Revered Prof. Prem Saran Satsangi while addressing the gathering at the Annual Prize Distribution Function of Dayalbagh Educational Institute's (DEI) Technical College on May 21, 2003 stated that, “The vision of the Founder of Dayalbagh and this Technical College, His Holiness Sir Sahabji Maharaj, was to bring up institutions to serve as models to all those working for the uplift of humanity, whose alumni will be healthy and hard working, not shirk from manual labour and respect those who till and toil with their hands”. DEI continues to work on making this Vision a reality.
In our post today, we have Prof. Prem Kumar Kalra, the Director of Dayalbagh Educational Institute walk us through the approach of the Institute, its past, its present and what plans are there for the future.
Remain committed to selfless service.
Anurag
Dayalbagh Educational Institute:
Spearheading evolution from Homo Sapiens to Homo Spiritualis
The Dayalbagh Educational Institute was founded in 1917 as a co-educational middle school, the
Radhasoami Educational Institute, by the August founder of Dayalbagh, Sir
Anand Sarup. The Dayalbagh community emphasizes nurturing of one’s spiritual
and intuitive faculties through Surat Shabd Yoga. Dayalbagh itself is a century-old,
living example of cooperative co-existence, self-sufficiency and
self-reliance, untouched by the swinging pendulum of inflation, and DEI
was nurtured with these same set of values, practices and morals.
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| DEI: Hallowed Corridors of Learning |
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| Skilling in the AAM Karkhana |
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| Children of REI: Bonding with Mother Earth |
The mission objective of DEI
education is to evolve a complete person through physical, intellectual, emotional and ethical
integration. The Policy, which is rooted in Indian culture, philosophy and spirituality,
outlines how this may be achieved via its Aims & Objectives, Educational
and Organizational structures.
The
DEI Education Policy was a disruptive innovation in higher education and
followed a systems approach that integrated social and environmental systems
with formal systems of education. This allowed DEI to evolve at the pace at
which social needs and the world order was changing. It benefited society at
large by encouraging sustainable, frugal innovation through optimization of
economy, energy and resources. The Education Policy also emphatically enunciated the centrality of
values-based education and ‘excellence with relevance’, and this is practiced
throughout DEI, from pre-primary to higher education.
A unique aspect of DEI is the
integration of education from pre-nursery to Ph.D. on the one side, and
skilling to entrepreneurship as part of formal education on the other. The opportunity
for mobility from general to skill-based education and vice versa through well-defined
pathways has spurred creativity, frugal innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset
in our students. Introduction of vocational courses (B.Voc. and M.Voc.) at
Bachelor’s and Master’s level has taken skilling education to the next level.
Synthesis of mainstream education and entrepreneurship has led to “Earn while
Learn”, on-campus enterprises in dairy, food processing, automobiles, apparel
design etc. These opportunities provide students with a means to support their
education.
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| Values instilled in our minds and inscribed on the walls of REI Hall |
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| B. Voc. Dairy Students |
DEI has created an ecosystem that encourages innovative ideas from young students on socially relevant problems, and we have tried to facilitate the transformation of these ‘idea quanta’ into frugal or jugaad solutions. We call this harnessing of small, frugal innovations ‘Quantum Jugaad’, and it has led to the creation of many student-run, on-campus enterprises. These naturally evolving, and exponentially growing student-run enterprises have given an entrepreneurial flavor to teaching and learning. But the meaning of entrepreneurship here is not innovation that leads to revenue-driven venture creation, but rather, the creation of value through social, economic or environmental ventures that benefit the lowest and the least among our masses.
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| DEI Quantum Jugaad: Incubating Nano Enterprises |
(i) Innovation including generation
& use of renewable energy
(ii)
Water quality
(iii)
Air quality
(iv)
Education and healthcare
(v)
Agriculture and dairy practices
(vi)
Quality and Values.
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| The Sigma Six Q Model |
I would like to discuss here the link between innovation and system thinking in education. Innovation is not driven by technology alone (hardwired innovation); it can as well be driven by a change in one’s way of thinking, or through emergence of new knowledge, or even a change in the mindset that one brings to a problem (soft innovation). Educational institutes can innovate by providing new learning organizations and new pathways such as skill development and opportunities for analysis, synthesis, experiential experiments, teaching- learning methodologies and creative technological interventions. These then lead to innovative design of curricula, emergence of new knowledge and new pathways for student mobility. Ecology, energy and economy optimization too, are good reasons to motivate creative innovation. A combination of these ideas leads to frugal innovation that evolves continuously and dynamically over all time to come.
