Reform Education for a New World

Reform Education for a New World

Authored by:

• Mrs. Neha Patel
• Dhananjaya Kumar

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

 

As the co-author and presenter of this paper I would like to take this opportunity to    acknowledge and thank my team who has worked diligently and tirelessly for putting forth not only this paper, but also totally enrolling themselves into the vision of RENEW.

Ritamabhara Juneja, Heena Agarwal and Abha Shah, thank you so much for all the hard work you put in for the research, and writing of this paper. Thank you Priyanka Bajaria and Binita Modi for your contribution towards the paper

What an amazing team of hard-working, focused and dedicated women I have! How can it get any better than this?

Kunjesh Patel, my husband, thank you, for your unwavering encouragement, support and belief in me. You are the wind beneath my wings.

I would also like to thank my parents for the unconditional support they have been for me.

Special thanks to Mr. Dhananjaya Kumar, the co-founder and co-author of this paper, who has a deep commitment towards RENEW and puts it above everything else. He says “RENEW is the most important and meaningful thing we are doing in this lifetime”. I also thank him for believing in the Little Buddha Program and seeing the possibilities it can create for children.

Huge thanks to the children of this world for being the inspiration that they are.

My deepest gratitude to the Universe for opening up possibilities on every step of my journey.

 

REFORM EDUCATION FOR A NEW WORLD (R.E.N.E.W)

• Presented by: Mrs. Neha Patel

ABSTRACT

Children are pure, innocent beings who come into this world with a clean slate and the ability to live in the ‘now’. They absorb all that they observe and experience. Somewhere along, due to the ways of the contemporary world, they start losing their natural inborn balance and tend to get entangled with behavioral patterns which are based on manipulation, fear and guilt. They get conditioned to think negatively and perceive the world to be unfriendly, competitive and stressful. The education today focuses on academic excellence and does not give enough importance to the emotional and spiritual growth of the individual.

Our vision is to give children the platform to recognize and enhance their own unique abilities; use their inner intelligence effectively and live with compassion for others and respect for nature. We endeavor to be a widespread global movement, by reaching out to children, parents, teachers and communities; through workshops, summer camps, after school programs, teacher training programs, online learning, parenting support, and eventually full-fledged schools.

Experiential academic learning, enhancing the emotional and spiritual quotient of the child, applying the multiple intelligence paradigms and helping the child excel in whatever his strength lies in; are some of the highlights of these programs.  For these children, education will be inspiring, creative and supportive. Some of the vehicles to achieve these objectives are innovative use of art forms, ancient Indian and world teachings and wisdom along with contemporary methods and techniques, which will empower children to be psychologically, socially, spiritually and academically well balanced individuals at the fore-front of human evolution.

We have already sown the seeds of our intentions in the form of the ‘Little Buddha’ program, designed to help the children retain their contact with their inner self and simultaneously live a balanced life, coping with the demands of the environment they live in with ease and integrity.

INTRODUCTION

Right at the commencement we would like to bring to your notice that this paper is written in a different way than most papers presented. Here we do not want to show you graphs, percentages and figures to illustrate how a particular issue or phenomena has increased or decreased over the years. Instead, through this paper, we would like to appeal to all those who read it to wake up to the present situation and take action to bring about a change.

This paper is for the children who come into the world with innocence, some genetic information and an inner intelligence. They have hope; they are ready to go with the flow. And these children grow up to become the future of the present world. But their future depends a whole lot on what they are exposed to as they grow up. The variety of information that they get from their parents, family, society, school, culture and their country, all have an impact on them.

So what are we exposing the innocent unassuming child to?

We are all aware of the state of the world as it is today. There is immense depletion of human values, of natural resources, of respect and basic integrity. Materialism is emphasized.  There are rapes, violations, killings, scams and so many other atrocities that are carried out. They have gotten woven into the fabric of the society creating greed, hatred, indifference, power play, manipulation, guilt, fear, stress and apathy. There is a huge loss of freedom. Insecurity and suspiciousness are at large. There is loss of trust and peace of mind.

The children are trained to buy into this disruptive state of the world. They come to believe that it a dangerous tough place to live in where you have to fight to survive. Their natural instinct are curbed and their inner knowing is not allowed to surface. Their inherent knowledge takes a backseat and most children end up getting on to the factory belt of conventional education and conditioning, being packaged for the material world ahead of them.

