admission fee since what needs to be given and how much to be given is not decided by the acharya.

=== Bhiksha (भिक्षा) ===
To manage the economic operations of a Gurukul, Bhiksha is an accredited channel. This should not be equated to begging. Both the acharya and students go out for collecting bhiksha. Through this they arrange for food, clothing and other necessary items. Traditionally, the rules for bhiksha collection were-

# Not to go to the same house everyday for bhiksha collection.
# You cannot go to your relatives or loved once for bhiksha collection.
# You cannot go to a house where there is a possibility of getting a lot of bhiksha (pre-calculated).
# You should not cut a sorry figure while collecting bhiksha. Since it is being done for the Gurukul, there should be a sense of pride in the same.
# Since it is a social right of the Gurukul to raise the money through this means, it is important to maintain dignity and be your natural self.

These rules may need to be contextualized to today’s times as the gurukul’s were traditionally nurtured by the king who generously gave the acharya things such as land, food, cows, resources etc. In the absence of such benevolent kings, as well as citizens (praja) who don’t fully understand the concept of bhiksha. In Gurukul traditions, Bhiksha is thought of as one of the powerful mediums for managing the needs.

=== Guru Dakshina (गुरु दक्षिणा) ===
Via this medium, the student gives financial donation to acharya. It is given on completion of the formal education. This should not be confused with fee. This is given without any evaluation of the seva extended by acharya and was traditionally given as much as possible based on the financial capacity of the student’s family. Here also nothing is decided by the acharya. Today we have changed this methodology into fee and salary. We should look at how we can contextualise Guru Dakshina in today’s time and age.

=== Donations (दान) ===
Donation differs from Bhiksha. Bhiksha is given when you ask for it. Donation is when you receive without asking for it. It is based on will and feeling of the donor. Various people in the society and those holding government & corporate positions recognize the seva being done by the Gurukul and come forward to support the effort. Today this is called a government grant and CSR funds, respectively. These come with its own terms and conditions. No Gurukul would want to take donations with terms and conditions. In today’s times, the number of people giving voluntary donations have reduced. But still there are people who give donations, and this is considered a legitimate means of managing financial needs.

It is the responsibility of the society to ensure that the financial needs of the Gurukul are met. The systems for making it happen needs to be set up by the acharyas of the Gurukul. It requires some thinking and experimentation before a methodology is settled.

= Running the operations of a Gurukul =
Many aspects needs to be considered to run day to day operations of the Gurukul. This section tries to cover some of those aspects. This is an indicative list. These things can be learnt from various Gurukul and decisions can be made based on once own understanding.

# Admission process and number of students: This includes the process discussion with the students and parents, process of evaluation, number of students in each class, overall number of students in the Gurukul.
# Infrastructural needs: This includes the number and size of classroom, green spaces, pooja space, gaushala, arrangement for various activities, playground etc. These need not be vary elaborate and can be as close to nature as possible.
# Gurukul timings: Start time, closing time, number of hours, division of time across subjects, sequencing of subjects, holidays etc.
# Uniform: Types of clothes, shoes, hair styles, amount of makeup required, ornaments etc. Who all need to have a uniform.
# Sitting arrangements: Consider the seating arrangements as mentioned in shastras. Consider these arrangements for classrooms, office space, dining room, library, library etc. This should be according to the workspace, with practical and financial considerations.
# Schools Bags of the students: Do we need them? What things are allowed in the bag. Ways to reduce the weight and spending on such things need to be thought through.
# Transportation System: Should there be a limit to the distance of the house of the students, should there be arrangement to walk to the school, role of acharyas and parents in managing the transportation system, vehicle parking arrangements needs to be looked into.
# Resources required by the Acharyas and Students: Segregation of useful and useless resources, usage of mechanical tools, equipment required for various experiments, consideration of alternatives to costly equipment, their upkeep etc.
# Homework: How much, different ways to give it, reasons to give it, how to evaluate the homework, role of parents etc.
# Classrooms: Form and shape of the classes, windows, doors, blackboards, almirah, decoration etc.
# Cleanliness: Who all should participate in the cleanliness of the Gurukul area, toilets, ensuring cleanliness before and after food, arrangement for keeping the bags/shoes/lunch boxes, mindset of acharyas and students, their habits and behaviours, ways of maintaining purity of the space.
# Environment Friendly: Building construction methods and the material used for construction, choice of land, careful consideration of things like AC/Refrigerator/Vehicles etc., methods used in agriculture etc.
# Lunch Breaks: Arrangements of breakfast / lunch, ways of improving the understanding and scientific temperament of parents about food, ways of serving and eating, guest managements within the premise etc.
# Daily activities: Timetable of various subjects, good mix of subjects of head/heart/hands, frequency of various activities like agriculture, cleanliness drives, sports, Panchang, Gita recitation, prayers etc.
# Other Facilities: First-aid kit, library, food, water, toilets, garden, purity, love, happiness etc.
# Austerity: Controlled spending on various resources, maintaining simplicity and beauty, upkeep of everything, multiuse of various objects, usage of things without spending too much, keeping the systems as natural as possible etc.
# Cultural Activities: Activities which happen on daily basis, which happen on certain frequency, connecting these activities for various subjects which are taught in class, creating relationship with parents and the society via these activities etc.
# Educational Tours: Choice of places, connection to subjects, using these as ways to develop cultural/social/national understanding, development of practical knowledge etc.

