The Genesis

Centre for Integrated Learning (CIL) is a not-for-profit professional organization involved in an array of activities, with a special focus on education.

What the organization will strive for is not the dissemination of education in its prevalent sense, but in a practical and holistic sense that has been propounded by such eminent personalities in the field such as J Krishnamurthy.

The aims of this membership-based organization will be to explore alternative learning approaches, through research and documentation, capacity building and training, project planning and implementations, which will help plot out a range of activities that can empower today’s children to seek out a brighter tomorrow.

“Is no education better than present education?” This is a very pertinent question posed by experts while formulating new policies on education.

It is this same question, which has prompted us to look into various aspects of present education and facilitate newer approach to the field. Through consistent study, action research and experimentations, scholars and thinkers have provided alternatives to the present system, but as usual to this country, resistance to any new ideas is but natural.

The ghost of examination haunts every child. Peer pressure, unrealistic parental expectations, lack of a value education, syllabus-oriented teaching and many other factors have resulted in a unidimensional growth of today’s kids. The ability to cram, and not the ability to use information, has been the oft-used yardstick in our educational system, which has in turn curbed the growth of a child in the actual sense.

Further, parents – partly because of their limitations in understanding the constantly evolving job market – have been forcing their wards to pursue professions for which they may not have the actual aptitude or strengths. In this era of consumerism, the ability to draw bigger salaries and boast a comfortable lifestyle has often been equated to success. In the bargain, we are creating children with price tags rather than responsible, respectable, culturally oriented and humane citizens.

At this juncture, CIL is a humble initiative that will work towards evolving an alternative approach to teaching-learning programmes through involving all stake holders – Parents, Teachers, Policy makers, People representatives and finally children.

Hence, it was felt to start an organization which functions on the lines of an NGO, but yet has a professionally-managed streak to. CIL will take up financially-viable projects, profits of which will be channeled to socially-relevant activities.

Finally, I would say that CIL is an experiment worth the try.