Category: Living the learning

G Gautama
The humble takli sings a song that says, ‘you are one, and spin but one yarn, one weak link. Together there is great strength! Do your bit, spin your yarn, and offer it to the common pool…. and see what can happen.’ The takli sings a song of hope and possibility. Can the humble takli energise people and bring consciousness of the community into their lives?

Rajan Venkatesh
The truth of Gandhi’s assertions can be seen if one takes that leap of faith and experiments in small ways in his or her school. The learning can happen in several ways–through production activities, of ‘subject’ matters being understood using the local environment as the medium and of the child’s positive emotional and intellectual development.

Margaret Hepworth
How can teachers teach young people the essence of Gandhi? Three of Gandhi’s principles are needed for today’s education scene–that of non-violence, satyagraha and taking action. All teachers need to do is to encourage this movement of non-violence to grow and this way they will be helping youngsters to engage in new ways with the world.

Satya Teertha, P Usha Rani, and Dr. P Sudhakar
This article introduces teachers and readers to a new strategy that realises the spirit of nai talim. An experiment by the Haritha Ecological Institute, Khammam, Telangana, using locally renewable resources in day to day activities illustrates several important concepts that are part of the mainstream curriculum. All the productive works that have been tried out have been found to be rich with all the essential ingredients of child pedagogy: fun, useful, practical and with great scope for critical observation and learning.