Integral 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.

Nearly a hundred students from across India participated in week long exposure tours to Auroville in early February organised by the Ministry of Education under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (EBSB) programme.

Dr. Sanjeev Ranganathan has been an executive of the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research (SAIIER) since August 2021 and was a SAIIER board member from 2016 to 2020.

The lockdown which began in March 2020 required schools to shift from classroom teaching to online teaching. Auroville Today interviewed Divya Lieser, a teacher in Future School, to understand the challenges of online teaching and to hear about her other perspectives on education in Auroville.

Fabrice Dini’s new book, translated from the French by Aurovilian Divya Lieser, is a practical guide for teachers and parents. As Dini’s background and experience are in mindfulness practice, much of the book is built around that theme

“In this place, children would be able to grow and develop integrally without losing contact with their souls; education would be given not for passing examinations or obtaining certificates and posts but to enrich existing faculties and bring forth new ones.”

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.”

Education has been a significant area of activity for Auroville since its inception, with many initiatives throughout its history seeking to provide for the needs of the community’s youth, while attempting to actualize the foundational aspiration of ‘Integral Education.’

One offering I had always wanted to make to Auroville was the Ganga Yatra experience. Why? Firstly, I have always had a fascination with the Himalayas and the Ganges.

Auroville International The Netherlands reported that its Facebook page is frequently visited, particularly its Trend Watching posting, which contains a report by two Dutch students of the Fontys Academy for Creative Industries (‘International Lifestyle Studies’) who are doing a research project in Auroville.