Proposal for Humanization of Education

Objectives of Humanized Education:

The objective of humanized education is to achieve complete harmony and integration in all dimensions of personal existence and at all levels of living. Thus the aim of humanized education is to achieve the following-

Harmony and integration in all dimensions of personal existence-

• Work- Prosperity and health
• Behaviour- Justice and mutual fulfillment/satisfaction
• Thought- All-encompassing Resolution (Thought without contradiction, fear or doubt)
• Realization- Sukh (Happiness), Peace, Contentment and Anand (Eternal bliss)

Harmony and integration in all levels of living-

• Individual level- A happy, healthy and self-fulfilling personal life
• Family level- Family characterized by prosperity as well as joyous and mutually fulfilling relationships, where all families can have a secure and meaningful means of livelihood.
• Society level- Justice, Humanity and fearlessness (trust) in society
• Nature level- Harmonious co-existence with nature in which ecological harmony is maintained in all its richness and diversity.

Characteristics of Humanized Education:

· Humanization of Education from Industrialization of Education- Current education, which developed for the industrial revolution, needs to be enhanced.Humanized-education is aiming for material resolution, intellectual resolution and spiritual resolution. (Material resolution is being definitive about one’s material needs, and being able to have/produce more than those needs as – Prosperity. It manifests as prosperity in the family while enriching nature. Intellectual resolution is having definitiveness and harmony in one’s thought-patterns (thoughts without conflict/contradiction). It manifests as harmony within and in one’s relationships with others in family and society. Spiritual resolution is having comprehension of reality (as it is) in existence (freedom from illusions, doubt and fear). It manifests as eternal happiness and trust within.)

· Education to help students develop holistically (e.g. physically, mentally, intellectually, emotionally, socially, culturally, spiritually and creatively)

· Humanized education is not only limited to specialization but to achieving excellence

· Education is not only to get a well-paid job, rather it is to ensure wisdom, value and character so that everyone can live with harmony and peace within, with others and with nature, as well as provide skills for self-reliance and prosperity.

· Education to ensure sustainable and mutually fulfilling development

· Distinction between knowledge and information

· Education is not to accumulate information but to ensure conscience, knowledge and wisdom

· Textbooks as a means not an end

· Establish human-consciousness in all human-actions

· Helping to find the ‘true identity’ of one’s ‘being’ to ensure unity within diversity.

· Transformation of all kinds of divisive sectarian tendencies into human-consciousness.

· Bring about coexistence and resolution based social-consciousness

• Enable every student as equal participants to actualize a truly just and undivided-society- filled with trust, complementariness and mutual fulfillment

· Provide authentic learning experiences and create participatory and cooperative based environments based on inquiry, inclusion and sharing, where each child is valued.

· To help students in their pursuit for personal and academic excellence while connecting them to family, society and nature

· Education leading to self-awareness/clarity, honesty/integrity, responsibility and participation

· Enabling every child with the capacity to realize justice, comprehend truth, and the capability to achieve excellence in one's work and behaviour.

· Help students to investigate and explore their inner self in order to connect with what is innate and intact within them as something, which is universal, natural and all fulfilling for themselves as well as for others.

· Education that encourages the exploration of “what is valuable”? and “what is the value of human beings?”

· Teaching universal values to ensure ‘sustained and collective’ human happiness and peace.

· Enabling intrinsic (absolute/permanent) confidence based on self-worth rather than relative (fleeting) confidence based on comparison/competition.

· Relationships centered rather than resource centered

· Establish harmony between educators, students, and parents/guardians

· Educational institutions to have regular interactions with the larger society

· Ensuring the motivation of education is value and valuation, resolution and prosperity rather than punishment and reward or fear and greed

• Educating about fundamental rights, responsibility and duty
• Eliminate the generation gap by enabling all age groups to recognize and realize their duties and responsibilities.