At
the IITs, Prof. P. K. Kelkar introduced science-based engineering education
that included social sciences. This approach gave young engineering graduates a
wide knowledge base, and an edge in solving complex social problems
economically, by using local resources. Prof. Mo Jamshidi of University of
Texas, was of the view that methods of education must be refined and expanded
to meet changing needs from a system to a system-of-systems vision, from a
disciplinary to a multidisciplinary outlook, from a steady state to a real-time
perspective, and from an optimal to an adaptive approach.
Innovative
evolutionary approach in our education conforms to the philosophy of “Renaissance
Man” by Prof. Jay W. Forrester of MIT, one who has broad intellectual interests
and is accomplished in areas of both the arts and the sciences. Such a person
tries to see common elements in diverse settings and thus creates
transfer-ability between diverse structures, which is one of the hallmarks of
the systems approach.
Norbert
Wiener’s prediction in 1950 that electronic computers were capable of taking
over many human decision-making processes has come true today, raising an array
of crucial ethical and moral issues: Are humans in danger of becoming slaves to
these machines? Will such machines have autonomous thinking and resultant
morals, or will the designers consciously or unconsciously build into them
their own moral values? And who we will turn to for proper answers? Prof.
Rajaraman says that common-sense knowledge, religious beliefs, and
consciousness will be the drivers, and we, at DEI, have set ourselves the huge
challenge of not only instilling in our students the thought process to address
social change, but also how to adopt and adapt technology to answer some of the
questions raised above.
Under
the guidance and direction of Prof. Prem Saran Satsangi the scientific study of
consciousness and ultra-transcendental meditation is undertaken at DEI’s Centre
for Consciousness Studies. Experiential knowledge of 150 years of spiritual
practice by the members of the Dayalbagh community has given DEI a living
laboratory to analyse the phenomena of consciousness practically, as also the
effects of ultra-transcendental meditation. But this, much required discipline
is yet to become part of formal education elsewhere.
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| 'The Science of Consciousness (TSC)' Conference at DEI |
DEI
aims to become a leading research-cum-teaching institute in Consciousness
Studies. In DEI this pursuit is carried out by bringing together teachers,
researchers and students from various disciplines like psychology and cognitive
science, physics, mathematics, life science, language studies, arts and music,
engineering management etc. This truly trans-disciplinary study has unfolded
many aspects of human behavior, psychology and functioning of the brain.
Rigorous scientific research is being carried out to understand the
experiential science through experimental techniques.
The
Strategic Plan will be anchored by an accountability framework through
measurable inputs and deliverables that monitor progress towards our goals.
Over the next five years, building on our foundational strengths and propelled
by the promises outlined in this Strategic Plan, DEI will emerge as an
institute with excellence in specific disciplines and strong societal outreach
that delivers holistic education to every learner.
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| Total Quality Management in Higher Education |
DEI’s
Strategic Plan charts the distinctive course expected of an institution with a
long and distinguished history. It builds on the traditions of excellence
established by our founders, with a clear view of our strengths, opportunities
and weaknesses.
DEI
has chalked out a bold 15-year strategic plan (Vision 2031) and aspires to
become an Institution of Excellence in the areas of Consciousness, Agriculture
and Entrepreneurship. I do not think any other institute offers such a broad
spectrum of integration on one platform.
We hope to help in the creation of
a race of ‘Supermen’, who would be set apart from the rest of humanity, by
their quality, character, behavior, values and ideals, and their desire to
serve. The recent scheme of Evolutionary Superman (popularly known as the
‘Sant-Su Scheme’) for children of age 3-months to 3- years is the first step in
this journey. As regular participants in the agricultural field work every day,
these children gain good sanskaras from a very tender age. In 2018, we were
happy to host them at DEI on our Founder’s Day, and we consider them our
pre-pre-nursery students!
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| Supermen in the making: Learning to cohabit on our planet |
