SNS Summary

"Education is a continuous and creative process. It’s aim is to develop the capacities latent in human nature and to coordinate their expression for the enrichment and progress of society."

"Sumpoorn Nai Shiksha (SNS)" or "All-encompassing New Education (ANewEd)" was conceptualized as a first step towards an education that addresses not only a person's intellectual/material needs, but also provides him with human/social perspective, and addresses his spiritual need.

Instead of addressing the mind alone, the foundation of education in the 21st century must be built upon the four factors that make a complete human-being - the heart, the spirit, the mind and the body. The order of priority must follow a humanistic approach, placing the individual at the center of all action. This will be different to the model that has been in practice until now, where pupils have been forced into academic straitjackets, completely ignoring the uniqueness and individuality of human identity and its potential to contribute to human welfare.

It is designed as a flexible, adaptable program (a living, breathing entity) that can be improved through time with feedback mechanisms and moulded according to individual group needs without a compromise of the principles for which it stands.

It has been designed initially as a 7-point empowerment program for the underprivileged and the illiterate populations of India, with special emphasis on education of the girl-child.

The universal model for education that we must strive to achieve must include:

• Universal Values – virtues of the spirit that transcend all cultures
• A Global Understanding and Perspective – that will lead to a change in attitude, helping the human spirit to overcome barriers of prejudice, communalism and a narrow nationalism
• Excellence in All Things – with a special emphasis upon the striving of the human mind for knowledge, innovation and change, drawing upon each person’s unique mix of capabilities
• Service to Humanity – exploiting human skills and the functions of the body in projects that are at once consultative and participatory and directing human potential to a wider consciousness than current education aims to provide
• The 7 – Point educational framework for Sumpoorn Nai Shiksha consists in essence of these four building blocks of education as above and the 3R’s – Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic. It places more importance to the habits of the heart and attitudes towards life and learning, than towards mere abilities of the mind, as education in the past has emphasized.
• The curriculum is an integration of these seven points in a unique program that defines "outcomes" and the development of certain "fundamental capabilities and skills" in each individual, such as the ability to take concepts to reality, the ability to make the right choices, to work consciously for the common good, develop a love for beauty, respect for others and the environment, and to work and live with diversity, among others.
• Targeting the rural uneducated, the first version of this is a 2.5 year program for a grade-5 proficiency in reading, writing and arithmetic. Built within it is a one-year "whole literacy" package which can be taught on its own where needed.