We keep talking about the environmental crisis the earth is facing. It is common knowledge that one of the main reasons for this crisis is human beings’ relentless destruction of nature, the lust for timber and the denuded earth, ready to be used for the march of “Civilization”.
Rather than getting lost in the jargon growing with the crisis, I look at the problem in simple terms. Today, there are more people on this earth who have no qualms in harming nature. Thus, there is a simple solution, if we can increase the number of people who care for the flower rather than the timber, our earth has a chance.
I know I can’t solve all the problems of this world, but as a school educationist what can I do? Let’s go back to 1901, the establishment of the Ashram School by Rabindranath Tagore.
Any educational institution would have 2 or 3 primary foci:
- The academic programme,
- The co-curricular focus and
- The space in which education is practiced.
Let’s try to understand the journey of Visva Bharati (or the Ashram School, now known as Patha Bhavan), the unique creation of Rabindranath Tagore. The poet did envisage a specific structure for the academic programme of his school. Unfortunately, it was demolished in his own life time, so much so that at one point he shifted to Sriniketan. No other institution has the privilege of a Nobel Laureate creating the music, dance, theatre and other co-curricular practice as Visva Bharati has. Yet, for quite some time now, this aspect, instead of being seen as an integral part of education, has been sporadically used as a ritual to entertain outsiders. What survived the longest, was the space that Rabindranath created for his institution. Even today people throng Santiniketan to savour the magical space. Thus SPACE is important.
Nature, as we know, was one of the pillars of Rabindranath’s educational philosophy. He was convinced that children need to be allowed to grow up within Nature and she has her own ways of educating them.
Intellectually we can comprehend this. Yet, how can it be translated into the space of an institution? Looking back at my days as a student in the Ashram School, the answer seemed quite simple. We engaged with nature through the smell, the sight and the feel. The Ashram as we know was very well planned. Each season would melt into the other through the changes in the big flowering and fruit trees and we would be subconsciously aware of these changes through the changing sights, the smells. Climbing trees and breaking limbs were the feel part of it. When we sang Tagore songs about the monsoons and came across the signature ‘Kadam’ flower, it was a real experience as we would walk under the towering trees, play with the ball like flowers and take in the sweet smell of the rains trapped in the bloom. We never made an effort, yet we grew up naturally sensitive to the environment as part of our basic character.
Of course there is a significant human value attached to this sensitivity that cannot be taught on a black board in a classroom. It has to be experienced. In today’s world we can go one step further. A child joining Grade 1 in Sishutirtha School will join the work force 15 or 20 years from now. We can’t predict anything of the professional world that awaits them. Yet, one thing we can say with certainty: jobs pertaining to the environment or climate will be the highest paying jobs in that market. People have to try to save this earth from annihilation.
Santiniketan Sishutirtha School/Ashram is being planned in this context. Unfortunately, Santiniketan today is in the grip of mindless felling. Here, we are trying to preserve most of the trees that adorned the landscape of Santiniketan, trees that have been used in various songs and poems of Rabindranath. The expectation is that the children will grow up experiencing the songs they sing, the poems they read, the subtle changes of nature.
When the weather is conducive, we hold outdoor classes. Up to Grade 10 at least, science is mostly about understanding our surroundings. How can that be taught indoors? How can the topic of atmosphere be taught by drawing two circles on the board and not gazing into the vastness above?
I am aware Sishutirtha School is privileged with a sprawling campus. Yet, an appeal to my fellow educationists, in your own space you can always look for avenues of replacing the timber with the flower for your students.
It’s no longer incidental, it is imperative.
