REFLECTIONS ON THE IEP 2004-2005 BY PARTICIPANTS

Part 3: Facilitators

In May 2004, Kiruthika sent an email to a few of us, expressing her wish to try the experiment of an Integral Education programme (IEP) with some children in our centre. After the exchange of more emails, she came up with a list of co-ordinators and facilitators for the course. I was selected as one of the co-ordinators. Not knowing what my duties would be, I just nodded my head. When it comes to the activities of the Sri Aurobindo Society of Singapore, it works something like this.. where Kiruthika is, Dhanalakshmi would also be there and vice versa! This is the way the Mother has inspired us to work together so far... be it for our Society’s web site, e-newsletter, Darshan day programmes, Sunshine Youth Group activities, Gita Jayanti celebrations, or the Sanskrit course.

Slowly a vague idea of a one-year plan emerged: the number of students to be enrolled, the frequency and duration of each class, etc. Jayanthy played an important role, as she was the only one working in the education field in Singapore. Nevertheless, all the other facilitators did a great job too. The speciality of this programme was that all facilitators, co-ordinators and the students who joined the course learned it together.

At the end of June 2004, we conducted a whole day programme called the Integral Education Retreat, where the children were given a preview of what they would be doing all through the year. Most of those who attended the retreat opted to embark on the programme; a number that was greater than what we had in mind initially. We started the first year intake of the IEP on the auspicious day of Sri Aurobindo’s Birthday -August 15th 2004. It just took off at full speed and with great excitement thereafter and before we could realize it, we were already at the end of the first year programme.

Much has been said in previous issues of our newsletter, about the four aspects of education and the various experiences the facilitators and students had, so there is nothing more to elaborate on this aspect. Each and everyone enjoyed every moment spent in the IEP classes; above all, a strong presence of the guidance from our masters Sri Aurobindo and the Mother was felt at every step as we progressed. Even though the children were so excited and there was a lot of noise in some of the classes, every class seemed to be some sort of meditation for me, the vibration and atmosphere were so strong. It was as though we were all doing our yoga through our work -karma yoga.

I had the great blessing of being both a co-ordinator and a parent as my son Vishnu was one of the students who embarked on this learning experience with me. By the grace of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, both of us got thoroughly immersed in the sea of education as envisioned by The Mother. The fact that both of us are continuing as facilitator and student in the present batch of the IEP stands as a proof of the joy we have experienced in the last year.

I wish to thank Sri Aurobindo and the Mother for giving all of us this great opportunity of serving as their instruments in doing their work and also progressing a little more towards them. I hope and pray that they will continue to be our guiding light to further explore the IEP this year and in all our future endeavours as well.

-Dhanalakshmi