Vigyan Ashram: An Educational Laboratory – Part I

Published on: June 26, 2024in

Dr. Yogesh Kulkarni is Vigyan Ashram’s Executive Director. Dr. S. S. Kalbag established Vigyan Ashram in 1983 to study ancient Indian philosophy. It is a modern version of the old Gurukul system. Vigyan Ashram advocates…

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Dr. Yogesh Kulkarni is Vigyan Ashram’s Executive Director. Dr. S. S. Kalbag established Vigyan Ashram in 1983 to study ancient Indian philosophy. It is a modern version of the old Gurukul system. Vigyan Ashram advocates for intelligence development, not inheritance. Learning philosophy is the foundation of Vigyan Ashram. Dr. Yogesh Kulkarni shared the success story of Vigyan Ashram. This took place during a conversation with Ms. Harleen Kaur Makhija, who is affiliated with ENTECH Magazine.

How do you believe Vigyan Ashram’s philosophy of development through education and education through development has shaped your approach to education?

Vigyan Ashram is located in Pabal village, approximately 60 km from Pune. We established Vigyan Ashram in Pabal due to various pressing issues in the area, including challenges related to water, irrigation, and electricity. Moreover, we believed that by addressing these problems locally, we could develop solutions that could be applied to any of India’s 600,000 villages.

At Vigyan Ashram, we do not strictly adhere to traditional educational methods; instead, we embrace a more natural approach to learning. Specifically, we emphasize learning by doing, which is the most intuitive way of acquiring knowledge. This method is similar to how we all learn our mother tongue. For instance, a 2-year-old child naturally begins speaking in his native language, yet even after 10 years of formal education, he may struggle to learn additional languages. This contrast highlights the power of experiential learning.

Therefore, at Vigyan Ashram, we actively integrate this natural method of learning into the formal education system through hands-on experience.

Everything in daily life—such as cooking, swimming, using a computer, or driving—is learned through direct practice.

In many cases, formal schooling, college education, or examinations are not necessary to master essential skills. Instead, we develop confidence in our abilities simply by doing, and the knowledge gained through experience remains with us for a lifetime. This underscores the immense value of learning by doing.

Community Development through Education

To actively involve children in the learning process at Vigyan Ashram, we provide them with engaging activities. For example, we may assign specific tasks to students and then immerse them in various forms of activity-based or project-based learning. However, in a resource-constrained country like India, conducting activities solely for the purpose of learning is not always feasible. Typically, once an activity is completed, it is discarded. In fact, if you visit colleges or technical institutes, you will often find numerous projects piled up as scrap, serving no practical purpose. Therefore, rather than engaging in activities merely for the sake of doing them, we strongly believe in the philosophy of learning by doing.

To make learning more meaningful, we actively involve our students in community development projects. Whenever we identify a lack of development in our surroundings, we turn these challenges into real-world projects for our students. Additionally, we offer these projects as hands-on learning experiences, ensuring that students gain practical skills while simultaneously contributing to societal improvement. As a result, this approach not only fosters development within the community but also significantly enhances the students’ learning experiences.

This concept, often referred to as “development through education” and “education through development,” effectively bridges the gap between knowledge acquisition and real-world application.

What are some of the key challenges you have faced in shifting from the traditional classroom model, and how have you worked to overcome those barriers?

First and foremost, Vigyan Ashram has wholeheartedly embraced the philosophy of learning by doing. This approach was adopted under the visionary leadership of our founder, Dr. Kalbag, who made this decision based on his extensive past experiences. Rather than relying solely on conventional teaching methods, we have deliberately chosen to follow the natural method of learning, which emphasizes hands-on experience as the primary mode of education.

However, one of the significant challenges we face revolves around the teachers who work with us—the instructors responsible for guiding the students at Vigyan Ashram. Most of these educators have learned through traditional academic backgrounds, where they primarily relied on books for learning. Since textbook-centered methodologies shaped their education and training, they find it challenging to transition to a more practical, work-oriented approach. In particular, shifting them from a book-centered education system to a work-centered learning methodology requires deliberate effort and structured guidance.

To address this challenge effectively, we have developed a well-defined methodology to train our instructors over time. By implementing this structured approach, we aim to help educators gradually adapt to experiential learning techniques. Thereby ensuring that they can successfully impart knowledge in a way that aligns with our philosophy of learning by doing.

How do you measure the success and impact of Vigyan Ashram’s unique educational approach. What metrics or outcomes are you most proud of?

In 1983, we established Vigyan Ashram in Pabal, a small village 70 km from Pune. We started with a few youth. The Vigyan Ashram is an educational laboratory where we conduct experiments. In the laboratory, you always focus on the weakest link in education. School dropouts who are not interested in education form the weakest link and create trouble at home. Typically, Vigyan Ashram attracts this type of student. These students, when they come to Vigyan Ashram, learn by doing. Many of them became entrepreneurs and innovators.

Vigyan Ashram, with the help of students, has developed many technologies.

The effectiveness of this educational method is evident in the thousands of students who have graduated from Vigyan Ashram over the years. I would argue that the primary success of Vigyan Ashram lies in its role as a laboratory for education.

Changing Formal Education System

We are introducing the Vigyan Ashram program into the formal school system, specifically the regular 8th to 10th grade schools. Where students study mathematics, science, history, geography, and languages. We want to integrate it into mainstream education using the same program and method. The experiment began in 1987. In 1990, the program began in three schools. It went to 14 schools in 2001, then to 23 schools. Now, the program is running in more than 300 schools in Maharashtra. It is being adopted as part of the core curriculum in schools. It’s part of the national school qualification framework. Additionally, this program’s principles are now part of the new education policy. I believe that the experiments we conducted at Vigyan Ashram as a laboratory have made their way to the national level.

The fact that many schools are adopting them is a testament to our success.

Stay tuned for Part II of this interview in July 2024 issue.

Thanks for reading!

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