Stories from the grassroots | Thoughts on development | Lessons on leadership
This is a talk that i gave sometime ago at the National Teachers Conference that was organized by the Sathya Sai Group of Institutions at Muddenahalli, Karnataka. The theme of the conference was ‘Value Education’.
The talk can be heard from on Youtube on my channel at Talk on Value Education
Balu
A lot of people keep asking me about the last one year that I have spent working in the Government as an insider. From being a person outside the system constantly interacting with it and seeking their support for ensuring human development at the grassroots, friends including myself are surprised on how my journey has brought me here. From being a angry young man in the early eighties to feeling disillusioned at the ‘trickle down effect’ that never truly happened, to working inside Government in building the capacity of people and systems at the Capacity Building Commission, I have indeed
I have spent the best part of my adult life (of nearly 26 years) with indigenous tribal communities. These are easily the best years of my life. The experiences that I have had, the lessons learnt, the wonderful men and women that I have met and known, the knowledge that I have gained – all this are something that i cherish. Much of this has found a place in my books & articles, both in Kannada and English and recently I was interviewed for the All India Radio, Mysuru. Listen to the recordings here:
The domain of education is abuzz with words like ’21st Century Skills’ and one can end up feeling that there is something magical that our children need to learn in order to survive in today’s complex world. While it is true that one needs a wide variety of skills to negotiate the world of today, one cannot but look to India’s glorious past and explore if there is something that one can learn from that. This article of mine in Outlook magazine tries to capture the lessons that ancient Bharat’s Gurukula system has for modern education. This is specially significant