By the means of this paper, we attempt to bring forward to all, the dire need to make reforms in the education system for the children so that we can create a new world; a new world where its inhabitants are free to live with integrity and consciousness; wherein they can connect back to nature, love and their own-selves. It might sound too idealistic but it is a necessity in today’s time.

There is a movement around the world where people are waking up to the present situation and shifting towards a holistic way of living, working and being. They are awakening to the necessity of getting in touch with their own core being and living life with authenticity. The need of the hour is for an extensive movement to create a wide shift in the present situation.

To begin with, let’s look at the current scenario, from a child’s perspective.

CURRENT SCENARIO

We are living in a world where at the macro level we face rapid depletion of natural resources with no alternatives and yet we continue being wasteful, creating a world of scarcity.  Environmental issues such as global warming, harmful effects of pollution, radiation, weapons of mass destructions, poverty, terrorism, etc. continue to haunt us.

At the micro level, we live in a society where a “more is better” mindset prevails, leaving people dissatisfied with what they have. Today’s highly structured environment leaves many individuals lacking the very skills needed to live with ease and joy such as creativity, adaptability, communication and resilience. The way of living places emphasis on high level of competitiveness, which is cut throat at times, the pressure to perform is so great that many collapse under it, leading to depression, anxiety and physical ailments.

Such exposure has negative effects on the child’s mind wherein they implicitly learn to trust only a few, learn that the world is a bad and dangerous place. What we don’t realize is that these implied thoughts, beliefs and feelings create an imbalance in a perfectly balanced child, by triggering their sympathetic nervous system and thus they are constantly on a high alert and behave selfishly to “preserve” themselves. This behavior rather than being helpful in emergencies has become the child’s first nature in today’s times. Thus, the person is always on the fight-or-flight mode.

Although the present learning environment provides a good platform for children to develop skills required in the professional field and other practical walks of life, many essential values are ignored or left out in the process.

Children are being judged whereas they need to be motivated, accepted and understood. The present system of education produces children who are conformists as against nurtured individuals. Children are tested and taught with an intention to excel and not to learn. We are sowing seeds of hierarchy, which is resulting in unhealthy competition.

Education is getting more and more external, with aspirations to get more degrees, to get more diplomas, getting more certificates etc. What about internalizing what we already learnt, about introspecting on what our soul already knows and making an effort to actually understand what our learning means in the big picture.

In this fast paced world where on one end technology has increased comfort it has also decreased the frustration tolerance. The individual’s environment is changing rapidly occupying most of his attention and leaving no time for introspection. This has created progress externally but regression internally.

We often don’t understand our feelings. For example, when we’re feeling sad, we say we’re just bored. When we’re angry we say we’re just tired. We have lost access to our feelings and neither do we want to accept them, if they arise. We seem to have found a way to advance at lightening speed yet at the same time have dropped to new levels of low.

These loop holes are not unknown to society nor are they ignored, however whenever an individual or organization has tried to bridge the gap, it hasn’t been as successful as they would have liked to be. This is due to our own resistances. The society is not ready to move out of their comfort zone and face the fear of the unknown. The bandwagon effect is so deeply entrenched in the masses, thereby hampering to bring about the change.

It is therefore time to question ourselves:

What would it take for us to believe that the world can be a better place for children?

What would it take for us to make sure we create a conducive and free environment wherein the children are allowed to blossom?

• What would it take for us to work towards a better future for our children?
• How can we together work towards this?

REFORMED EDUCATION FOR A NEW WORLD(R.E.N.E.W)

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, REFORM means to “change into an improved form or condition; to put an end to by introducing a better method or course of action.”

The word EDUCATE is derived from the verb ‘educe’, which means, “to bring out”.

Some Indian and western philosophers have given explanations of education, which are worth noting: –

Heinrich Pestalozzi: “Education is natural harmonious and progressive development of man’s innate powers”.

Friedrich Willian Froebel: “Education is unfoldment of what is already enfolded in the germ. It is the process through which the child makes internal external”.

Aristotle: “Education is the creation of a sound mind in a sound body. It develops man’s faculty, especially his mind so that he may be able to enjoy the contemplation of supreme truth, goodness and beauty of which perfect happiness essentially consists.”

Mahatma Gandhi: “By education, I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in the child and man body, mind and spirit.”

Swami Vivekanand: “Education is the manifestation of the divine perfection, already existing in man.”

We now work towards creating a NEW WORLD where integrity, freedom, balance and consciousness are abundant and the present ills of the world are left behind us and not carried in to the immediate present and the future. Therefore RENEW is all about bringing about a positive change in the education systems prevalent today by introducing a better course of action and moving towards the true meaning of education.

