Introduction to Integral Education

The present system of education, as widely practised all over the world and in India, has its origins in the Industrial Age in Europe 200 years ago. Its industrial mindset designs schools to be mass-processing factories that take in children as their raw material and churn out certified professionals to fit the needs of a mechanistic society. It ignores the child’s individuality, suppresses creativity and discourages independent thought. Its dehumanising values have suffused modern pedagogy, warped its priorities and brought about a condition of crisis in modern education and modern society. Such a mindset has no place in the future of humanity and is already outdated in a world that increasingly values the uniqueness of each human being and seeks to realise the full creative power and potential within us.

All over the world there is an urgent and growing need to approach education on new lines; but bold experiments and working models are few. For, the new educational ideal is still in formation, and there is no universal roadmap that can guide the way to the brave new world of a “child-centred” education that we all aspire to realise.

This book takes up the challenge of rebuilding the foundations of education on the deeper psychological insights innate to the Indian civilisation, and gives a concrete form to the new mindset that must suffuse the future education of humanity. Based on teacher training programmes on Integral Education conducted by the author all over India, it charts out the broad lines along which teachers, parents and schools can make a smooth transition into the new educational paradigm. It draws the reader into an experiential journey of self-discovery, rich with life-changing insights and their practical application in everyday teaching and parenting. It inspires and rekindles our deepest aspirations and restores faith in our ideals by showing the way towards their realisation and fulfilment.

Published by: SAIIER, 2006
Format: Softcover
Dimensions: 14 x 22cm
Language: English
Pages: 288