Sri Sathya Sai World Education Conference

N. Pugendran

Sathya Sai Serva Organisation, North Central Coordinating Committee

Sri Sathya Sai education in human values has its roots in the teachings of Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The most distinguishing feature of this educational system is its philosophy that helps the students to mould a good character along with academic skills based on Sathya, Dharma, Shanthy, Prema and Ahimsha.

Sathya Sai Education places great emphasis on self-discipline, self-sacrifice, and selfless service to the community as a means to self-transformation.

Sathya Sai educational principles have become a lifelong learning and transformation process for children, men and women in all parts of the world. His message to the students is “The end of Education is character and Education without character is” (valueless).

Mental agony, sorrow suffering and anxiety that exist worldwide at present, show no signs of abatement, despite continued scientific and technological advancement. Conflict and a steady decline in morality are but some of the factors threatening the survival of mankind. Most educationists would agree that a profound change is needed in the way human beings view themselves and others.

Such a spiritual awakening would require an educational model with a capacity to transform the minds and hearts of all people. The model that is now prevalent throughout the world needs modification from its emphasis on the secular to embody spirituality.

Sathya Sai Education thus entails a life-long process of transformation, and aims to strengthen the sacred connections between the individual, family, society, and all living beings.

Bahavan Baba says that reading books and transfer the contents to students do not fulfill the goals of real education. Rather, “real education is that which promotes unity, equality and peaceful co-existence with fellow human beings.”

It “flows from the bottom of the heart, and is termed as ‘Educare’.” Therefore, “Educare should be pursued along with what has usually been meant by education.”

The guiding principles of the term Educare, as elaborated by Sri Sathya Sai Baba, are:

(a)Divinity is love, and it is the undercurrent of all human values;

(b) Educare elicits the inherent human values and translates them into action in daily life;

(c) The purpose of education is to lead a fully human and spiritual life;

(d) The end of education is character and character manifests itself as the unity of thought, word, and deed.

Sathya Sai Education provides the foundation for a noble, able, and stable character, for the development of an integral personality for the man kind. All positive educational goals become achievable when the end of education is viewed as the development of character.

Sathya Sai Education commenced more than forty years ago when Sri Sathya Sai Baba gave an enlightened direction to education by saying, “Education is not for mere living; it is for life, a fuller life, a more meaningful life, a more worthwhile life.”

Since then Sathya Sai Education has grown, under Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s guidance, as a life-long learning and transformation process embracing all kinds and levels of education and now covers more than 90 countries spread throughout the world.

Based on the philosophy of Educare and the sound discipline of Integral Education evolved over decades, Sathya Sai Education is today a light of hope in a conflict ridden world. It is now recognised all over the world as a major contributor in the field of education.

In 1969 Bal Vikas/Sai Spiritual Education was introduced in India to teach children of Sathya Sai devotees.

In 1970s this programme commenced in the United Kingdom and spread all over the world. These programme are being conducted in 90 countries in all the continents.

In 1980, a modification to Bal Vikas programme was developed for children whose parents were not devotees of Sri Sathya Sai Baba to promote character development.

This programme is named Sathya Sai Education in Human Values.

Furthermore, six university colleges in India are providing education in Human Values integrated with the normal curriculum.

There are 90 Sathya Sai schools spread throughout India with students exceeding 16,000. In addition 41 Sahtya Sai Schools currently operate in 26 countries, including Sri Lanka.

Sathya Sai School at Manipai in Jaffna district and Akkaripattu Sathya Sai School in Amparai district have been established in Sri Lanka to teach Sathya Sai education in human values integrated with normal curriculum.

Sathy Sai School at Manipai commenced with 25 pre-school children on 06.01.2003. Now 147 children are studying in this school, and classes are being conducted up to Grade Six in English medium.

Sri Sathya Sai International Centre for Human Values, a unit of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, Prasanthi Nilayam, was established in New Delhi, India in March 2001 to provide orientation programmes on Education in Human Values to educationists, professionals, community leaders and media persons.

The Sathya Sai Schools, Sathya Sai Colleges, the Institutes of Sathya Sai Education (ISSEs) and Sri Sathya Sai Universities implement the Sathya Sai philosophy of education in formal academic system.

All these institutions have received high acclaims from national leaders, educational authorities, independent evaluators, and international agencies such as the United Nations, for providing a working model of education that successfully combines spiritual and secular education, achieving both academic and character excellence in the students.

On the guidance of Bahavan Baba, all countries concerned conducted pre World National Sai Education Conference and identified issues and suggestions to be submitted at the World Education Conference.

Sathya Sai Organisation in Sri Lanka had its Pre World National Education Conference on June 27 at Sathya Sai Serva Centre, Barnes Place, Colombo. 60 participants attended this conference from Sri Lanka.