The first 8-10 years of the child’s life are the most influential ones. It is at this time that they develop their perception of the world and their surroundings. Every aspect about living and the way of being gets fitted into their psyche. The core beliefs that they acquire during this period play a significant role in the choices that they make during the course of their life, which in turn shapes their future. An individual’s entire life can be led with some negative core beliefs that could have been deeply ingrained due to a traumatic experience the child has encountered. For example, a teacher may put down a child for not being able answer in the classroom due to which this child might develop the feeling of incompetence, fear of being ridiculed and loss of self-confidence.

Our vision is to have a system of education where the child learns from within; where the child has intrinsic motivation; where the emotional health of the child is given more importance than the academic performance. A system where students are not just learning because of the grades or marks, but learning to understand and apply; they have the freedom to express themselves; they are able to relate to nature and are able to use their creativity at every point.

What if we could present to the child universal wisdom for their knowledge just like we present to them and make them aware of history, geography, chemistry physics and biology?

SOME OF THE SALIENT FEATURES OF A RENEW PROGRAM ARE:

• Experiential Learning: It is a term used to describe the sort of learning where students are given a chance to acquire and apply knowledge, skills and feelings in an immediate and relevant setting. It thus involves a, ‘direct encounter with the phenomena being studied rather than merely thinking about the encounter, or only considering the possibility of doing something about it.’ (Borzak 1981: 9 quoted in Brookfield 1983).

Research has shown that this type of learning is better than spoon fed learning. We need to let the children live with the question, let them explore, apply their knowledge and find the answers rather than always giving the answers. In this way various faculties and abilities are put into use and the connections between different topics becomes apparent to them. Wherever possible we adapt the subjects of the curriculum to the experiential style of learning.

• Maintaining Balance: It is our understanding that extremities of any sort create an imbalance in the functioning of an individual or society. Our belief is to allow the children to enjoy all aspects of life but with awareness, balance and their values in place. In the process they will learn to make choices that work towards their own highest benefit as well as that of those around them.

 

Some of the areas where extremes are experienced are competition and praise. Healthy competition is known to be conducive for the growth of a child and helps them to reach higher levels of their potential. Unfortunately the present systems undermine the positive learning climate in schools leading to unhealthy and extreme competition. Creating a balance would enable a child to get an opportunity and allow his/her specialness to flourish. We would encourage children to work towards bettering themselves rather than trying to get better than the other.

Praise on the other hand if given in extremes, leads to the child having to live up to the expectations of the others at all times. This leads to undue stress, pressure and feelings of inadequacy. Too little praise tends to be de-motivating for a child. In RENEW programs children are appreciated for who they are and not only for what they achieve academically.

• Acknowledging Individual Uniqueness: We believe that children come with their own unique abilities and intelligence. Moving away from the general practice of fitting the children into pre-cast dyes of how they should be learning, we encourage them to explore their own possibilities, to learn in the way that suits them the best. We apply the multiple intelligence paradigm by Howard Gardner which acknowledges the fact that humans have varied intelligences and function using a combination of them.

Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence (1991) “challenges an educational system that assumes that everyone can learn the same materials in the same way and that a uniform, universal measure suffices to test student learning. Indeed, as currently constituted, our educational system is heavily biased toward linguistic modes of instruction and assessment and, to a somewhat lesser degree, toward logical-quantitative modes as well.”

A child who learns to multiply easily is not necessarily more intelligent than a child who has more difficulty on this task as he may excel in a field outside mathematics, or may be looking at and understanding the multiplication process at a fundamentally deeper level. Such a fundamental understanding can result in slowness and can hide a mathematical intelligence potentially higher than that of a child who quickly memorizes the multiplication table despite possessing a less deep understanding of the process of multiplication. A broad vision of education is necessary (Gardner,1991).

RENEW aims at recognizing each child’s unique intelligence and helping the child utilize it to its highest potential by providing the child with the means and opportunities to do so.

• Enhancing Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence refers to an ability to recognize the meanings of emotion and their relationships, and to reason and problem-solve on the basis of them. Emotional intelligence is involved in the capacity to perceive emotions, assimilate emotion-related feelings, understand the information of those emotions, and manage them (Mayer, J. D., Caruso, D., &Salovey, P.,1999).

We believe that the emotional well being of an individual is very important and can take them far ahead in life.

