Principles and Goals of Integral Education

X

SAICE: The Status of "Certificates"

There is much confusion reigning in the minds of people, both inside SAICE and in quarters outside, as regards the question whether this particular educational Institution of the Mother's creation issues "Certificates" to its "successful" students or not. Some swear by the Mother's well-known declaration that Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education established in Pondicherry does not issue any Certificate nor does it confer any degree or diploma to the successful candidate after proper academic examination. But there are others who affirm equally strongly that they personally know many cases where the alumni of SAICE have secured lucrative jobs or have entered other institutions of higher learning on the basis of some "papers" issued to them by SAICE. And these "papers" they call "Certificates". Both the affirmations have some truth behind them. But, then, how to resolve this apparent contradiction? The present article has for its aim the removal of confusion in this matter and the putting forward of the facts as they have evolved over the years and now prevail in SAICE.

In the early forties of the last century there were barely a few children in Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Later on, a few more came from outside, mostly children of disciples and devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and started residing in the Ashram. For the education of these very young children the Mother established a school in the Ashram with the name

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of "Sri Aurobindo Ashram School". Of course, there was no question of giving any "Certificates" to these tiny tots.

As these children grew up in age and some of them decided to go away from the Ashram to lead an ordinary worldly life outside, the question arose whether they should be given some official certificate of recognition to enable them to pursue their higher education elsewhere. As the Mother had established her education Centre with a very high and different end in view, she decided that giving of certificates and degrees would be going counter to her principles of education. Later on, someone asked the Mother for some clarification and she explained her position quite at length. Here are some relevant portions of the Mother's reply and the original question that was put before her.

Question: "Why are no diplomas and certificates given to the students of the Centre of Education?"

The Mother's Answer:

"... mankind has been suffering from a disease which seems to be spreading more and more... it is what we may call 'utilitarianism'. People and things, circumstances and activities seem to be viewed and appreciated exclusively from this angle. Nothing has any value unless it is useful. Certainly something that is useful is better than something that is not. But first we must agree on what we describe as useful—useful to whom, to what, for what?

For, more and more, the races who consider themselves civilised describe as useful whatever can attract,

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procure or produce money. Everything is judged and evaluated from a monetary angle. That is what I call utilitarianism. And this disease is highly contagious, for even children are not immune to it.

At an age when they should be dreaming of beauty, greatness and perfection, dreams that may be too sublime for ordinary common sense, but which are nevertheless far superior to this dull good sense, children now dream of money and worry about how to earn it.

So when they think of their studies, they think above all about what can be useful to them, so that later on when they grow up they can earn a lot of money.

And the thing that becomes most important for them is to prepare themselves to pass examinations with success, for with diplomas, certificates and titles they will be able to find good positions and earn a lot of money.

For them study has no other purpose, no other interest.

To learn for the sake of knowledge, to study in order to know the secrets of Nature and life, to educate oneself in order to grow in consciousness, to discipline oneself in order to become master of oneself, to overcome one's weaknesses, incapacities and ignorance, to prepare oneself to advance in life towards a goal that is nobler and vaster, more generous and more true... they hardly give it a thought and consider it all very Utopian. The only thing that matters is to be practical, to prepare themselves and learn how to earn money.

Children who are infected with this disease are out of place at the Centre of Education of the Ashram. And

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it is to make this quite clear to them that we do not prepare them for any official examination or competition and do not give them any diplomas or titles which they can use in the outside world.

We want here only those who aspire for a higher and better life, who thirst for knowledge and perfection, who look forward eagerly to a future that will be more totally true.

There is plenty of room in the world for all the others."(CWM, Vol. 12, pp. 353-54)

So this was the deeper and essential reason, and not any arbitrary whim, which was at the basis of the decision why Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education decided at first to refuse giving any degrees, diplomas or certificates. But things took a different turn after some years. The story or history behind was quite interesting.

In the sixties of the last century there grew among the Indians a sudden interest in the philosophy and Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and along with that a vivid curiosity about Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. People started visiting the Ashram in great numbers and in a regular and steady stream. Many of them became devotees and disciples of the dual Gurus of the Integral Yoga and practising sadhakas and sadhikas.

Now, quite a few of these devotees felt an urge to send their children to Pondicherry to be educated in the Ashram's "Centre of Education"; for they sincerely felt that there could not be a better place elsewhere in India where their wards could be given a better man-making education than in

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Sri Aurobindo Ashram. It so happened that the Mother graciously admitted many children, in every academic session to Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. And this process continued year after year. These children grew up in the Ashram atmosphere under the Mother's direct guidance and blossomed into a new type of human beings in many aspects of their education, personality and character. But there was a small snag here.

Among the earlier groups of students of the "Centre of Education" quite a few used to stay back in the Ashram after their study period was over, sometimes because their parents were residing in the Ashram as its sadhaka inmates. But for these new groups of children the case was different. Their parents were indeed devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother but they lived the life of householders elsewhere in other parts of India. They had sent their children to the Ashram, only to be educated in the Ashram School, and there the matter ended. A number of these parents wanted to withdraw their children to their own places after their schooling was over; and most of these children too thought in the same way. And that created a ticklish problem for both the students and their parents. For them, a proper education meant the acquisition of degrees, diplomas and certificates. Especially for securing a good job in a Government Department or even in the Private Sector, a good degree was considered essential. But according to the norm of SAICE, these students who were educated in the Ashram School could not have any degrees or certificates. In the job market outside they were considered ineligible. It could be said that their parents felt that their Ashram-educated children were

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very much handicapped in one very important respect: they lacked the basic means of procuring a lucrative livelihood. Of course, there was no problem for those few children who decided to join the Ashram as sadhakas and sadhikas after their education period was over. But what about the rest who constituted the preponderant majority?

