Sri Aurobindo is an acknowledged authority of the spiritual genre who ranks uppermost in the galaxy of path breaker Indian thinkers. His contribution to education has remained unparallel in so far as imparting vision and mission to the basic processes of teaching and learning is concerned. He is abstruse in his thought, yet concrete in his exemplifications; he is deep in his conceptualization, yet so spontaneous in his address to the inner vibrations of the human psyche. He was visionary par excellence, yet a true teacher ready to inspire hundreds of well-meaning scholars on education. His association with the freedom struggle in the early days rightfully entitles him to belong to the category illustrious leaders of thought remembered and revered as nationalists and inspirers of the great liberation movement which our land has witnessed.
The Mother on Education - From Reflection to Action is an outcome of the exercise taken up at the 'Gnostic Centre' obviously in a bid to make a presentation to the teachers and teacher educators. The endeavour is to bring home the quintessial and seminal ideas of Sri Aurobindo - the great educator. Needless to mention that ideas of Sri Aurobindo pervade all the pedagogic procedures and principles which were so ably enunciated and advocated by the mother. The entire write up of this book is cast into an interactive format in order to facilitate communication. In all there are three sections in which the various chapters are purportedly laid and formulated into a pedagogic scheme. The first section introduces the mother and her work in education. It is a depiction of the outer life of the mother and her interactions with children. The second section outlines the growth of the teacher by spelling out the crucial dimensions which constitute the dynamics of a true educational activity. It enters into a practical guidance for teacher's identification, the teacher as creator and facilitator, the teacher's commitment, competence and growth in its totality. It also lays bare the five-gold role of the teacher-the visionary, the catalyst of change, the reflective practitioner, a living example and the leader. Additionally, the three principles of true teaching have been explained along with the illustrative examples of the three history teachers. Section three is devoted to integral education. It describes what is education, what is physical education and what is vital and mental education with the help of diagrammatic overviews. In each of these areas practical guidance has been offered with appropriate rigour and concerns for promoting self-learning and reflection.
It will be worthwhile to mention that NCTE lays considerable stress on highlighting the contributions of Indian educationists and thinkers. In consonance with this, it has initiated a vigorous move to deepen the insights and perceptual understandings of the teacher educators by confronting them with carefully composed and articulated presentations of our great minds. The present work constitutes an important addition to our effort in this regard. I welcome it as it has a great didactic appeal and naturalness in assimilating and conveying the message underlying Mother's educational practice.
I am grateful to Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry for its per-mission to use the relevant literature contributed by it for the benefit of teachers and teacher educators. Ameeta Mehra, Anuradha, Monica Gupta and Yogita of the Gnostic Centre deserve special thanks for the articulation and formatting of the entire material in its present form. Within the NCTE, I would like to thank my colleague Dr. Anil Shukla, Deputy Secretary who worked as coordinator of this project and Sri Mukesh Kumar who assisted on the secretarial side to finally prepare the press copy.
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