Research shows that the high emotionally intelligent individual, can better perceive emotions, use them in thought, understand their meanings, and manage emotions, than others. Solving emotional problems likely requires less cognitive effort for this individual. The individual tends to be more open and agreeable than others. (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2004, p. 210)

The Little Buddha Program which is a major component of RENEW works towards helping the child enhance their emotional intelligence.

• Mindfulness Training: Mindfulness is defined as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experiences moment by moment” (Kabat-Zinn, 2003, p. 145).

The children at RENEW would be trained in being mindful and incorporating this training in every aspect of their lives.

Research suggests that training in mindfulness has the potential to enhance children’s attention and focus, and improve memory, self-acceptance, self-management skills, and self-understanding.(Hooker.K.,Fodor.I)

• Spiritual Intelligence: RENEW focuses on tapping into and developing the Spiritual Intelligence of the child. It aims at bringing up and enhancing the abilities of the child to be compassionate, self-aware, non judgmental and loving. Living with integrity, honesty and equanimity, connecting with the deeper intelligence within, respecting self, others, nature and humanity are encouraged. Conscious living is taught where caring for nature and its resources is emphasized.
• Expressive Arts: are widely used in RENEW. Children experience art from the beginning of their life. Rhythmic beating of the heart, the rocking movement that the child experiences comfort from, the different facial expressions they see, are all forms of art. In RENEW programs, art forms are not only taught as formal dance, drawing or music training. Going beyond that, art forms are included in every aspect of the program to express, experience and put forth their creative abilities in all areas of their lives. Art is a powerful resource that is built within each individual.

The VAKT model is applied in RENEW programs in which every concept is explained or taught by using the auditory, visual, kinesthetic and tactile abilities of the child. Art forms too engage all these senses. Dancing, singing, playing that the children engage in naturally are all forms of expressing their creativity. There is an immense amount of research available indicating the benefits of art forms for the child and adults. Some of it is given below:

Creative activity is a source of joy and wonder, while it bids its students to touch, taste, hear, and see the world. Children are powerfully affected by storytelling, music, dance, and the visual arts. They often construct their understanding of the world around musical games, imaginative dramas and drawing.”(Hamblen, Karen A. Theories and Research That Support Art Instruction for Instrumental Outcomes, 1993)

The arts can play a crucial role in improving students’ abilities to learn, because they draw on a range of intelligences and learning styles, not just the linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences upon which most schools are based (Eloquent Evidence: Arts at the Core of Learning, President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, talking about Howard Gardener’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, 1995).

“Dramatic play, rhyming games, and songs are some of the language-rich activities that build pre-reading skills.”(Young Children and the Arts: Making Creative Connection, 1998, p. 1)

Dance helps build motor control, body relationships and a sense of direction. Drawing, sculpting and other visual arts develop spatial acuity. Group activities, such as learning dance steps or singing songs, build social skills. As children describe people and things in their world using pictures, body movements, and mime, they enhance their descriptive, nonverbal, cognitive capabilities. Repeating stories, poems, and songs strengthens memory. (Young Children and the Arts: Making Creative Connections, 1998, pp. 11–12)

Art stimulates and develops the imagination and critical thinking, and refines cognitive and creative skills. Art has a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child. Art forms strengthen problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, adding to overall academic achievement and school success. They nurture important values, including team-building skills; respecting alternative viewpoints; and appreciating and being aware of different cultures and traditions. (Americans for the Arts, 2002)

• Unique System of Assessment: Every child will be encouraged and there will be no stress on coming first and no feeling of inferiority for coming second, third or any rank. We believe in individual abilities of each child and one child may excel in a particular ability while the second in another. Instead of pitting students against one another, the child will get a qualitative feedback for their performance on a project, task or activity and given the guidance on improving in it if required.

Our program will not have a stringent grading system and yet be in line with mainstream education. As the emphasis is on getting good marks, the children end up only rote learning and mugging up the content, often without understanding it. A child who might not be good at rote learning but has understood the concept in an alternative way ends up getting lesser marks than the one who has reproduced verbatim whatever the text books say.  We believe in equal opportunities to excel in whatever they are learning irrespective of the style of delivering it. Evaluations will be done not to pass or fail a child but to make sure that the child has understood a concept. Instead of tests, they will be assessed on all the different aspects that go into the project they are doing such as language, science, the research, the methods used, their understanding of the outcomes. So in RENEW every topic that is covered in the curriculum will be converted in to the project format and clubbed together with various techniques that interest students.

Gardner (1991)states that “we would be better served if disciplines could be presented in a numbers of ways and learning could be assessed through a variety of means.”