== Conclusion ==
Thus, we delved into various aspects of a Gurukul. It is a long journey, it is of national importance, it should be based on right fundamentals and right concepts, it requires a lot of patience and perseverance. May we all succeed in our endeavours.

Panchakosha Based Education Model

2023-09-05T14:31:51Z

MuneetD: Added PanchaKosha Image

== Goals of Education ==
Today we look at the goals of education in a very constrained way. The primary goal seems to be self-development. This self-development is also there to ensure that we can earn a living through it and use it as a mark of status in the society. In Bharatiya traditions, education has been looked at more holistically. Field of education is related to the field of knowledge and hence the primary goal of education has always been to serve knowledge. It is true that the exchange of knowledge happens between two individuals, acharya and shishya. But still the goal is the service of knowledge. This goal is kept above the elements of serving self, society or the nation. The most important thing is the service of knowledge, seva of gyan.

How does somebody do this? It is done through gyan sadhana, through acquisition of knowledge, through protection of knowledge, by upholding knowledge above things like money, power, force or cunningness. This purpose of education needs to be re-established, since we have forgotten this through the years of colonization and foreign invasions.

This also means that we would rely on gyan to find solutions to every problem, every difficult situation whether it is of personal importance or national importance. In the absence of this, we may end up using other means to solve the problems like use of military or use of money power or show of strength or by cleverness. And most of the times this results in short term solutions. Only true knowledge promotes long term solutions. This was the realization of our ancestors and hence in Bharat, serving knowledge was considered the highest ideal. And it became the supreme goal of education.

The second goal of education is to serve the nation, to ensure happiness, prosperity and well being of all people. This is accomplished by upholding dharma and protecting samskriti. धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः. There are various systems which are setup to ensure that this happens. These systems could be pertaining to societal setup, economics, governance, justice, security etc. These systems may vary based on the nation, contextual to the times we live in and demand of the situations. All these systems are setup in the best possible way while upholding dharma and protecting sanskriti. This is the second goal of education.
[[File:Koshas.jpg|thumb]]
The third goal of education is the development of an individual. It is important to note the order of goals. We do not start with the individual and move towards knowledge. We start with serving knowledge, then serving the nation and then get to the individual. This is what makes education holistic.

What do we mean by development of the individual? At the first level, it means that an individual is able to realize the possibilities and the potential he has got. At the second level it would mean to use the realized potential to make progress in life and nurture connections one has with vyashti- व्यष्टि (family and self) , samasti- समष्टि (society), srishti- सृष्टि (environment) and parameshti- परमेष्टि (God). The goal of education is to unfold these possibilities and to manifest the potential. Swami Vivekananda said – “Education is the manifestation of perfection already in men”. The internal perfection is referring to the ‘atmtatva’ (आत्मतत्व) in all of us. In this birth, there is certain potential which we have got to manifest this perfection. Education will achieve its purpose if this manifestation finds expression in its entirety. The pragmatic term which is used to represent this holistic development is panchkoshatmik (पंचकोशात्मिक) development.

