Education for a new world in Nicaragua
Dharmadeva
"... Neo-Humanist education is a holistic education for the liberation of
self and society from all bondages, firmly based on a comprehensive
psychology of human consciousness. Instead of repressing or blocking off the
higher levels of mind, it integrates all aspects of a child's being: body,
senses, intellect, emotion, imagination, intuition, and spirit. It is a
harmonious synthesis of freedom and responsibility, mysticism and
practicality, rationality and creativity, challenge and relaxation,
self-reliance and interdependence. Through it, students attain both
self-knowledge and objective knowledge, for it develops mastery of the world
on the one hand, and transcendence of it on the other. It isn't only an
intellectual education, which often simply makes people more selfish; it is
an education of the heart. "
(from Didi Ananda Mitra's book "Neo-Humanistic Education")
Where life is so cheap, vision is still very expensive. But all happy
endings started with unhappy beginnings. With so many children on the
streets without education, the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education doesn't
guarantee a very gentle time even for those that are in the schools.
Classrooms are packed, with 50 or 60 children paired with one unhappy
professor. 80% of these professors still exercise beating children as the
best disciplinary method, instilling the "fear of God" in them for the
beginning of their young lives. Drama, songs and especially painting are so
rare to see in the public schools because of the lack of time, materials and
personnel.
The existing educational system in Nicaragua instead puts tremendous
pressure on schools to teach children to read and write, and in most cases
children have to know it by the time they are five years old. The strongest
emphasis is on academic knowledge; parents consider it to be a good school
when their 5 year old child knows how to read and write. Their methods are
the best they know, but are a very unhappy choice for any child who is to
grow into a happy, intelligent leader of the new society.
When you have the majority of the children coming from upset families, you
can very easily become a dysfunctional school. And if you have only one
teacher for 50 - 60 children, the quality of education just walks out the
door, quietly, but surely.
CHILDREN ATTENDING THE SCHOOL ... AND CHALLENGES WE FACE DAILY
It was very hard for us in the beginning. Parents didn't send their children
to the school regularly, and didn't even want to buy them books or pencils.
Early on, only six children shared our circle of love, played drama for
their parents, drew amazing paintings, and ran like wild horses through the
school. But their parents didn't understand their children's need to paint,
and for the last few years we painted only in school. They really just don't
see the school as important, nor do they have very much time or energy left
to figure out child psychology, which makes the whole process so much
harder.
That kind of attitude reflects in a child so drastically. Many times the
students just don't want to do homework; they are very aggressive at
classes, not interested, or very depressed. And it is very hard for them to
have faith when there is no model, nowhere to look and say: "That's what I
want to become."
In such conditions, how can a school concentrate only on reading and
writing? And that's where our project has so much to say.
When beaten children walk into our school, they look for a mother in the
teacher. And that's what we became. Mother, and Father, and Friend.
Meisi is somebody who knows what she wants, and she wants it now. And she
also knows that we love her no matter what she does, so she played for us
her unhappy tunes again and again. Meisi always painted over everybody's
papers and never painted herself. She always fought and beat up on everybody
and never cooperated in anything. Her mother is a very good lady, and works
all day long to be able to sustain her four children.
A few weeks ago, 7 year old Tania Karina told me: "Didi, you should scold
Jerald." Tania and Jerald (6 years old) are sister and brother. Their mother
sells cheese all day long in the market, often having to go out of the city
to buy the cheese first. So most of the time she is not at home. Her husband
is alcoholic and very often beats the children when he is at home. Most of
the time they are alone with their older brother. A few times little Tania
told me that both brothers watch her when she is taking a bath. This time
Jerald touched her very uncomfortably. I talked to the teacher, and we
called the mother. She had nothing to tell us. Not even that she felt bad
about it. Felix would steal whenever, from whoever he could. He used to come
to beg everyday, until we invited him to come to learn with us. He came
very, very happy, but his mother didn't bother to buy him shoes.