· Education for proper diet, resolved thought, meaningful lifestyle, positive attitude, and mutually fulfilling relationships with human beings as well as nature in order to ensure optimum health (physical & psychological)

• Education for production with cyclicality (complementariness and mutual enrichment), resource based economics of sustainability leading to harmonious co-existence with nature
• Universal education of humane-culture, humane-laws, and humane-orderliness to realize humane civilization on earth.
• Realizing true freedom/swatantrata (self-organized-ness = being in harmony within) and swarajya (self-extension = living in harmony with all)

Nature and Criteria:

Education should satisfy the following criteria-

• Universal: With respect to time, space and individuals.
• Secular: Non-sectarian. Not restricted to race, religion, class, gender etc.
• Rational: Yields to logic and reason. Free from mystics, preaching, rituals, and blind faith. Based on the independent free will of every human being. Everything is stated in the form of a proposal.
• Accessible: Shareable, inclusive and understandable by all.
• Verifiable: Through experience and experimentation.
• Practical: Becomes part of one’s life. All human beings can live it.
• Holistic: It covers all dimensions (work, behaviour, thought and realization) and all levels (individual, family, society and nature) of human living.
• Natural for Human beings and Nature: It is naturally acceptable to every human being and there is provision in nature for its fulfillment, leading to harmony within humanity and with all of nature

The nature of humanized education is based on universal values, which completely satisfies all of the criteria mentioned above.

Potential Impact and Transformation:

Humanized Education propels towards a paradigm shift– a change in mentality/ perception from that of-

· Struggle mentality into resolution mentality

· Competitive & opposition mentality into co-operation and complementariness mentality

· Exploitation mentality into enrichment mentality

· Domination and controlling mentality into self-regulation (self-organized-ness) andorderliness mentality

· Consumerist and profit mentality into justice mentality

· Accumulation, possession and deprivation (feeling of lack) mentality into living with a feeling of prosperity mentality

· Problem/conflict centered mentality into resolution & peace centered mentality

· Group/divisiveness mentality into undivided society and unanimity mentality

· Violence and hatred mentality into love and oneness mentality

· War mentality into co-existence mentality

This shift in mentality/perception will lead to a transformation within oneself that will be expressed in relationships with other human beings and with all of nature. Humanized-education ensures learning atmospheres that are conducive to awareness/clarity, honesty/integrity, responsibility and participation. It will foster holistic education to help students develop holistically as well as create safe, happy, inclusive and cooperative atmospheres in educational institutions and in the world at large.

Content of Humanized-Education:

Humanization of Education implies aligning the content (“what” of education) and process of education (“how” of education) with understanding of coexistence.

Humanization of Education entails:

1. Study of consciousness along with the study of science and technology


2. Study of self-awareness/wisdom, human-values and character along with the study of psychology



3. Study of protection and proper-use of personal and natural resources along with the study of economics


4. Study of humane-culture and humane-civilization along with the study ofsociology


5. Study of policy of protection and enrichment of humanity along with the study ofpolitics

6. Study of self-realization and practice/action along with the study of philosophy

7. Study of human-being, human-ness and humanity along with the study ofgeography and history


8. Reality orientation with the study of literature



Due to the absence of the subject content identified above, the following subjects are currently being taught-

1. Profit based economics
2. Consumerism based Sociology
3. Senses and sensual pleasure based Psychology
4. Conflict based materialism
5. Struggle based humanities/humanism
6. Mystics based spiritualism

The alternative proposals of humanized education for the prevalent economics, psychology, sociology, materialism, humanities and spiritualism are:

1. Cyclical Economics (Realization of universal-prosperity while enriching nature)

2. Behavioural Sociology (Realization of united-humankind/undivided-society with justice)

3. Human-Consciousness based Psychology (Realization of human-consciousness, which manifests as humane-conduct- a combined expression of values, character, and principled-living)


4. Resolution based Materialism (Realization of omni-dimensional/all-encompassing resolution. Freedom from all kinds of conflict)
5. Behaviour based Humanities/Humanism (Realization of co-existence and goodness of all human beings/universal goodness)
6. Realization/existential-experience based Spiritualism (Self-realization/ awakening and comprehension of truth. Freedom from all kinds of illusions.)