== Panchkosha foundation of curriculum and pedagogy ==
[[File:PanchKoshas.jpg|none|thumb|804x804px]]
Panchkosha refers to 5 layers or Koshas. Lets have a look at what panchkoshatmik (पंचकोशात्मिक) development would look like at each layer:

=== '''Annamaya ('''अन्नमय''') kosha''' ===
Focusing on building a healthy and fit body through good sleep, play and eating habits. Building good rhythms in the life of the child, both at the Gurukulam and working with the parents to enable good rhythms at home.

=== '''Praanmaya ('''प्राणमय''') kosha''' ===
Strengthening the inner systems of the body and building on improving the vital energy in the child through yoga, kalari-payattu, kreeda, krishi and shrama. Also systematically work with the child to build good long lasting habits, discipline and rhythm. Working with the children to develop:

# स्वाद संयम : discipline of the tongue in eating. Both quantity and quality of food.
# वाणी संयम : discipline of the tongue in talking.
# अर्थ संयम : understanding value, artha/anartha, cost, need, greed etc.
# समय संयम : punctuality, being aware of time, respecting others and our own time, also understanding when to let go of time and relax. समय संयम also brings awareness in children about the time they take to do certain activities like eating, sleeping or any work related activity.

=== '''Manomaya ('''मनोमय''') kosha''' ===
<blockquote>बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जित: ।

अनात्मनस्तु शत्रुत्वे वर्तेतात्मैव शत्रुवत् ॥ ६ ॥</blockquote>
“For him, who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy.” Bhagavad Gita 6.6
Thus, it becomes a very important part of upbringing of our children, to guide them, enable them to understand, manage and control their mind. It’s our mind where our six enemies reside: kama (desire), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), mada (arrogance), moha (delusion), and matsarya (jealousy).

Nurturing the Manomaya kosha for students happens through building dhyana, focus, patience, determination, hard work, seva(service), self-confidence, skills and knowledge through:

· A carefully designed curriculum and pedagogy which is holistic and focuses on building all the three shaktis of a child- the क्रिया (Hand) शक्ति, इच्छा (heart) शक्ति, ज्ञान (head) शक्ति.

· Bhagawad Gita parayana & later samvada.

· Ramayana and Mahabharata stories – At VidyaKshetra both in katha roop and shlokas, students study Ramayana and Mahabharata over 4 years between 11years and 15years of age. Also, as they grow up, they are exposed to regular samvada on these subject matters.

· Classical art forms like bharatanatyam, hindustani vocal, tabla, flute, kalari-payttu which strengthens the manomaya kosha.

· Activities that help develop क्रिया (Will) शक्ति – agriculture, go-seva, house building, weaving, stitching, knitting, pottery and carpentry.

· Experiential learning model where learning goes deep and therefore it allays all fears related to subjects.

· Learning centered model.

Fear is a big deterrent in the learning process. Therefore, we constantly strive in helping children overcome their fears eg: fear of heights or water or exams etc. Once fear is uprooted, it frees up their mindspace. The education model is so constructed as to help them build self-confidence, internal discipline or self-discipline as against external control.

=== '''Vigyaanmaya ('''विज्ञानमय''') kosha''' ===
Today, to experience, express and achieve individuality is considered as the best possible outcome of any education and upbringing. On the contrary, in long lasting societies such as ours, interdependence was always considered as a higher virtue. In order to achieve individuality, today’s education, media (movies & print) and books are knowingly and unknowingly designed to sever the connections one has with vyashti- व्यष्टि (family and self) , samasti- समष्टि (society), srishti- सृष्टि (environment) and parameshti- परमेष्टि (God). In the process of reconstructing our lost societies(samaj) and nation(rastra), its dire need is to inculcate the higher virtues of interdependence in our children, help them see the value of connecting with their families, society, environment and spiritual pursuit. Neglecting the connection with any one of these four makes the development partial and sometimes counter productive. To make convenient decisions over the correct one is easy but it takes years of training one’s intellect to make correct decisions as against convenient one. We need to nurture the development of viveka विवेका (Wisdom) in them so that they can make sustainable choices and decisions.