Aracely is another extremely unhappy child. Her mother prefers her smaller,
more beautiful sister, who gets most of the attention. Last year Aracely
became very sick. And when school started she was just fine, all of a
sudden!!! We realized where her sickness started, so we made her leader in
the dance that was performed for a huge audience. But her mother didn't let
her come, because her small sister wasn't included.
So we made Meisi in charge of the painting area. She was to see that all the
kids are painting nicely, that nobody is misbehaving, that everybody has
paper and paint. Meisi literally changed overnight. She became an excellent
leader and a well-behaved student. Her mother comes almost every day to
bring her a snack, and she very proudly says to me: "Didi, my mum is
here..." She walks very straight, she talks very clearly, smiles dearly and
plays like a little six year old now, without a second thought on her mind.
And she holds her self esteem so strongly when her mother brings her juice.
When Tania told me about Jerald's problem, we talked to her mother the same
evening. We told her a few stories about family relations, and about how we
play with him a lot and talk as grownups talk. He knows when he comes to
school he is a child again, but I know it is hard for him to take this role
to his home, because his father doesn't see how colorful a child's life is,
since his own life smells only of alcohol.
One day the teacher told the children: "This is one Cordoba for my bus after
school. I will leave it here on the table and hope I will still find it here
after the class." But just a few moments later, the money was gone. One of
the kids told the teacher that Felix took the money. So the teacher got all
the children in a big circle, and started telling them how much she loves
that beauty everybody was born to enjoy in themselves, and there are those
little things we have to change in ourselves, and we will. So when she asked
who took the money, Felix stood up immediately and said: "I took it,
Teacher. I was very hungry."
Then the teacher asked everybody what they wanted. Everybody said toys,
sweets, this and that. But when Felix's turn came to speak, he stood with
his head high and said: "I don't want any child in the world to be hungry
ever again." Felix is 7 years old now, in second grade, and a very sociable,
happy child. We give him food every day, and he never stole again. (And we
also got him shoes.)
Aracely came to school a few weeks ago very sick. She didn't want to talk,
play, or study. Nothing. Complete silence that paralyzes the air and
everything stays still. I brought her to my room, took off her shoes, and
started playing with her and reading stories. And she slowly started
talking. Her mother didn't want to send her to school anymore. There was
enough just for one sister to go, and it wasn't her. I couldn't believe, how
can mother keep an eye for only one daughter? We talked to mother, and made
special arrangement for Aracely. The next day she was fine.
When a child walks into our school, one complicated, painful social puzzle
walks in, and the teacher HAS to have a big, loving heart that beats with
the same rhythm as the child's dreams and hopes beat. The teacher has to see
beyond their sad eyes and find the rainbow in the depth of a child's need.
And accept the problems as a challenge, and have the answer for the best.
Only then will the child know how to write its name, and it will write it
with all the dignity that the human heart can celebrate. For that we take
every child as a very special story. At the beginning of the year we have a
questionnaire for the parents where we get a picture of their family
situation, and suggest at the same time little things they can do for their
children. And throughout the year we observe the child, talk a lot with them
about their problems, and any smallest change we address immediately. Mostly
their problems are the same.
So, last year we started an educational program for parents, explaining our
educational methods, goals, meditation and yoga, and child psychology. We
played with the parents, talked about problems they have with their
children, and did everything we could to make them a child for a few hours.
The results were incredible.
They needed to feel life was really so simple, but so exciting at the same
time, which is what happens when you let go of who are you supposed to be,
and wear your real self for a change.
TEACHING MEDITATION - DISCOVERING GOD WITHIN
When little faces run through the house like wild horses you feel happy for
their freedom. But when they do their yoga and then quietly sit for
meditation, you can almost touch the depth of their inner experience. Once
after the meditation we sat with the children for a moment and asked
everybody what they felt. They said they felt God. And we asked, "How does
that feel?"
Some said hot, some nice, (sometimes we wandered because children tend to
repeat each other) and one girl (6 yr.. old) said: "God spoke to me." We
became an ear, as she told us the deepest lesson a 6 yr. old could learn:
"He said He loves me."