This is a proposal for the study of human beings, consciousness, and human-ness. Humanized education (based on Madhyasth-Darshan/Co-existential Thought) gives the basis for value and character-education through consciousness-development. Evidence of this knowledge is humankind realizing resolution in all aspects of living in harmony, undivided humane-society and orderliness. 
Humanized education shall ensure the continuity of resolution and peace and equip every student with the following:

1. Self-Confidence,

2. Respect for Excellence,

3. Trust in Self-Talent,

4. Balance/Equilibrium in Talent and Personality,

5. Sociality in Behavior,

6. Self-Reliance in Occupation

Teacher and Teaching/Learning in Education:

· The role of a teacher as a facilitator: Teaching and learning are inseparable. The teacher and child may learn different dimensions or they may learn the same thing but they both learn.

· Effective Communication- The process of communication differs from speaker and listener. The process of communication of the speaker moves from reality to meaning to word (speaker), while the listener moves from word to meaning to reality (the listener). There is a need to recognize the importance of listening in teaching/learning.Understanding and agreeing – are distinct from each other. Understanding is the most important aspect of education, not agreeing and disagreeing.

· The difference between seeing and observing; between hearing and listening; between talking and communicating. The importance of noticing (paying attention) in learning, seeing and observing: the difference lies in noticing (paying attention). The teachers role is to draw students attention to reality

· Observing how education leads to imitation and (hidden) assumptions about who and what is ‘forward’, who and what is ‘developed’ and who and what is ‘backward’ etc. symbols.

· Investigating how textbooks create myths and assumptions in a hidden manner

· Importance of teaching from reality (which the child knows already) to meaning to word (that she/he is familiar with) and finally the alphabet.

Methodology in Education:

· Understanding, learning and doing (implementation and practice)

· Not emphasizing the question of ‘how’ to do (DOING aspects) but proposing to encourageto explore/investigate to know ‘why’ & ‘what-is’ (BEING aspects).

• The process is one of self-exploration and self-investigation, rather than giving lectures or stating dos & don'ts. Whatever is found to be a reality may be stated as a proposal and students must be able to verify it in his/her own right.

· This process of self-exploration/investigation takes the form of a dialogue between the teacher & students. This process is ultimately to ensure resolved thoughts of one's own (rather than imposed thoughts) and living without conflicts/contradictions

· To encourage children to look within. The emphasis is on authenticity while encouraging self-exploration and self-investigation for child’s originality.

· Acknowledging what children already know- Learning from what children already know about the topic and build upon their knowledge. Examine various dimensions and angles from which the topics can be explored)

· Teaching through the local context:

§ Choosing topics from the children’s daily life – both cultural (e.g. festivals, customs, lifestyle, methods of cooking and food habits, manner of farming etc.) and physical (trees and shrubs, local crops, a busy street or a market place, any local issue, home, school etc.)

§ Integration of subjects: Teacher weaves in the subjects rather than teach subjects and then apply it to real life situations. Understand real life and bring in the required subject whenever needed.

§ Teachers create the space for discussing socially and environmentally relevant issues with the children. The discussions give an opportunity for debates, listening, speaking, articulating, questioning and writing. Teachers can provide reading materials to enhance the level of discussion

§ The children learn through real life situations by formulating and asking questions, interviewing people, documenting, collecting information, seeking out knowledge from observations, examining patterns in situations and learning from them. Students develop strong communication and listening skills in the process.

§ The teacher’s role is more that of a facilitator and co-learner. The teacher needs to be aware of where & how he/she weaves in the subjects in the process.

NOTE: The curriculum for humanized education for students (grade 1-12) and teachers as well as study materials are available. If you are interested in receiving a copy of the curriculum, please inform us. We facilitate dialogue-based workshops as an introduction for teachers, administrators and parents etc.