At VidyaKshetra, we work with the children through various means so that they can develop viveka- विवेका.

· First and foremost by being with such acharyas in the Gurukul environment who are self motivated to learn, share, sincerely practice and serve. Secondly, engaging with parents towards progress in their understanding and practice of such worthy principles of Bharatiyata. Next, by introducing children to different subjects, situations, environment, people and case studies. In their early childhood, the focus is on expanding their mental capacities through kanthastikarana and parayana. Later, exposure to rich stories & samvaada through our itihaasa such as Ramayana & Mahabharata; inquiry, reasoning, pramana, tarka, synthesis, analysis etc in the academic realm also helps build vigyanmaya kosha in children.

· Academic excellence: Our pursuit is in building academic excellence for children. Students learn science through various experiments in physics, chemistry and biology. Our math and geometry curriculum is founded on the principles of conceptual understanding first and then deriving the formulas, rather than just rote learning them. Math and science is also an excellent tool to work with children to develop scientific & objective thinking, develop skills like analysis, synthesis, logical ability and quantitative ability. These abilities are foundational in developing viveka in our children.

· Prakriti Parichaya: Since the age of 4 till they are 10 year old, children go on प्रकृति परिचय (nature walk) on weekly basis, to understand nature (the flowers, the insects, weather, seasons, animals, trees, plants, water bodies etc) and by being in nature constantly, automatically they learn to appreciate its different aspects and develop a relationship with it.

=== '''Anandmaya ('''आनंदमय''') kosha''' ===
At an appropriate age, children are encouraged to look inwards, at the essence and subtleties of what they learn at VidyaKshetra. Children must be taught to see everything, every action, every thought around them in connection with supreme consciousness – “व्यवहार (transaction/action/thought) and परमार्थ (God/Supreme).

'''Age appropriateness''': This refers to the ages when the development of specific kosha starts. This means that we will need to use various subjects, the curriculum and pedagogy in such a way that we are able to address the developmental needs of each kosha at that age. Below figure gives a brief of the ages when the specific kosha starts becoming center stage for that child and what faculties need development at that age. This forms the basis of curriculum and pedagogy designed at VidyaKshetra.
[[Category:Education Series]]
[[Category:Vidyakshetra]]

File:PanchKoshas.jpg

2023-09-05T14:28:39Z

MuneetD:

Panchakosha Based Education Model

2023-09-05T14:27:33Z

MuneetD: Uploaded Kosha image

== Goals of Education ==
Today we look at the goals of education in a very constrained way. The primary goal seems to be self-development. This self-development is also there to ensure that we can earn a living through it and use it as a mark of status in the society. In Bharatiya traditions, education has been looked at more holistically. Field of education is related to the field of knowledge and hence the primary goal of education has always been to serve knowledge. It is true that the exchange of knowledge happens between two individuals, acharya and shishya. But still the goal is the service of knowledge. This goal is kept above the elements of serving self, society or the nation. The most important thing is the service of knowledge, seva of gyan.

How does somebody do this? It is done through gyan sadhana, through acquisition of knowledge, through protection of knowledge, by upholding knowledge above things like money, power, force or cunningness. This purpose of education needs to be re-established, since we have forgotten this through the years of colonization and foreign invasions.

This also means that we would rely on gyan to find solutions to every problem, every difficult situation whether it is of personal importance or national importance. In the absence of this, we may end up using other means to solve the problems like use of military or use of money power or show of strength or by cleverness. And most of the times this results in short term solutions. Only true knowledge promotes long term solutions. This was the realization of our ancestors and hence in Bharat, serving knowledge was considered the highest ideal. And it became the supreme goal of education.

