Page 52 - EducationWorld June 2022_Neat

Cover Story

that during his lifetime, JK was highly
respected as a pathbreaking philoso-
pher-seer of substance by prominent
20th century intellectuals. Through-
out his eventful life, Krishnamurti
formed close friendships with glob-
ally respected intellectuals including
Aldous Huxley, the author of over 50
books including the prescient Brave
N ew W orld (1932), physicist David
Bohm, and in India he engaged in
prolonged discussions with prime
ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and In-
dira Gandhi. Moreover, he continu-
ously lectured faculty and students of
prestigious universities in Europe and
the US, and also addressed the United
Nations. In the process, he attracted
legions of followers and disciples in
Britain and the US, which to this day
host Krishnamurti education centres Rishi Valley students with government school children: sustained outreach initiatives
and schools administered by local
trustees (see box p.50). ernment schools across the country for mass education, there’s no doubt
N the excellent record of KFI dation inputs from our study centres and pedagogies that deserve replica-
have received aid, advice and upgra-
they offer numerous best practices
EVERTHELESS, DESPITE
which have also provided professional
tion in K-12 education countrywide.
Education Centres and
ing outcomes in primary education
schools in dispensing ex- development training to 111,000 gov- The plain fudged truth is that learn-
ernment school teachers. Moreover
emplary academic, co-curricular and over the past 25 years our study cen- — as testified by the nnual S tatus of
A
ecology-sensitive primary-secondary tre professionals and teachers have in- Educ ation R ep orts of the authorita-
education to several generations, vested 3,300 man-days assisting gov- tive Pratham Education Foundation —
not a few educationists tend to dis- ernment school teachers to improve are continuously declining, vocational
miss KFI as an alternative schooling classroom teaching, and we provide education and training hasn’t got off
experiment, unsuitable for scaling. highly subsidised medical treatment the ground, teacher training quality
Yet while it’s true that the number of to 20,000 rural citizens every year. is rock bottom and ranks awarded to
students in KFI schools is very small All these activities are conducted with India’s higher education institutions
— The School, KFI, Chennai with 380 the involvement of children in KFI in the QS and TH E World University
children has the largest enrolment — schools, enabling them to learn-by- Rankings is in the doldrums. This sit-
the foundation’s trustees argue that doing,” says V is h w a n a th A l l u ri, uation is likely to have worsened after
enrolments are tightly controlled to trustee-secretary of the foundation. the 82-week lockdown of all education
maintain favourable teacher-pupil Even though with their insistence institutions countrywide during the
ratios and individual attention to stu- on highly-positive teacher-pupil ratios Covid-19 pandemic era.
dents. They say that scale should be and individual attention to students, As the country’s education institu-
measured by the outreach and edu- KFI schools are not replicable models tions begin to regain post-pandemic
cation initiatives of the foundation’s momentum in a fractious era of re-
study centres. ough KFI schools are not ligious and communal discord while
“Over the past several decades, replicable models for mass suffering ravages of climate change,
KFI’s community outreach pro- government and private educators
grammes have benefited a large education, there’s no doubt would do well to revisit Krishnamur-
number of socio-economically disad- they offer numerous best ti’s education philosophy and teach-
vantaged rural citizens to whom the ings. While this philosopher-sage is
foundation has provided medical care, practices and pedagogies no longer with us, his legacy lives on
free-of-charge education for children that deserve replication in in the excellent schools and education
and skilling and livelihood opportuni- K-12 education countrywide centres promoted by him and admin-
ties. For instance, over 200,000 gov- istered by his heirs.

52 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2022