Meditation opens the mind and heart for a completely new reality.
Somebody once said: "When you stop dreaming, you die." But we didn't really
stop; we only forgot. Meditation reminds us again who we really are. We
close our eyes, to be able to see how beautiful we really are, how deep life
is, how far we can go. It also gives us strength to go for it all, and keep
it forever.
Meditation is a simple tool for weeding around the flowers of our life. We
can't afford to miss the chance to win this game of life. After all, we
never know what's next.
There is nothing religious about that.
It just happens that we call life's beauty, God.
Ananda Marga doesn't find another name, it doesn't teach new scriptures, it
calls for us to listen and look for that deepest beauty that life has meant
for us. It comes so gently, one day you open your eyes and new magic colors
the world in the biggest smile you can wish.
This is what we teach the children about meditation.
OBJECTIVES OF THE SCHOOL - AN EXCITING PROJECT
Every little victory for me is winning the war. And though I know there are
going to be many more battles, I also know that our flying idealism will
spread wings wide and bring a new flow. For our children to fly high, their
parents have to give them wings.
And we will give wings to the parents.
As I said, everything starts from our vision, and our vision is clear: we
want happy children, and we want parents to give a future to that little new
leader, singer, painter, smiler. And we know already that so much can be
done with so little, we just need to teach parents again how to walk, and
talk, and dance and smile to the happy tunes of the incredible world within
them awaiting the chance to be awakened.
For that we need to make people feel that they are in charge of their own
lives. Integrated personality and material security is what we aim to teach
the parents. So besides the preschool and complete elementary education, we
also want to open a women's university. The new school will have the
capacity to educate 300 children, and the women's university is going to
train the mothers in basic working skills, and provide work for them, which
will help in paying school teachers and also make them feel independent in
their personal lives. Yoga and meditation classes, classes on natural
therapy, and games for adults are a few of the programs we want parents to
enjoy. We want parents to know themselves better and in that way understand
and love their children better. If only 100 mothers study every year, it is
so many lives that are going to be inspired with a new flow of hope. Now we
are in the process of buying the land for the new school to be built.
A Didi's role is always a smiling one: one that loves incredibly much, and
wants the world to be a happy place. So my responsibility is to make my
seven teachers happy, listen to their problems, talk to the parents, and
more than anything listen for crying children. I am the mother of the
school, in every sense of the word. I have meetings once a week with the
teachers where we review the work we've done last week and the progress of
the children, we make plans, and just do a lot of brainstorming about our
children. I am the one to bring new materials and share ideas, and after all
to pay the teacher's salaries.
This year we are in big need for material, art supplies, and more than
anything, monetary support.
It was our goal until now to educate the "whole child" to his/her maximum,
but our new goal is to teach the parents too. In a country where 80% of
teachers are still disciplining their students with a stick, loving
education is revolutionary. I so deeply believe that we are setting an
example of how close to an ideal it can be, because when you start with the
children's heart, the rest unfolds so naturally. I believe our new project
will change the psychic makeup of the whole community, and eventually the
whole educational system in Nicaragua.
And word is getting around.
It is my strong belief that the time has come when we really want our eyes
to gaze on the beauty of the soul with every breath we take.
And I believe we have strength to do it, now.
Ananda Marga is a worldwide, non-denominational social and spiritual
organization. In the USA it is exempt under IRS Code Section 501(c)(3).
Ananda Marga now has more than 3,000 schools around the world, where
children of all religions are meditating on the universal idea: "LOVE IS ALL
THERE IS." The depth of our love has no limits, and the children's need for
that love is so very deep.
--
'The main characteristic of PROUT-based socioeconomic movements
is that they aim to guarantee the comprehensive, multifarious
liberation of humanity.' P R Sarkar
PROUT - PROgressive Utilisation Theory
http://www.proutworld.org http://www.prout.org
New Renaissance: A Journal for Social and Spiritual Awakening:
http://www.ru.org