The second goal of education is to serve the nation, to ensure happiness, prosperity and well being of all people. This is accomplished by upholding dharma and protecting samskriti. धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः. There are various systems which are setup to ensure that this happens. These systems could be pertaining to societal setup, economics, governance, justice, security etc. These systems may vary based on the nation, contextual to the times we live in and demand of the situations. All these systems are setup in the best possible way while upholding dharma and protecting sanskriti. This is the second goal of education.
[[File:Koshas.jpg|thumb]]
The third goal of education is the development of an individual. It is important to note the order of goals. We do not start with the individual and move towards knowledge. We start with serving knowledge, then serving the nation and then get to the individual. This is what makes education holistic.

What do we mean by development of the individual? At the first level, it means that an individual is able to realize the possibilities and the potential he has got. At the second level it would mean to use the realized potential to make progress in life and nurture connections one has with vyashti- व्यष्टि (family and self) , samasti- समष्टि (society), srishti- सृष्टि (environment) and parameshti- परमेष्टि (God). The goal of education is to unfold these possibilities and to manifest the potential. Swami Vivekananda said – “Education is the manifestation of perfection already in men”. The internal perfection is referring to the ‘atmtatva’ (आत्मतत्व) in all of us. In this birth, there is certain potential which we have got to manifest this perfection. Education will achieve its purpose if this manifestation finds expression in its entirety. The pragmatic term which is used to represent this holistic development is panchkoshatmik (पंचकोशात्मिक) development.

== Panchkosha foundation of curriculum and pedagogy ==
Panchkosha refers to 5 layers or Koshas. Lets have a look at what panchkoshatmik (पंचकोशात्मिक) development would look like at each layer:

=== '''Annamaya ('''अन्नमय''') kosha''' ===
Focusing on building a healthy and fit body through good sleep, play and eating habits. Building good rhythms in the life of the child, both at the Gurukulam and working with the parents to enable good rhythms at home.

=== '''Praanmaya ('''प्राणमय''') kosha''' ===
Strengthening the inner systems of the body and building on improving the vital energy in the child through yoga, kalari-payattu, kreeda, krishi and shrama. Also systematically work with the child to build good long lasting habits, discipline and rhythm. Working with the children to develop:

# स्वाद संयम : discipline of the tongue in eating. Both quantity and quality of food.
# वाणी संयम : discipline of the tongue in talking.
# अर्थ संयम : understanding value, artha/anartha, cost, need, greed etc.
# समय संयम : punctuality, being aware of time, respecting others and our own time, also understanding when to let go of time and relax. समय संयम also brings awareness in children about the time they take to do certain activities like eating, sleeping or any work related activity.

=== '''Manomaya ('''मनोमय''') kosha''' ===
<blockquote>बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जित: ।

अनात्मनस्तु शत्रुत्वे वर्तेतात्मैव शत्रुवत् ॥ ६ ॥</blockquote>
“For him, who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy.” Bhagavad Gita 6.6
Thus, it becomes a very important part of upbringing of our children, to guide them, enable them to understand, manage and control their mind. It’s our mind where our six enemies reside: kama (desire), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), mada (arrogance), moha (delusion), and matsarya (jealousy).

Nurturing the Manomaya kosha for students happens through building dhyana, focus, patience, determination, hard work, seva(service), self-confidence, skills and knowledge through:

· A carefully designed curriculum and pedagogy which is holistic and focuses on building all the three shaktis of a child- the क्रिया (Hand) शक्ति, इच्छा (heart) शक्ति, ज्ञान (head) शक्ति.

· Bhagawad Gita parayana & later samvada.

· Ramayana and Mahabharata stories – At VidyaKshetra both in katha roop and shlokas, students study Ramayana and Mahabharata over 4 years between 11years and 15years of age. Also, as they grow up, they are exposed to regular samvada on these subject matters.

· Classical art forms like bharatanatyam, hindustani vocal, tabla, flute, kalari-payttu which strengthens the manomaya kosha.

· Activities that help develop क्रिया (Will) शक्ति – agriculture, go-seva, house building, weaving, stitching, knitting, pottery and carpentry.

· Experiential learning model where learning goes deep and therefore it allays all fears related to subjects.

· Learning centered model.

Fear is a big deterrent in the learning process. Therefore, we constantly strive in helping children overcome their fears eg: fear of heights or water or exams etc. Once fear is uprooted, it frees up their mindspace. The education model is so constructed as to help them build self-confidence, internal discipline or self-discipline as against external control.

