Education

“Auroville will be a place of unending education”, says its Charter. The entirety of Auroville is envisioned by The Mother as an evolving educational campus encompassing all facets of life.

The AVFO continues entering into Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and other “collaborations” with Indian institutes, which the residents learn about via newspapers.

Stephanie left her body in Frankfurt on the night of Sunday, 10 March, after a long journey battling with her health, surrounded by the love and care of her family.

In early December, six graduate students and their professor from the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Queen’s University, Canada, visited Auroville to explore the social impact of Auroville on the nearby village of Kuilaypalayam.

Francesco, once a professional snowboarder (or “rider” in snowboarding lingo) from a mountain village in Italy, shifted paths after a family crisis and a snowboarding accident.

WasteLess, the Auroville unit that for the last 12 years has specialized in developing education on waste management, in its first Newsletter writes that it is in financial difficulty and is struggling to stay afloat, even though many community members have pledged their generous support.

Supported by its rich biodiversity, India has since ancient times developed its own indigenous systems of medicine. Medicinal plants are found in all of its 15 ecosystems, giving rise to its unique alternative medical systems: Ayurveda, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Unani, each of which depends primarily on plant based formulations for its medicines.

Sathiya, a second-generation Aurovilian, speaks about her upbringing and her unwavering commitment to Auroville's ethos despite external pressures.

The annual STEAM Fest organised by Yuvabe Education at Deepanam School in Auroville was held on 6th April 2024. Once again the fest captured the imagination of students and families alike.

In early 2023, YouthLink conducted an initial survey on the working situation of Aurovilian youth aged 18-30. 116 youth (24% of the total 492 Aurovilians in this age bracket) chose to participate.

Auma is a second-generation Aurovilian, born to Indian and French pioneers, Marie Babu and André Tardeil. While she raises her third generation child, she shares insights with us about what makes Auroville unique to her.

The second paragraph of the Charter of Auroville states that “Auroville will be a place of unending education, of constant progress and a youth that never ages.”

In the October 2023 issue of Auroville Today [#411] we highlighted the 901-page framework study ‘Governance in Auroville’ of Professor Raag Yadava and his associate Nidhi Harihar.

Induja, a young Auroville architect, talks about how she came to Auroville, the work which inspires her and her hopes for the future.

Recently, Jay Naidoo, an ex-freedom fighter from South Africa, visited Auroville and addressed an important question to the youth: “You say you are open to everyone and invite people from all over the world, but have you actually created an environment where African people can integrate into the community?”

Arun Kumar (age 24) and V. Vignesh (age 22) are both Kottakarai village youth who grew up in and around Auroville. Here they share some of their experiences and perceptions of Auroville the community, the project and the Dream.

In 2022, Vishwa Chudgar, her husband and daughter spent a month in Auroville, before moving back to the USA. A little over a year later, the family is now calling Auroville home and Vishwa has started the newcomer process.

International Youth Day is celebrated annually on the 12th August globally, and marks YouthLink’s largest annual event in Auroville. This year it was celebrated around the world, focusing on the theme of “Intergenerational Solidarity'', which it remains ever so important to be reminded of, even within the Auroville context.

World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) began in 1992, set from the 1st-7th August, in order to promote public awareness to encourage and support breastfeeding.

Auroville youth are often asked why they choose to go abroad. The majority answer that they wish to pursue higher education. Others want to travel to see the world or take up work outside.

A year ago, students from The Learning Community [TLC: see Auroville Today April 2022, no. 393] cycled to Cinema Paradiso to watch a movie on Summerhill School.

Since joining Auroville in 2016, Anandi Zhang has taken up various work in the community. But she feels the most important work is that which she is dong upon herself.

BnB Shifu is a one-year intensive course in skills of electronics (VLSI) and programming, competencies and inner capacity for the youth started in 2021 by Dr.

In the last month, rumours have been circulating about a multiversity in which Auroville would play a central role. After much criticism that the Residents Assembly was not being consulted on such an important topic, on 9th November the Working Committee finally circulated version eight of a draft Sri Aurobindo International Multiversity Bill with a request for comments.

On the afternoon of 22nd November, the first open community meeting on the multiversity concept was held. After the origin of the draft Parliamentary Act and the present stance of the Working Committee and SAIIER were presented (see accompanying interview), the floor was opened for questions, clarifications and comments, as a means of deciding “where we go from here”.

