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January '03
A new school takes wing
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by Dirk Kievith
The Center for
Further Learning will move into a new campus, allowing new possibilities
and growth for Auroville's secondary education
Over the last few years the month of January has witnessed a number
of events marking the development of secondary education in Auroville.
The first occurred when the Center for Further learning (CFL)
was inaugurated on January 3rd 1996 at the Last School Campus
near Aspiration. Largely inspired by Luc, CFL opened with the
aim of providing an alternative educational option to Auroville
students, who wished to obtain an internationally recognized qualification.
Many students in the age group of 13-19 were at that time studying
elsewhere: approximately 15 at Kodaikanal's International School
and around 12 at the French Lycée in Pondicherry, as well
as at various other schools in India and abroad.
CFL currently follows
a program based on the British GCE O and A level syllabi. However,
exams are not compulsory and the students take them when they
and their teachers feel they are ready to do so. Obtaining a certificate
to be able to attend an external college is not the only reason
for registering for an exam. It may be to evaluate one's own progress
or be as an incentive to study more seriously. Yet, while exams
continue to be important value-added features, the main aim at
CFL remains the integral development of the student. The Center
offers a wide choice of extra-curricular subjects such as music,
art, ecology and computer studies. (However, it is surprising
to find architecture and urban planning absent.) Says Chali, a
full-time teacher and coordinator at CFL, "The teacher-student
relationship is primarily to be a relation of trust. Students
choose their own mentor, with whom they feel comfortable and we
closely interact on the matter of subjects and curriculum."
Currently there are thirty-two Aurovilian students at CFL, while
there are only four at Kodaikanal and around five at the Lycée.
This is ample proof that the aspiration and efforts of Luc and
others are bearing fruit, and the program is appreciated and has
taken root.
Yet the team at CFL
hasn't been resting on its laurels. It has been actively exploring
new ways of creating a more conducive and better-equipped environment
for a larger number of students. The opportunity arose with the
allocation by Gateway of one crore rupees (US$ 200,000) for a
secondary education building. On January 1st 2000 a small groundbreaking
ceremony, centered around the planting of a Service tree sapling,
marked the start of a new school complex in the Transformation
area at a stone throw from Transition Primary School. Following
three years of design, planning and construction, another January
1st will see the inauguration of the new campus. The core team
of the new school had aptly called it Future School. But that
name was unanimously rejected by the students. They prefer a much
more conventional name. Explains Jivatma: "Now it is our
future school, but once we have moved there the name does not
apply anymore." Philip is even more outspoken: "When
someone from England comes to Auroville, all those names like
Aspiration, Fraternity make no sense to him. I think, that a name
like 'Auroville High School' serves the purpose better."
In the end it may just continue to be called CFL.
At the new campus I met three members of the school's core group:
Chali, Mary and Sergei; the others being Anton, Bunty, Lyle and
Sanjeev. They were enthused about the rapid progress in the recent
days regarding painting, carpenting and especially the contouring
of the landscape. Designed by Piero and Gloria and built by Sumark
(Rolf and Brigitte), the two-winged, two-storied building in an
inviting peach colour imparts to the visitor a sense of solidity
(study is after all serious business) married with a play of color
and light (studies are fun too), accentuated by the broad entrance
with a colonnaded passage to the tiffin area and by generous window
spaces with grills in maroon.
While finishing work
is still going on, we settled down to conduct our interview in
the auditorium on the first floor. It turned out to consist of
a concrete mass of semi-circular steeply-rising steps facing a
huge blackboard. Light falls from different angles into the space
and being equipped for multi-media presentations, the auditorium
can host a variety of events and guest lecturers. Opinions about
the design appear to be divided, both among teachers and students.
But positive consensus reigns about the rest of the rooms at the
campus. Downstairs there are five classrooms, of which one has
been converted into a library. There is a kitchenette with covered
tiffin area and a room for teachers and administration. But the
first floor houses the pride of the campus: three fully equipped
science labs, the first of their kind in Auroville - one each
for biology, chemistry and physics. Both Chali and Sergei, teachers
of biology and science respectively, showed the labs with glowing
eyes, gently touching the new equipment and carefully sliding
up and down the window of the hood.
"But this is only
the first phase of the campus," explains Chali. "The
second phase will have a true library, art rooms and workshops
and perhaps a few more classrooms." Adds Mary, "Last
School, including the Pyramid group, may eventually also move
here as part of the future CIRHU university complex." The
school will be able to accommodate two hundred students. For the
time being it will provide an exploration ground for the thirty-two
CFL students when they move here by the end of February after
their ongoing exams. From then onwards it will be a new journey
with new possibilities. But also some apprehensions as expressed
by art student Suryamai, for she doesn't know how the considerable
distance from Last School and the Pyramid will influence her art
classes. Explains Mary, "New possibilities may evolve through
interaction with close-by art community Kalabhumi. And the proximity
of Transition School may induce an interesting exchange of teachers
and new subjects." Also activities centered around physical
education and sports may take different shapes in collaboration
with the nearby Dehashakti sports complex.
Whatever may develop,
the main thing is that the students as well as the teachers are
eagerly looking forward to future possibilities. Philip hopes,
that "the new building will allow a better organisation of
classroom spaces." Says Sergei, "The students spend
several years absorbing different subjects of their own choice,
exploring to discover their own interest. Only in the end we help
them to prepare for the exams. With the new school there will
be many more possibilities to explore and we can add new subjects."
Adds Chali, "Also the fact that students need not seek education
elsewhere allows them to absorb Auroville's special atmosphere
for many more years."
But the team's real
goal is that their efforts will result in the establishment of
an Auroville educational program of international standing, which
will be universally accepted and would be more in keeping with
the Aurovilian educational philosophy. I left with the confidence
that we will continue to witness substantial growth of Auroville's
educational organizations.
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