=== '''Vigyaanmaya ('''विज्ञानमय''') kosha''' ===
Today, to experience, express and achieve individuality is considered as the best possible outcome of any education and upbringing. On the contrary, in long lasting societies such as ours, interdependence was always considered as a higher virtue. In order to achieve individuality, today’s education, media (movies & print) and books are knowingly and unknowingly designed to sever the connections one has with vyashti- व्यष्टि (family and self) , samasti- समष्टि (society), srishti- सृष्टि (environment) and parameshti- परमेष्टि (God). In the process of reconstructing our lost societies(samaj) and nation(rastra), its dire need is to inculcate the higher virtues of interdependence in our children, help them see the value of connecting with their families, society, environment and spiritual pursuit. Neglecting the connection with any one of these four makes the development partial and sometimes counter productive. To make convenient decisions over the correct one is easy but it takes years of training one’s intellect to make correct decisions as against convenient one. We need to nurture the development of viveka विवेका (Wisdom) in them so that they can make sustainable choices and decisions.

At VidyaKshetra, we work with the children through various means so that they can develop viveka- विवेका.

· First and foremost by being with such acharyas in the Gurukul environment who are self motivated to learn, share, sincerely practice and serve. Secondly, engaging with parents towards progress in their understanding and practice of such worthy principles of Bharatiyata. Next, by introducing children to different subjects, situations, environment, people and case studies. In their early childhood, the focus is on expanding their mental capacities through kanthastikarana and parayana. Later, exposure to rich stories & samvaada through our itihaasa such as Ramayana & Mahabharata; inquiry, reasoning, pramana, tarka, synthesis, analysis etc in the academic realm also helps build vigyanmaya kosha in children.

· Academic excellence: Our pursuit is in building academic excellence for children. Students learn science through various experiments in physics, chemistry and biology. Our math and geometry curriculum is founded on the principles of conceptual understanding first and then deriving the formulas, rather than just rote learning them. Math and science is also an excellent tool to work with children to develop scientific & objective thinking, develop skills like analysis, synthesis, logical ability and quantitative ability. These abilities are foundational in developing viveka in our children.

· Prakriti Parichaya: Since the age of 4 till they are 10 year old, children go on प्रकृति परिचय (nature walk) on weekly basis, to understand nature (the flowers, the insects, weather, seasons, animals, trees, plants, water bodies etc) and by being in nature constantly, automatically they learn to appreciate its different aspects and develop a relationship with it.

=== '''Anandmaya ('''आनंदमय''') kosha''' ===
At an appropriate age, children are encouraged to look inwards, at the essence and subtleties of what they learn at VidyaKshetra. Children must be taught to see everything, every action, every thought around them in connection with supreme consciousness – “व्यवहार (transaction/action/thought) and परमार्थ (God/Supreme).

'''Age appropriateness''': This refers to the ages when the development of specific kosha starts. This means that we will need to use various subjects, the curriculum and pedagogy in such a way that we are able to address the developmental needs of each kosha at that age. Below figure gives a brief of the ages when the specific kosha starts becoming center stage for that child and what faculties need development at that age. This forms the basis of curriculum and pedagogy designed at VidyaKshetra.
[[Category:Education Series]]
[[Category:Vidyakshetra]]

File:Koshas.jpg

2023-09-05T14:23:48Z

MuneetD:

Panchakosha Based Education Model

2023-09-05T14:12:01Z

MuneetD: Created for the first time

== Goals of Education ==
Today we look at the goals of education in a very constrained way. The primary goal seems to be self-development. This self-development is also there to ensure that we can earn a living through it and use it as a mark of status in the society. In Bharatiya traditions, education has been looked at more holistically. Field of education is related to the field of knowledge and hence the primary goal of education has always been to serve knowledge. It is true that the exchange of knowledge happens between two individuals, acharya and shishya. But still the goal is the service of knowledge. This goal is kept above the elements of serving self, society or the nation. The most important thing is the service of knowledge, seva of gyan.