RENEW aims at educating the child using multiple models, techniques, applications drawn from the world wisdom and weaving them into the academic and non-academic training that the child receives.

There will be no compromise on the content of the curriculum and the subjects and topics that are a part of the mainstream requirement will be completely covered.  The students will be totally prepared to make a smooth transition in to any other format of training employed for higher education

Hopefully in the new educational world that we have envisioned, the child will learn using these concepts and there will be not much requirement of a transition that the person will have to make.

To spread the vision of RENEW, we will be training teachers/facilitators in this program. Facilitator is defined as: one that facilitates especially: one that helps to bring about an outcome (as learning, productivity, or communication) by providing indirect or unobtrusive assistance, guidance, or supervision.

The teachers role will be more of a facilitator who will be their friend, philosopher and guide and just like the dictionary meaning of the word will help the children to ingrain their experiences and learning by indirect and unobtrusive assistance, and supervision.

The participants will undergo experiential training themselves on every aspect of RENEW and become facilitators. They will be trained in mindfulness, compassion, counseling skills and all other aspects of the program in depth. They will practice whatever they are facilitating for the child themselves, for e.g. if the teacher is working on the topic of building self-confidence, she will have undergone the same process herself.

Our vision has been put into action by the successful initiation of two programs. One of them being the Little Buddha Program and the other one being DOVE.

THE LITTLE BUDDHA PROGRAM

The Little Buddha program is a non-religious program, which works towards the psychological, emotional and spiritual growth and wellbeing of a child. The word Buddha comes from the Sanskrit word ‘Buddh’ which means being awakened and enlightened. Our vision is to have little awakened beings who live their life to the fullest with balance and integrity. This program aims at bringing out a ‘Little Buddha’ in every child.

• The program is designed for children between the ages of 3-15 years. It is divided in to 3 groups of ages, 3 to 5, 6 to 11 and 12 to 15.
• The Little Buddha Program, Some Highlights:
• Works towards enhancing the already built-in intuitive capacities of the child and helping the child to use them effectively.
• Teaches the children to keep the highest good of self and others around them in perspective while taking any action.
• Teaches children not to compete with others, instead recognize their own uniqueness, appreciate it and set comfortable and achievable targets to better themselves.
• Teaches them to be non-judgmental of others. It helps them see others perspectives and points of view, thus accepting self and others for their own specialness.
• Helps children understand emotions, and express them constructively creating a balance in their thoughts and actions. They learn to let go of fear, guilt and anger, which blocks their wellbeing.
• Teaching the children mindfulness techniques, which will help them be more aware and conscious of themselves and their surroundings
• Builds the frustration tolerance of the child and helps them become resilient.
• Helps the children break out of self-imposed limitations and let go of limiting ideas, beliefs, thoughts and feelings.
• Weaves gratitude, trust, humility, compassion, honesty and respect into the fabric of their life.
• Teaches children to value and appreciate all that they have and be conscious about money.
• Teaches them to make conscious choices, enhance their self -confidence and self-worth.
• Encourages assertiveness, team-work, understanding boundaries, empathizing with others, prioritizing effectively, dealing with bullies and peer pressure, respecting gender differences, and forgiving self and others.
• Teaches them to be self-reliant, responsible and taking initiative for self growth.
• Aims to improve their concentration and focusing skills.
• The children are allowed to be themselves, without any harsh judgments made about them, they are allowed to express themselves and they feel totally accepted just the way they are. Through different techniques, activities and sessions coupled with their inner understanding and intelligence the child incorporates all they experience in the program in their way of being.
• The environment influences the child and evidently plays a big part in the their perception of everything within and without. Parents play a very significant role in their life. Therefore, it is important that these significant people also enroll into the Little Buddha concept for the child to benefit completely from it. To achieve this there are group sessions and individual sessions conducted with parents of each child. These sessions intend to promote unrestrictive parenting which benefits the child by improving parent child relationship. The parents would be able to see their child in a different light and understand his/her uniqueness and needs. This will further help the child carry forward whatever they learn in the program and also imbibe it into their own lives.
• Some of the techniques and modalities we use while conducting the Little Buddha Program are:
• Arts based therapy techniques such as drama, singing, dance and movement, visual arts, music, story telling and free play.
• Guided Imagery
• Visual Meditations
• Role play
• Emotional  Freedom Technique
• Mindfulness Training
• Metaphors
• Affirmations and many more

The Little Buddha program is presently being conducted in Mumbai, India. Several batches of children have participated in the program and benefitted immensely from it. Summer programs, weekend workshops, regular classes are conducted. The program is shortly being introduced in a school in Mumbai as a part of its curriculum. From 2013, the program will be held in USA in the summer.

