In partnership with West Bengal Power Development Corporation Ltd (WBPDCL), Engineers’ Welfare Forum, Krishnamurti Foundation India, Kolkata arranged a two day interactive education-related workshop at Kolaghat on 23 and 24 July, 2022. The workshop was attended by 34 teachers from 16 schools in Purba Medinipur.
The title of the workshop was ‘Educating the Educator’ and was inspired by J Krishnamurti’s well known statement that it is the educator who needs to be educated and not so much the child. Sudeshna Sinha and Deepika Chatterjee, both of whom are educators with a deep understanding of right education, facilitated the workshop. The language of communication was Bengali.
We were also very fortunate to be able to have interactions on zoom with Ashna Sen (ex-teacher at Brockwood Park School, U K) and Sukalpo Hazra (teacher, Valley School, Bangalore). Both have had extensive experience as teachers in Krishnamurti schools and participants felt deeply enriched through the interactions. Both spoke in Bengali.
We are most grateful to Pradyut Ghosh, a close friend of our Centre and senior manager at Kolaghat Thermal Power Station (KTPS) for making the workshop happen. It was he, along with Soumen Das of the Engineers’ Welfare Forum, WBPDCL and Sandip Jana, who made it all happen. Mr Biplab Roychowdhury, MLA, Kolaghat, Purba Medinipur and Chairman, Small Scale Industries and Mr A Majumdar, General Manager, Kolaghat Thermal Power Station (KTPS), were present on the occasion. We are sharing the link for some photos related to the workshop.
More detailed sharing about the workshop will happen in due course. There is so much to share. Meanwhile, one brief observation. This workshop had a ‘soul’: very interactive and open. The unconcealed enthusiasm was so evident.There is a simplicity in non-urban areas that is very touching. One of our memorable moments was watching a young catering service boy at the venue quietly reading a book ‘Bhabbar Kotha’ (Bengali translation of ‘Think on these things’) whenever possible during the workshop.
