Isha Home School

Sadhguru’s Words: The Significance of Teacher’s Day

September 5, 2014

Questioner: Sadhguru, can you please speak on the significance of Teacher’s Day and the role of teachers?

Sadhguru: Today happens to be ‘Teacher’s Day’. Do you know why it is called Teacher’s Day? Dr. Radhakrishnan, the first vice president of India and the second president of India, happened to be a schoolteacher and his birthday is ‘Teacher’s Day.’ It’s a wonderful compliment to the teachers of the nation that our president was actually a schoolteacher.

In the Indian culture, we have always recognized a teacher as a very important part of one’s life to the extent we said: ‘Acharya Devo Bhava’ which means a teacher is like god. Generally, children spend more time with their teachers than with their parents. The idea of parents sending children to school is that somewhere they know that somebody else could be a better influence upon their children than themselves. Blinded with emotion as to what is mine and what is not mine, most people are not able to create an atmosphere of love and joy. They usually start off with a little bit of love and then become heavily entangled with the whole process and create an atmosphere of anxiety. Anxiety is not a good atmosphere to grow in.

In the making of an individual human being, or in the making of a society, or a nation or even in the making of a world at large, a teacher has a significant role. In the process of enhancing abilities and developing interest in a particular subject – definitely a teacher has a big role. For many children, which teacher is teaching what subject determines whether they love that subject or hate it. The subject gets identified with that person. If the teacher is inspiring enough then the subject suddenly becomes interesting.

In today’s generation people think the significance of a teacher has gone, because everything that a teacher can say, the internet can say too. No, I think the significance of a teacher has gone up manifold. Now that the burden of delivering information is taken away, a teacher’s job becomes mainly to inspire and enhance a student as a human being – which has always been the main task.

In my student days, I met many teachers too. Largely what I learnt was what a teacher should not be and it has been a very valuable lesson for me.

In the first fifteen years of a child’s life, the influences he falls under determine many things about his life. The highest caliber of people should go into school teaching in any nation, if we want to build that country into something worthwhile. But today, we have set up an economic situation and a social situation, where if people cannot get anywhere, then they become school teachers. This has to change. If this doesn’t change, we will not build a society of any substance. We will build very low quality human beings, a low quality society, and a low quality nation. This is already happening. Inspired teachers are few in most schools, if there are any at all. Teaching has become only a profession. That’s all. Nobody is willing to walk an extra step to do what’s needed.

When you work with children who are that part of humanity which is still in the making, what you make of them is in your hands. It is one of the greatest responsibilities and privileges that a human being can have: to actually shape another life is a tremendous privilege. So, when such a privilege is being vested in somebody’s hands, it’s very important that the highest caliber of minds, the highest integrity and inspiration goes into that.

Taken from Sadhguru’s talk on 5 September 2012 where he addressed the students and teachers of Isha Home School.

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Education at Isha Home School

September 1, 2011

Sadhguru speaks about education as a way of broadening one’s perspective of life. Today however, modern education is making us exclusive to the point of not being able to live with one another.

Isha Home School will keep the children’s intelligence intact, not suppress it. The focus will be to instill the longing to know and learn in the children and enhance their capabilities rather than making them qualification oriented.

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[video] Isha Home School- Class X students ace their exams

May 25, 2011

The 16 Class X students and physics teacher Sekar in the Gnana Shala – the 55,000 sq. ft. senior school academic complex.

Since its inception in 2005, the Isha Home School has been nurturing students in their uniquely “home” like environment, sprinkled with fine arts, performing arts, Hindustani & Western music, and Bharatnatyam. This year, the students of class X, many of whom have been with the school from the start, turned in a sterling performance in the 2011 ICSE Class X examinations with a 100% pass result. The average aggregate of all the students from the school stands at an impressive 85%.

Sadhguru’s message to the Isha Home School Teachers on this occasion.

Congratulations for what you have achieved and blessings for what you still have to achieve. It is a joy to see that in spite of extraordinary extra-curricular activities, the children have done well in their academics too! This is a manifestation of the commitment and dedication of our teachers and staff, and of the wonderful possibility that our children are. Though it is not our intention to measure our children by marks, it is a clear statement that Isha Home School is not only shaping beautiful human beings but is also capable of having them excel in the market place of marks, money and meanness. And there is no doubt they will do well in marriage or monkhood. My wishes and blessings to all those who participated in making this happen.

Love & Grace,

“Learning is not about earning, but a way of flowering.” – Sadhguru

Sekar, one of the teachers for the Class X students, shares: The results have vindicated the stand that academics can be done as an enjoyable segment of a larger gamut of education. As a Class teacher for Class X, I would say that the children put in a very good effort and responded well to the exam-preparation tools and tips that were made available to them. The second term was almost entirely in their hands to plan their time and the children planned and executed their preparation quite well, drawing on the teachers as well as their friends for support.

The mystical sign of the Ouroboros welcomes one to the Gnana Shala which, with fourteen state-of-the-art ‘smart’ classrooms (each equipped with multimedia learning provisions), spacious science labs, and a three-storey library, is the ideal setting for the students’ holistic development.

The libraries at the IHS are full of some rather large bookworms..

One of the students, Shruthi Subramanian, says: Coming to the tenth exams, there was no tension in any of the sixteen people who sat for the exams, including me. We were focused, concentrated and fully prepared, from the exam point of view. During the preparations, we helped each other if necessary and did group studying and we worked on our weaknesses with the help of the teachers. But it was not like we just sat there and did nothing but studying. We had lots of fun during our study holidays. We cycled, played games during breaks and caught up with our sleep. The sixteen of us were playful, enthusiastic and had fun all the time. As a reward for all the hard work that the teachers and we put together and with Sadhguru’s blessings, I think all of us have done really well in the board exams and we have cleared it with flying colours!

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