Green Vision Initiative

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Premises:

Building structure: Made from mud blocks or Jambori bricks. Reduce usage of cement and other modern construction material

Methods: Water recycling, Rainwater harvesting, Natural lighting, Solar lamps, Waste recycling

Playground: Traditional sports like Mallakhamb, Kho-Kho, Kabaddi, Kusti etc

Plantation: Have big trees on premises and regularly have few classes under it. Also have around 1 acre to grow small plants by children.

Goshala: Have 2-3 cows near school where children serve them. Have tie up with bigger goshala so once they are more in number you can transfer them to bigger one.
 

Areas to focus apart from teaching:

Gardening: Children actually doing it. Keep an acre for this. Allot small piece of 10x2 ft to each child and they can cultivate different plants. Let them put hands in mud and cow dung and let them experience crop cultivation themselves. They should know what is polished and unpolished grain, their benefits.

Sports: Traditional (mentioned above). Encourage Vedic harmless games. Also have modern games.

Nature: All children should know different types of plants, trees, birds, their sounds, flowers, their smell, pet and wild animals etc.

Health:

By 10th, they should be very good in Yoga, Ayurveda. E.g. Surya namaskar and what to eat at what time and what should not be eaten after what. Should know etiquettes for health.
They should know how make ‘Dinacharya’ and ‘Ritucharya’ – daily timetable and timetable as per the seasons

Life skills to learn:

Girls: Cooking, dance and jewelry making
Boys: Construction of wall from mud bricks, cleaning goshala and little cooking

Other Skills: leadership skills, human relationships, public speaking, interviewing skills

 

Academics:

Vedic Maths: Teaching trigonometry with Vedic sutras and many other topics

Learning Science, History, maths on the field.

Vedic math and Sanskrit is must. Each child should know 4 languages. Language is the key and they should have good command over it.

Teach them basic ideas of Economics. E.g. if you have so much money, how much you will spend on what and how much you save. Teach them value of savings and not wasting money and things unnecessarily.

Values to focus:

Children should be taught these values of conservation and reuse. Earlier the books and dresses were passed to next year’s students. Throw away as less as possible reduce waste.

Awareness programs to impart these values to children. E.g. stick small printed suggestions like ‘Please use less water’, ‘Close tap after usage’ near sinks, wash rooms etc.

 

Spirituality:

Learn couple of stories from scriptures every day. Children should know all stories from Ramayan, Mahabharata, main stories from Srimad Bhagavatam, other prominent stories from Puaranas like origin of Ganges by the time they pass 10th.

Use examples from nature to prove how God made perfect things around us. E.g. tree root as perfect water pumps.

Basic religious study of other religions

By 10th, they should know full Bhagavat Gita, 50-100 slokas from Srimad Bhagavatam, 50-100 slokas from Caitanya Charitamrita and other books
that Srila Prabhupada quotes and few slokas from Chanakya Niti and Hitopadesh. Even if they can’t understand meaning still it is good that they know them. It will help later.

Projects:

Grow cotton in one part of ground, make children pick it, teach them weaving. Have one handloom machine and teach them how to spin and make thread, how to create natural dyes and then finally how to make cloth that we wear. Then take them to factory and show how they make cloth now. Ask what difference they feel. Tell them how the world has come so far and also how far from nature and God - it’s pros and cons.

Have projects about how to make handmade paper, pottery as art and craft.

Teachers can handle the negative effects of media like internet by creating awareness amongst children about its benefits and harm, when to use and how to use.

 

Summary - By 10th when a child passes out:

A holistic development of the child would have taken place in knowledge, skills and values. He / she would see and experience the dependence on nature / environment around us and not take it for granted. Learning to be grateful for the supplies we get for day-to-day living and reusing them as much as possible, reducing waste and helping others do the same with God in the center. The wisdom from the scriptures would give logical arguments to continue with faith thus making them ready to face the world in whatever areas they choose.

Quantitatively, a 10th pass out student would:

• be very good in yoga and ayurveda
• know few hundred verses from scriptures, many with meaning and understanding
• know many scriptural stories with values being focussed
• have exposure to life skills like farming, cow protection, cooking, arts etc
• have command over 4 languages
• know Vedic math and history to some extent
• be good at academics at par with reputed board