Opportunity at SIDH - TEACH!!!

Bodhshala Model Primary School Initiative

Education is a process that enables students and teachers to lead a happy and meaningful life. It is about understanding ‘reality ‘at all its levels - the self, the other, the society, nature, and the inter-relationships between all of these. It is about learning skills and developing abilities that will enable one to turn this understanding into a living reality.

The world today, from the metropolises of the United States to the villages of India, is heading towards an unsustainable future defined by consumerism and materialism. The effect is disharmony at all levels mentioned above.

Here at SIDH, our primary mission is to use education as a tool for social change and to encourage a more meaningful exploration and dialogue, not only in the social and political spheres but also within individual mindsets. We envision this process as being critical to re-establishing a sense of harmony.

If you feel that it’s time to stop just criticizing the “system” and time to start creating the world that we imagine, then this opportunity is for you.

We are looking for teachers for our new “Model Primary School”.

Background information:
SIDH, located in the Tehri district of Uttaranchal Pradesh, is an organization working exclusively on the issue of quality education. Its vision is to establish an education process that helps individuals to achieve harmony in the self, ‘swatantrata’, and through that, harmony in society and with Nature, ‘swarajya’.

SIDH plans to start a model primary school from February 2007 on its Bodhigram campus for the local village community of Kempty, about 11 km. from the popular hill town of Mussoorie. Kempty is a fast developing small rural town that has government offices, bank, post office, telephone call centers, schools, hotels, clinics, shops, etc. that primarily serve the surrounding population of about 35 villages. SIDH’s Bodhigram campus, about half a kilometre from Kempty, already has a middle school (class 6 to 8) called Bodhshala where 65 students from 20 surrounding villages are studying.

Over 16 years of rich experience in primary schooling coupled with the need to show-case the practicality of its understanding on quality schooling makes SIDH an ideal organization to run a model primary school of holistic and relevant education.

Model School Vision:
To establish a pioneering center of primary schooling that starts the process of education for children and facilitators towards ‘Right Understanding’ and, accordingly, to ‘Right/Responsible Living’.

What do we intend to do in this new school:
At SIDH, holistic and relevant education is viewed as a process that leads to understanding of reality – which includes the ‘self’, the ‘other’, the ‘society’, and Nature and their inter-relationships. This understanding then becomes the basis of responsible living, which ultimately leads to a happy and meaningful life. At the “Model School”, we intend to create spaces that will facilitate this process for students and teachers.

How do we intend to do this?

This is where the new incoming teachers fit into the picture. We already have some ideas from our previous learnings and experiences. They include:

o Creating spaces for dialogue and self-reflection because this will help a child develop his/her own understanding and realize his/her self-worth
- To both stimulating the child’s 5 senses, and drawing the child’s attention to feelings, thoughts, and desires
- To encourage the natural curiosity of the child, instead of dampening it.
- Enabling children to become critical thinkers by teaching them how to think and not what to think

o Emphasis on ‘learning by doing’ so that children acquire skills necessary to become self-dependent and develop their abilities for self-expression.
- Productive work such as gardening, card-making, cooking, and sewing.
- Activities such as singing, theatre, dance, arts & crafts, films, games, music, and sports.

o Learning from reality, instead of only from text-books
- Thematic project work that is based on the ‘live’ and ‘local’ environment.
- Integration of subjects whenever possible.

o Shifting from reward & punishment based discipline to developing the child’s self-discipline through an ‘understanding’ and dialogic approach.
- Using student and teacher self-reflection and group reflection to facilitate the shift
- To discuss group and individual behavior through the use of classroom meetings and individual conferences

The Model School will be a bi-lingual school instructing in and learning both Hindi and English. We will begin with pre-primary, class one, and two. We will add the following classes (third, fourth, etc) in subsequent years and plan on upgrading it to a middle school and then high school.

In addition, since SIDH sees its role as a training and advocacy institute as well, the expectation for the Model School teaching staff is to develop into teacher-trainers so that they can share their experiences and spread their practice by conducting trainings for other educators.

Teacher Expectations

• Committed to creatively integrating local knowledge/culture into educational framework, thereby valuing and empowering students’ cultural backgrounds
• Able to push students to think critically
• Committed to purposeful long-term planning and continual assessment of student holistic progress
• Willing to collaborate with colleagues in designing units and lessons that integrate all content areas for thematic, project-based learning
• Continual self-reflection and desire for growth
• Committed to viewing this opportunity as a life-style and not a “job”
• Builds relationships with students’ families through regular communication about students’ progress (holistically) and ways in which families can support their children’s learning.
• Holds high expectations for self and students

Teacher Preferred Qualifications

• Flexible, resourceful, energetic, passionate, and committed to creating an exceptional model school
• Open-minded , critical thinker that is motivated to be part of a new experiment in education
• Comfortable in Hindi and English
• Computer literate – finding information on internet, email, document writing, etc.
• Creative talents (dance, music, handicrafts, etc.) which can be integrated into curriculum
• Experience with young children

Logistics

• Minimum two-year commitment
• Committed to living either in Kempty (students’ home village) or at the SIDH campus
• Approximately 4,000 Rs stipend
• Starting date of Dec 2006 / Jan 2007.

Contact Us
If you are interested in this position, please contact Jitendra-ji at: santoshijeet12@gmail.com.