This is the first decade of the 21 C - many things around the world are changing / have changed. Global power shift are happening. China and India have stood up. In India - upheavals, Kashmir, Maoists, SEZs, nuclear energy and also movement in education.
Flexibility in approach, a thrust towards engagement rather than accomplishment, schooling as an experience rather than meant mainly for certification, the right of each child to schooling, the right of each child not to be failed, the thrust to inclusion, compulsory inclusion of the disadvantaged into the private schooling institutions...
The nation, woken by a complex set of circumstances doubled the allocation for Education to 4% of the national budget. This has set in motion a scramble for showing some result other than the complacent status quo. The status quo has a compelling logic - if nothing has changed since 1947, how can we hope for any change! But the logic of money is even more compelling. If a country spends thousands of crores, however imperfect the democracy, there is an impatience to see some movement.
Also, however imperfect a democracy when the divergences become unendurable the push for movement grows stronger. Inclusion and the rights of an individual, each individual, get attention and a society seeks solutions. We, human society, seem to know little about this. In this situation we have entered the zone of lurches and jerky movement, discomfort and wishes for a new order, an impatience to find a new space of security and comfort.
We have simultaneously entered the zone of life long learning. And this means living in a culture of change and movement. Our agrarian roots are being shaken to the gills and the song of the hunter gatherer is heard again. (or is it the the whistle of the dragon riders?)
For the teacher, the educator - learner, not the guru or wise person in a gurukula, this is a time of crises and reexamination. "Who am I? What am I to do? What is my relationship to the student, to knowledge and to the institution? So much is shifting, do I really wish to be here?"
For us who are in a K school - what does all this have to do with Krishnamurti? Some may say 'everything' and others 'little'.
In the hands of the teachers Krishnamurti has left certain imperatives. One can even call them injunctions - thinking for oneself, working together, get off the pedestal, question everything, cultivation of a religious mind and being responsible for the whole. He also urged his listeners to 'move'.
This is a time which will be attractive only to the bravest, boldest - those who wish to find out how to live in these times, circumstance and with these teachings.
For us who are at The School, some new, some here for a quarter of a century, this is a special year. We have together started a new school, Pathashaala - and will launch the ABL school shortly. This teachers' day for me is marked with a lot of feeling for colleagues with whom i have shared many voyages of discovery, shared work and experiences and above all an atmosphere of working together that has been tinged with something very special - a concern for the large good, for the larger questions of life and eucation.
I wish you a continuing wonderful journey as a teacher.
