S4, E7: Tell it like it is | Nai Talim
For billions of children across the world, schooling and education has taken a new meaning. Bedrooms, kitchen counters, dining tables, a mat on the floor became the new classroom and the noise around EdTech rose to a crescendo. Amidst the din, it is easy to forget that in 1937, Gandhiji conceptualised Nai Talim, an alternate philosophy of education which states that work and knowledge are not separate. The three pillars of Gandhiji’s pedagogy were its focus on the lifelong character of education, its social character, and its form as a holistic process. I caught up with Sushama Sharma, the principal of Anand Niketan (a Nai Talim school) in Sewagram in Wardha District of Maharashtra. She is a Gandhian, farmer and activist who strongly believes that sustainability is the way forward. In our conversation, we spoke of what Nai Talim means today, how an alternate education philosophy creates impact, and why consumerism as a lifestyle is unsustainable. She shares exciting snippets of her personal journey so find a comfortable spot to look out the window and partake of an alternate possibility while the soundtrack of your own life plays in the background.
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