Special Education In India

 

 

A dream school where children do not have to adhere to structured practices but can instead engage in activities they choose.

 

"Which class are you in?"

 

"I am in Courage and she is Perseverance!" If the answer is unusual, it is because it comes from an unusual school!

 

Welcome to Mirambika, an alternative school located in and run by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, New Delhi.

 

It is a widely prevalent feeling that the existing school education in our country, has innumerable drawbacks. The chief of these is that the Mainstream education does not have any high objectives, other than preparing the child for a lucrative career. During the process of learning, the child is meaninglessly burdened and deprived of the experience of creative joy and inner growth. This discontent spurred a group of thinkers and teachers to create an alternative form of education.

 

In 1981, Mirambika (Mira, from the name Mira Alfasa of the `Mother,' the disciple of Sri Aurobindo, and Ambika meaning "mother" in Sanskrit) was conceived, in an attempt to implement the educational agenda of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. It started with 57 children and today, after two decades it has managed to hold the number at under 150.

 

Sri Aurobindo felt `nothing can be taught'. His second principle was that, `the mind has to be consulted on its growth' and the third included, `work from the near to the far'. This signifies that early learning must be from all that the child can relate to before moving to abstract concepts. The main objective of education, he concluded should be only to develop the faculties for learning.

 

The atmosphere in the school is a proclamation of this ideology. The splendid architecture, its symmetry, openness, its harmony with nature are overwhelming. There is no school uniform. More importantly, there are no fixed classes for the children of the same age. In fact there are no typical classes from nursery to Std. X but just 12 groups called Red, Blue, Equality, Aspiration and others. The idea is that children should not be treated as objects of control in a hierarchical system of division and grading. There are no structured practices and the children engage in activities as they choose. Significantly though, this freedom does not degenerate into chaos. Instead, an alternative work culture has come to be where the children respect time and develop their own rhythm, without experiencing alienation from studies. Even very young children are seen to work on projects and bring out extensive material on the topic.

 

Getting admission into Mirambika is not easy. The school is very clear that the ethos of the family and that of the school have to be similar. For, if

parents do not fully comprehend the true meaning of the alternative education, they are bound to create obstacles in the experimental pursuits.

 

Hence the aspiring parents are screened in two stages to make sure they are truly ready for the `risk' inherent in the alternative format. Leaving the atmosphere of this `dream' school, the big question that inevitably arises, is about how these children eventually adjust would to the `real' world. Parents and teachers concede that academically the children from Mirambika fare below their counterparts in the mainstream schools.

 

The school is not affiliated to any board and the children take up the National Open School Exam. This in effect, rules out the possibility of the children ever being able to compete with those from the mainstream in the entrance-exams to professional colleges. One sure gain from the experiment is that it has sparked the process of introspection among educationists and parents. This will in turn, surely bring about the much needed change and improvement in the present school scene.