How does somebody do this? It is done through gyan sadhana, through acquisition of knowledge, through protection of knowledge, by upholding knowledge above things like money, power, force or cunningness. This purpose of education needs to be re-established, since we have forgotten this through the years of colonization and foreign invasions.

This also means that we would rely on gyan to find solutions to every problem, every difficult situation whether it is of personal importance or national importance. In the absence of this, we may end up using other means to solve the problems like use of military or use of money power or show of strength or by cleverness. And most of the times this results in short term solutions. Only true knowledge promotes long term solutions. This was the realization of our ancestors and hence in Bharat, serving knowledge was considered the highest ideal. And it became the supreme goal of education.

The second goal of education is to serve the nation, to ensure happiness, prosperity and well being of all people. This is accomplished by upholding dharma and protecting samskriti. धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः. There are various systems which are setup to ensure that this happens. These systems could be pertaining to societal setup, economics, governance, justice, security etc. These systems may vary based on the nation, contextual to the times we live in and demand of the situations. All these systems are setup in the best possible way while upholding dharma and protecting sanskriti. This is the second goal of education.

The third goal of education is the development of an individual. It is important to note the order of goals. We do not start with the individual and move towards knowledge. We start with serving knowledge, then serving the nation and then get to the individual. This is what makes education holistic.

What do we mean by development of the individual? At the first level, it means that an individual is able to realize the possibilities and the potential he has got. At the second level it would mean to use the realized potential to make progress in life and nurture connections one has with vyashti- व्यष्टि (family and self) , samasti- समष्टि (society), srishti- सृष्टि (environment) and parameshti- परमेष्टि (God). The goal of education is to unfold these possibilities and to manifest the potential. Swami Vivekananda said – “Education is the manifestation of perfection already in men”. The internal perfection is referring to the ‘atmtatva’ (आत्मतत्व) in all of us. In this birth, there is certain potential which we have got to manifest this perfection. Education will achieve its purpose if this manifestation finds expression in its entirety. The pragmatic term which is used to represent this holistic development is panchkoshatmik (पंचकोशात्मिक) development.

== Panchkosha foundation of curriculum and pedagogy ==
Panchkosha refers to 5 layers or Koshas. Lets have a look at what panchkoshatmik (पंचकोशात्मिक) development would look like at each layer:

=== '''Annamaya ('''अन्नमय''') kosha''' ===
Focusing on building a healthy and fit body through good sleep, play and eating habits. Building good rhythms in the life of the child, both at the Gurukulam and working with the parents to enable good rhythms at home.

=== '''Praanmaya ('''प्राणमय''') kosha''' ===
Strengthening the inner systems of the body and building on improving the vital energy in the child through yoga, kalari-payattu, kreeda, krishi and shrama. Also systematically work with the child to build good long lasting habits, discipline and rhythm. Working with the children to develop:

# स्वाद संयम : discipline of the tongue in eating. Both quantity and quality of food.
# वाणी संयम : discipline of the tongue in talking.
# अर्थ संयम : understanding value, artha/anartha, cost, need, greed etc.
# समय संयम : punctuality, being aware of time, respecting others and our own time, also understanding when to let go of time and relax. समय संयम also brings awareness in children about the time they take to do certain activities like eating, sleeping or any work related activity.

=== '''Manomaya ('''मनोमय''') kosha''' ===
<blockquote>बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जित: ।

अनात्मनस्तु शत्रुत्वे वर्तेतात्मैव शत्रुवत् ॥ ६ ॥</blockquote>
“For him, who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy.” Bhagavad Gita 6.6
Thus, it becomes a very important part of upbringing of our children, to guide them, enable them to understand, manage and control their mind. It’s our mind where our six enemies reside: kama (desire), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), mada (arrogance), moha (delusion), and matsarya (jealousy).

Nurturing the Manomaya kosha for students happens through building dhyana, focus, patience, determination, hard work, seva(service), self-confidence, skills and knowledge through:

· A carefully designed curriculum and pedagogy which is holistic and focuses on building all the three shaktis of a child- the क्रिया (Hand) शक्ति, इच्छा (heart) शक्ति, ज्ञान (head) शक्ति.