It so happened that many of these perplexed parents brought the nature of their acute problem to the notice of SAICE authorities and even prayed to the Mother for an appropriate solution. Then, of course with the tacit assent of the Mother, the Education Department of the Government of India was approached to help in some way the resolution of this practical problem.

The Government of India sent three different Commissions to SAICE on three different occasions, interacted with the teachers there, and intimately mingled with the students of the Ashram Centre of Education. They carefully assessed the quality of education imparted in this Centre of learning. The members of the Commissions apprised themselves at the same time of the great value of the various novel aspects in which the Ashram students were being brought up.

The Commissions were highly satisfied with all that they saw and assessed in this unique centre of learning and recommended accordingly to the Government of India in New Delhi for necessary steps.

In due course the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India issued a gazetted notification in 1962 which solved the problem in a great way. The Government notification officially recognised "the successful completion by 'full students' of the Higher Course of Sri Aurobindo International

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Centre of Education, Pondicherry, as equivalent to the First Degree of a recognised Indian University (i.e. B.A. or B.Sc.) for purposes of appointment to services and posts under the Central Government." SAICE would thus have its own autonomy as regards the courses of study and its own specific way of assessment of the academic worth of its students when they completed their studies there. It would not be affiliated to any other Centre of Learning and would not be bound by the rules and regulations of any other institution. The only thing that it would have to do in order to help its outgoing students procure employment would be to issue to them a paper indicating therein that they had "successfully" completed the study as per the norms of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education and subscribed to the evaluation procedure of the authorities there. Now, it is this simple paper which popularly has acquired in the mind the name of a "certificate". It has nothing to do with the "Certificate" as issued by other recognised Centres of Learning. Confusion has been unnecessarily created in the minds of people because of the similarity in appellations.

Be it noted that the initial Central Governmental notification authorised the employment of SAICE students only in jobs under the Government of India. But the intrinsic worth and competence, smartness and all-round development of these students drew the attention of other institutions and organisations as well very soon and in course of time the initial trickle of employment turned into a voluminous flood. We mean to say that various State Governments and Private Sector undertakings too opened their doors of employment to our "successful" students. Not only that; this opening widened in

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course of time from the employment sector to the fields of higher education; various Universities and other institutes of higher specialised learning allowed access to our students for further studies. Such indeed was the worth and acumen shown by SAICE students in actual practice. There were many initial hurdles but they were very soon successfully crossed. Parents residing outside and their children were both very happy with this development; for the problem they had faced in the beginning was now adequately solved. But a hitch arose from another quarter, from some of the teachers of SAICE, — and many of them were quite senior. They sincerely felt that this development was not compatible with the basic principle of this Centre. Did not the Mother herself declare at one time that this Centre of Education would not prepare students for any official examination or competition and would not give them any diplomas or titles which they could use in the outside world? These teachers felt that although no degrees or titles were even now given to our students, some "paper of recognition" of their worth was being issued to them in the new dispensation. Was it not going against the Mother's open declaration? They had a lurking suspicion that the whole development might have been due to the good-willed but nonetheless ill-conceived idea of the top functionaries of the Centre of Education. So, why not ask the Mother herself what her own personal opinion was about this "certificate" affair. And one of them actually formulated the question and placed it before the Mother.

And the Mother gave a most illuminating reply which threw light not only on this specific question but on many other serious issues of life and sadhana. We quote below

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that sufficiently long reply of the Mother which was dated 29.7.61. There was a short introductory note which too we are reproducing below for everybody's knowledge.

("This message of the Mother has been written in answer to a question relating to certificates which one of the teachers had placed before her.")

"Truly speaking, I have no opinion. According to the truth-vision, everything is still terribly mixed, a more or less fortunate combination of light and darkness, of truth and falsehood, of knowledge and ignorance, and so long as decisions are made and action is carried out according to opinions, it will always be like that.

We want to give the example of an action that is carried out according to the truth-vision, but unfortunately we are still very far from realising this ideal; and even if the truth-vision is expressed, it is immediately distorted in its implementation.

So, in the present state of things, it is impossible to say: this is true and this is false, this leads us away from the goal, this leads us nearer to the goal.

Everything can be used for the sake of progress; everything can be useful if one knows how to use it.

The important thing is never to lose sight of the ideal you want to realise and to make use of every circumstance for this purpose.

After all, it is always preferable not to make any decision for or against things, but to watch events as they develop, with the impartiality of a witness, relying on the divine Wisdom which will decide for the best and do what is needful." (Ibid., pp. 322-23)

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N.B. — This message of the Mother was originally written in French.

So, the question of the so-called certificate was settled for the time being after the Mother made her position clear. And the "successful" students,—successful according to the norms set by SAICE,—continued to receive the requisite "paper". Of course, there were some ups and downs in between. We need not go into the history thereof, for that will serve no useful purpose here. Let us only mention that when the question came up again after the Mother's passing in 1973, a few senior teachers of SAICE wanted to revert back to the original position and stop altogether the by-then-established tradition of giving some "paper" to the successful students. Nolini-da, the seniormost and most respected disciple of Mother and Sri Aurobindo, and Andre-da, Mother's son and the de-facto Director of the Centre of Education decided in favour of continuing the system with, of course, the proviso that the so-called certificate could be issued only to the really deserving students. And the procedure continues till this day.

This short paper in this section of this book will, we hope, clear all doubts in many people's mind.

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