Dr. Sanjeev Ranganathan is the initiator of the STEM Land educational experiment, (STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) which we covered at its inception six years ago [see Auroville Today # 317].

Sixteen years have gone by since two young women, Bridget Horkan and Kathy Walkling, took a big step to bridge the gap between Auroville  and the neighbouring village of Edayanchavadi.

Rena and Agnes are a bustling duo raising our consciousness about waste in Auroville. They focus on promoting good segregation and organising a clean waste centre.

When Eco Femme founders Kathy and Jessamijn started the initiative ten years ago, they couldn’t imagine that their dreams would find such fertile ground.

When moving to Auroville, do people let go of their 'base cultures' or do they nurture those habits and traditions in their new life here? Is there an 'Auroville culture' or do we live in a cultural void?

Everyone here knows the expression “Children of Auroville”, but they’ve grown up since, and some now have children themselves! As various waves of ‘children of Children of Auroville’ – i.e. youth that has grown up in Auroville to parents that have themselves grown up in Auroville (monikers: GenZ, iGen or even Zoomers) are born and grow up here, the older ones now represent a category that is starting to be more vocal in the community.

Since July this year, Auroville Green Practices (AGP), a community organisation managed by Auroville Consulting, has been hosting numerous webinars, with over 1,500 people participating on more than a dozen topics, such as zero waste, upcycling, water management, vegan raw food, permaculture, and earth architecture, natural building technologies, Ferro-cement, solar energy, and many more.

Various events were held to celebrate Republic Day, 26th January. In addition to the traditional flag hoisting ceremony, there was an interactive session with Governing Board member Dr.

Christoph Pohl grew up in Germany. He studied media technology engineering and worked in video and film post production in Hamburg and Berlin before moving to Auroville in 2008.

I am currently 50, I live in Denver Colorado with my husband, Murugan and my 13 year old daughter, Rasam. My son Chidambaram is a junior at Harvard.

I am now 28, born and brought up as a third generation in Auroville. My grandparents are of Indian (Kuilaypalayam) and European (Dutch/German) background... my grandparents having worked for Auroville at its very start.

We are Julian, Jonas and Anadi, three Auroville youths that run Tree Care, an arboriculture business. In case you are wondering what arboriculture is, let us tell you: arboriculture is the synthesis of tree science (biology), physics, chemistry, physical coordination, strength, heavy machinery, and of course some yoga to stay calm and focused throughout technical and dangerous procedures, or as Google would define it: the cultivation of trees and shrubs.

Aloka and Joan talk about their approach to awareness in the body and how they have initiated a much appreciated programme to develop this in children and adults.

A recent survey of students in the villages surrounding Auroville found that 73 per cent of college graduates are still unemployed within one or two years of graduation.

We can learn quite a lot about a community by observing what its members consume; and even more telling is what they throw away! Whilst living in Europe, I was often quite astonished to find perfectly usable, sometimes even brand new, items discarded in rubbish bins and, on occasion, even felt compelled to rescue an object and find a good home for it!

I recently returned from several months at my university in the UK dedicated to writing up my doctoral research on Auroville, and a series of related presentations in various academic conferences throughout Europe and the United States.

An important meeting in terms of planning for the larger bioregion took place on 11th September in Pondicherry. Hosted by Citizen’s Action Network, PondyCAN and the Puducherry Planning Authority, with participation of civil society from all the sub-regions, the consultation meeting was also addressed by Lt.

Amongst the memorable events of Auroville’s Golden Jubilee celebrations was the visit of Dr. Shigeru Aoyagi, Director and Representative of UNESCO, Delhi Office.

In March, 2015, we interviewed three Aurovilians, Gérard Maréchal, Janaka and François Gauthier, who had journeyed to Auroville in the first caravan in 1969, to learn more about the caravan story.

As a prelude to next year’s Golden Jubilee, a series of events took place in the nation’s capital in November to create awareness of what Auroville is, has achieved and aims to become.

It was 1985, and I had gone with my mother to seek admission in the Ashram school. Parudi, the Registrar, looked at me and said, “Mother had said that after the age of 14 we do not admit students because their mental formations are already made.”

Dr. Prema Nandakumar has written and spoken to audiences the world over about Sri Aurobindo's writings and philosophy. She is the author of many articles and books on Sri Aurobindo and on Indian culture.