· Bhagawad Gita parayana & later samvada.

· Ramayana and Mahabharata stories – At VidyaKshetra both in katha roop and shlokas, students study Ramayana and Mahabharata over 4 years between 11years and 15years of age. Also, as they grow up, they are exposed to regular samvada on these subject matters.

· Classical art forms like bharatanatyam, hindustani vocal, tabla, flute, kalari-payttu which strengthens the manomaya kosha.

· Activities that help develop क्रिया (Will) शक्ति – agriculture, go-seva, house building, weaving, stitching, knitting, pottery and carpentry.

· Experiential learning model where learning goes deep and therefore it allays all fears related to subjects.

· Learning centered model.

Fear is a big deterrent in the learning process. Therefore, we constantly strive in helping children overcome their fears eg: fear of heights or water or exams etc. Once fear is uprooted, it frees up their mindspace. The education model is so constructed as to help them build self-confidence, internal discipline or self-discipline as against external control.

=== '''Vigyaanmaya ('''विज्ञानमय''') kosha''' ===
Today, to experience, express and achieve individuality is considered as the best possible outcome of any education and upbringing. On the contrary, in long lasting societies such as ours, interdependence was always considered as a higher virtue. In order to achieve individuality, today’s education, media (movies & print) and books are knowingly and unknowingly designed to sever the connections one has with vyashti- व्यष्टि (family and self) , samasti- समष्टि (society), srishti- सृष्टि (environment) and parameshti- परमेष्टि (God). In the process of reconstructing our lost societies(samaj) and nation(rastra), its dire need is to inculcate the higher virtues of interdependence in our children, help them see the value of connecting with their families, society, environment and spiritual pursuit. Neglecting the connection with any one of these four makes the development partial and sometimes counter productive. To make convenient decisions over the correct one is easy but it takes years of training one’s intellect to make correct decisions as against convenient one. We need to nurture the development of viveka विवेका (Wisdom) in them so that they can make sustainable choices and decisions.

At VidyaKshetra, we work with the children through various means so that they can develop viveka- विवेका.

· First and foremost by being with such acharyas in the Gurukul environment who are self motivated to learn, share, sincerely practice and serve. Secondly, engaging with parents towards progress in their understanding and practice of such worthy principles of Bharatiyata. Next, by introducing children to different subjects, situations, environment, people and case studies. In their early childhood, the focus is on expanding their mental capacities through kanthastikarana and parayana. Later, exposure to rich stories & samvaada through our itihaasa such as Ramayana & Mahabharata; inquiry, reasoning, pramana, tarka, synthesis, analysis etc in the academic realm also helps build vigyanmaya kosha in children.

· Academic excellence: Our pursuit is in building academic excellence for children. Students learn science through various experiments in physics, chemistry and biology. Our math and geometry curriculum is founded on the principles of conceptual understanding first and then deriving the formulas, rather than just rote learning them. Math and science is also an excellent tool to work with children to develop scientific & objective thinking, develop skills like analysis, synthesis, logical ability and quantitative ability. These abilities are foundational in developing viveka in our children.

· Prakriti Parichaya: Since the age of 4 till they are 10 year old, children go on प्रकृति परिचय (nature walk) on weekly basis, to understand nature (the flowers, the insects, weather, seasons, animals, trees, plants, water bodies etc) and by being in nature constantly, automatically they learn to appreciate its different aspects and develop a relationship with it.

=== '''Anandmaya ('''आनंदमय''') kosha''' ===
At an appropriate age, children are encouraged to look inwards, at the essence and subtleties of what they learn at VidyaKshetra. Children must be taught to see everything, every action, every thought around them in connection with supreme consciousness – “व्यवहार (transaction/action/thought) and परमार्थ (God/Supreme).

'''Age appropriateness''': This refers to the ages when the development of specific kosha starts. This means that we will need to use various subjects, the curriculum and pedagogy in such a way that we are able to address the developmental needs of each kosha at that age. Below figure gives a brief of the ages when the specific kosha starts becoming center stage for that child and what faculties need development at that age. This forms the basis of curriculum and pedagogy designed at VidyaKshetra.