At a workshop at Dasagram on education on 10 and 11 December 2022, the statement ‘Educating the Educator’ was explored in depth. J Krishnamurti had said: ‘Our problem is not so much the child but the educator who needs educating much more than the pupil. And to educate the educator is far more difficult than to educate the child, because the educator is already set, fixed’. He spoke in a similar vein to parents: ‘The educator is you; for the home environment is as important as the school environment. So you have to transform yourself first to give the right environment to the child.’
On 10 and 11 December 2022, our Centre was involved in an ‘Educating the Educator’ workshop at the Dasagram S S Siksha Sadan, a government school in Dasagram which is 135 kilometres from Kolkata. The workshop was organized in collaboration with the Engineers’ Welfare Forum (West Bengal Power Development Corporation, KTPS Zone, Kolaghat) and the school,Dasagram S S Siksha Sadan. We are most grateful to both for the opportunity. Our thanks also to our workshop facilitators, Sudeshna Sinha and Piyali Basu, whose interactions with participants were lively and much appreciated.
It was quite an experience being in those beautiful rural surroundings of the school campus; trees, ponds and fishing and vast open spaces. It was even more so because of Jugal Pradhan, the school Principal (also known on the campus as Headmaster Sir) whose whole approach to education is marked by some amazing features: affection for the community of teachers and students, ensuring the absence of fear of authority, getting students to be involved in all activities including planting of plants and crops and encouraging students to both play and learn. All that was so evident during our two day stay for the workshop. The challenges for the school are huge; acute shortage of funds and inadequate teachers. And yet the spirit of learning together with affection and free from fear has survived against all odds.
The two day workshop involved teachers from the school as well as some nearby schools. There were 45 participants on day 1 and though the number saw some reduction on day 2 (due to TET examinations), the participation was still very impressive. We also had an interaction with students of class 11 and 12 which was quite fascinating. With the teachers, the core issues explored were the intent of education, learning mind, the importance of harmony with nature, sensitivity and goodness. Why educate the educator? was the core question on both days? What does that involve?