We look forward to conducting the program in different towns and cities across the country and are planning a facilitator training program in the near future.

DOVE (Drive to Overcome Violence through Education)

DOVE (Drive to Overcome Violence through Education) was an initiative launched by the co -founder of RENEW, Mr.Dhananjaya Kumar and his colleague in the USA. Dove intends to help the youth to integrate peace, prosperity and personal fulfillment through the curriculum of SHANTIR.

The “SHANTIR”  (Sanskrit word for peace)” curriculum represents:

S = Social Responsibility. Emphasis on co-existence and respect for the rights of others.

H = Human Values. Value of life (one’s own and others’), love, forgiveness, kindness, service, sharing, understanding, compassion, and environmental preservation.

A = Appreciation of beauty, nature, good qualities in others and own well-being. Giving credit, helping others. Appreciating what you have and who you are, rather than dwelling on what you don’t have compared to others.

N = Non-violence. Reorientation of mental attitudes. Controlling violent tendencies against others or oneself; applying non-violence as the primary criterion for screening thoughts, speech, and action. Non-violent approaches to managing crises, anger, stress, greed, compulsion, and competition.

T = Tolerance. Patience, mutual respect. Peaceful means of dealing with differences of opinion, faith, race, color, religion, or any other physical or intellectual differences.

• I = Individual fulfillment. Self-knowledge, self-assessment, self-respect, self-cleanliness (body, thought, speech, action). Setting higher standards for personal conduct. Pursuit of purity in thought and excellence in action. Seeking deeper meaning and purpose of life. Developing a longer view, not limited to instant gratification and purely selfish interest. Sharpening mental faculties to be able to discriminate between right and wrong.
• R = Role Models. Seeking higher standards and values. Many so-called role models of today do not necessarily embody the values and standards that teach or lead children toward realizing their potentials and becoming role models themselves. Study of wholesome and exemplary characters (both historical and contemporary), though not necessarily rich and famous.
• The students who have experienced the SHANTIR program are by nature, peace loving, self respecting and respectful of others lives and traits. They know how to cope with anger, stress and difference of opinion and understand that rights and responsibilities go together. They are relatively free from hatred, self-pity and frustration. They choose non-violent solutions to problems, resist negative peer pressure, and understand the devastating consequences of violence for themselves and others.
• A part of ‘DOVE’ is the “FACE” program which aims to increase the awareness and sensitivity of families to the environment and values that are fostered at home; the long­ term consequences of conflict, neglect or abuses within the family; the subtle ways in which both positive and negative messages are picked up by children; and the content of the “SHANTIR” curriculum.
• Having taken these initiatives, we would like to further the benefits of these programs by expanding on them. Both these programs have been an inspiration for us to envision RENEW.

CONCLUSION

• Our plan now is to have RENEW reach every child in the world. To achieve this the RENEW team is:
• Preparing for publication and for widespread distribution, a vision document for RENEW so that the message goes across to all, and like minded people join us.
• Organizing workshops and seminars, presently in USA and India to further explain the concept and to clarify any queries and concerns.
• Developing a curriculum for after school programs, weekend programs and special classes within existing systems in schools.

We envision full-fledged RENEW schools in the near future and also adaption of the RENEW curriculum in education systems worldwide.

It is our responsibility to create and provide the best we can to our coming generations – a world we all dream of and hope to see someday.

• We would like to end this paper with the following passage written by Neale Donald Walsch (author of “Conversations with God”) as an “afterword” for an excellent eye-opening book “Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight” by Thom Hartmann. The book depicts in detail what is happening to our planet, the reasons for our culture’s blind behavior, and how we can fix the problem.
• This passage is very inspiring for us and we hope it will be for all those who read it.

“If you decide to ignore this information, you will co-create one kind of future. If you decide to act on it, you will co-create another…. When I read this book I knew that I could never view my life in the same way again. I could see myself as part of the problem, or as part of the solution, but I could never again see myself as having nothing to do with either… We know enough to take part in changing the collective consciousness, and write a new ‘story’ of human experience.
You may feel like a voice in the wilderness, but it is your voice we are waiting to hear. Let us act, at last, in the best interest of us all. Then the sun will shine another day, and another still, and life will not merely go on, but achieve its highest expression, its grandest glory, its greatest joy. Can we give this gift to our children? Please say yes.”

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