Just once in a while I come across an educational initiative that changes the way I think. This week while paddling around YouTube I came across Swaraj University, near Udapair in Rajhastan NE India. Founded in 2010 by Reva Dandage, Manish Jain, Nitin Paranjape and Deborah Frieze, this is not a university in the sense we would recognise. It does not award degrees, there are no teachers in the academic sense, few buildings or classrooms the curriculum more or less emerges the through the process of learning and there are no exams. The concept of swaraj, or self-rule, was developed during the Indian freedom struggle. ... As Gandhi states, "It is swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves." Swaraj University uses this concept as a foundation principle for educational and pedagogical cultures and practices to support and enable self-determined and self-directed learning. Its a unique educational enterprise because each learner gets the opportunity to develop their own personalized learning programme based on their own dreams. Swaraj gives freedom to each student to decide what they want to learn, how they want to learn, and from whom they want to learn. Reva Dandage, co-founder says “Swaraj is India’s first university dedicated to strengthening our local cultures, local economies and local ecologies. Sustainability, social justice and holistic, healthy living are the core principles of our vision. Within this larger context, we are keen to support young people in putting their dreams into action and developing eco-friendly businesses that make a difference for the world.” Co-founder Nitin Paranjape says “We believe that everyone can learn and do something well in the world – unlike mainstream education which creates a lot of failures. They just need a chance to identify their talents, find their inner passions and be in a community of support.”
Of course, with these ideals, I immediately searched for more information and came across two articles by Rahul Hasija who writes a blog called The Freedom Walker I tracked him down via Linked In and within a few days we were interacting. He generously agreed to write an article for Creative Academic Magazine developing the article that he had already written (see below) which provides a good overview of the educational approach being used. I am fascinated by the way this institution seems to be implementing ways of encouraging learners, which they call khoji's of seekers, to create their own ecologies for learning, creating and achieving and I intend to try and visit them in the new year to discover more.
READ RAHUL'S ARTICLE FOR CREATIVE ACADEMIC MAGAZINE
Of course, with these ideals, I immediately searched for more information and came across two articles by Rahul Hasija who writes a blog called The Freedom Walker I tracked him down via Linked In and within a few days we were interacting. He generously agreed to write an article for Creative Academic Magazine developing the article that he had already written (see below) which provides a good overview of the educational approach being used. I am fascinated by the way this institution seems to be implementing ways of encouraging learners, which they call khoji's of seekers, to create their own ecologies for learning, creating and achieving and I intend to try and visit them in the new year to discover more.
READ RAHUL'S ARTICLE FOR CREATIVE ACADEMIC MAGAZINE
| swaraj_final.pdf |
In my searches I came across these video clips by some of the founders of Swaraj University
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