::: LOK BHARTI - A Rural Revolution :::

Education

Chhatralaya - A Nursery of Community Life

In Lok Bharti, community life in a chhatralaya is regarded as an integral part of syllabus. Lok Bharti does not confine the meaning of chhatralaya-life to lodging and boarding only but it is regarded as the best medium of all-round and balanced development of the personality of the students.

Lok Bharti has attached so much significance to community life in the chhatralaya because the founders of Lok Bharti had very rich experience of 43 years of community - life in the institutions like Dakshinamurti and Gram Dakshinamurti where it was found that it had unlimited potentialities for developing noble qualities and sense of citizenship. Hence community life has been inevitably linked to all academic activities and sections of Lok Bharti. Even if a student has got first class, but his community-life is found unsatisfactory and inspite of our advice and persuasion if desirable changes are not seen in his behaviour, he is not promoted to the higher class inspite of his first-class.

The basic elements of community life :

w	Self-reliance : The students living in Lok Bharti chhatralayas do all work such as preparing food, cleaning and other routine jobs by themselves. These duties are done by them in rotation of fifteen days. No one is exempted from it. No peon or other servants are engaged. Doing the daily chores such as serving food, cleaning the latrines, filling water, preparing food, sweeping the chhatralaya and their premises clean etc. develops their efficiency in work and spirit of self reliance in them.
w	Removal of caste and gender inequality : Students belonging to different castes perform all routine duties according to their turn, so the sense of caste-based division of labour gets discarded. Here Brahmin, Harijan and Muslim students live, work and eat together.
w	Development of affection and friendship : At the time of sickness one needs help of others and in Lok Bharti such help is rendered spontaneously and mutually. Taking care of others’ convenience creates a sense of “We-feeling” among the students. It makes them fell that they are just one family. It imbibes the sense of loving friendship. Nobody is allowed to harass any student, which is regarded as a serious offence. Ragging is unheard of on Lok Bharti Campus.
w	Building of good habits : Chhatralaya activities like getting up early in the morning, doing home work, participating in educational activities, self-study, taking part in sports and games, prayer, reading in the library and doing evening duties etc. develop in the students directly or indirectly good virtues like punctuality, accuracy, studiousness, efficiency, mutual adjustment, physical fitness and devotion to God.
w	Informal night programmes : After evening roll-call, students in the company of their house master assemble in the court-yard of their chhatralaya to listen and share the views of an expert teacher or a guest speaker; it may be to listen to a story, analysis of a particular topic, introducing a book or question-answer session, This activity is not examination-related. There may be many subjects from national integration to sky-watching. This care-free informal discussion takes them to “realms of God” and enriches them emotionally as well as intellectually.
w	Out-door community feast and group-dance : Ocassionaly, once in a month the chhatralaya students arrange an out-door feast at a nearby beauty-spot. Here various entertaining programmes such as singing, dancing, jokes, mimicry are presented. On every full moon night students of all the nine chhatralyas and teachers with their families have a community dinner. The teacher-families come with their food and after the feast garba dance follows. It nourishes intimate friendship, and provides innocent pleasure and community feeling.
w	The students’ union - an activity creating a sense of responsibility : There is a federal panchayat of the students of all academic sections and a committee of office bearers known as “Central cabinet”. Its nine activities – duties such as food-meals, sanitation, sports cultural activities, literary forum, craft work, accounts, looking after guests and overall co-ordination by general secretary, who is guided and directed by the chief rector. The tenure of office bearers is of six months.
w	Gruhpati (The Rector) : Normally a chhatralaya has a manager, not a rector, while at Lok Bharti the best teachers are appointed as rectors. Chhatralaya management is considered a part of their total work load. The work in the chhatralaya makes a teacher sometimes even unpopular, but it can be compensated through better teaching. All teachers are given residence on the campus and close to chhatralays. The teachers not only care to fulfill students’ material needs such as food, accomodation, sickness etc. but also take keen interest in their intellectual and emotional growth.
w	Selfless-affectionate teacher-student relationship : There has never been a single strike and crisis in teacher-student relationship during the past years. The credit goes to healthy relations which exist between the teachers and the students. Students maintain cordial relation with Lok Bharti in the times of crisis. The evils of tuition have not entered the campus as the students get constant guidance and care of the teachers on the campus. Teacher’ loving care and warmth remove sense of inferiority and weakness from the students.
w	Co-education : At Lok Bharti student’s cordial relations with teacher families quench his thirst for intimacy while co-education makes him accept man-woman relation in a balanced and healthy way. So we have introduced co-education at all levels in all departements. It is not that we do not have problems related to co-education, but we face, accept and solve them as an integral part of the system.
w	The Chhatralaya Management Committee : A committee is formed to manage problems and the affairs of all chhatralayas. Its members are nine rectors, principals of all colleges, the campus-director and deputy director. The chief rector is the chairman of the committee, while final decision is left to the director.