A glimpse at harmony
THIS is how over a hundred students at a quaint little school in Drasa, Lautoka, begin every school day, reminding themselves to fill their world with peace and unity.
A sample of the nation, the Drasa Sathya Sai Primary School and Kindergarten have a majority iTaukei and Chirstian student body, but celebrate the beauty of all religions and cultures and preach nothing more nor less than tolerance and togetherness.
The day begins with a calmness spread over the school as the students and faculty come together for a moment of self-reflection and morning affirmations, of which the earlier quotes are a core part.
I had the pleasure of sitting with Ravindra Dutt, the headmaster, and Ambika Prasad, the school manager and former principal of the Natabua Teacher’s College, earlier this week in the hopes of coming to understand the many ways this school seeks to build a united Fiji.
Aware and accepting of age-appropriate and realistic developmental goals, Mr Prasad shared that since the younger children may struggle to focus on meditation on their own, a lit candle is placed in the centre of the table, allowing them to focus instead on the flame prior to a guided meditation.
The morning meditations are only one part of the school’s unique and holistic education program focused on human values.
Alongside an impressive pass rate when it comes to the national curriculum, the school focuses on teaching what they call the five universal human values: truth, righteousness, non-violence, peace, and love.
“These values are taught in every religion, they are part of Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, because what they are is human values. They’re part of humanity. They are what every person wants,” Mr Prasad explained.
Recognising the organisation’s noble efforts, in 2006 the European Union agreed to fund the program’s expansion. This support facilitated the publishing of a set of teaching handbooks, allowing the teaching style to be shared to schools across the country.
In 2012, a second publishing run included a similar handbook for Secondary Schools, incorporating art, science, history and psychology to further strengthen the message, edited and introduced by the renowned Professor Subramani.
The organisation opted for handbooks rather than textbooks to encourage teachers to share the lessons in interesting and interactive ways.
Instead of simply reading to the students from a textbook, the handbook suggests sharing the lessons through storytelling, group activities, group singing, citing research in child development that support these forms of learning.
And the group practices what it preaches; they do not simply hand a book over and expect teachers to figure it out. No. Even as adults interactive learning is helpful. The organisation conducts workshops with interested teachers across most of the mainland in monthly outreach programs.
Changing the world that the next generation will grow up in is no easy task and begins with changing their childhoods.
While many of us remember the occasional duster to the hand or hose pipe across the leg from our school days, the country appears to have largely put a stop to corporal punishment. But how then are teachers meant to discipline a troubled child?
As I toured the school, Mr Prasad sharing with me the story of how the school first came to be, I noticed there wasn’t a spot of vandalism in sight nor a single broken tap.
With over a hundred little ones running amuck, how was that possible? Well, they aren’t running amuck, that’s how! Somehow this group of experienced educators, preaching non-violence for all, had found a way to bring true discipline to their students without raising the ruler at them, and I had to know how.
Messrs Prasad and Dutt beamed when asked about this.
“Of course, they’re still children so we do have the occasional rowdiness, which is alright, but generally our students are very well-behaved,” they shared.
When a child does something they shouldn’t, hits another student or throws something across the classroom, there is a tried-and-true method the school adopts.
“We don’t hit them or yell at them or threaten them with punishment. We talk to them. We ask them four questions,” Mr Prasad said.
“How would you feel if somebody did the same thing to you?”
“How would your parents feel if they knew you did this?”
“What does your religion say about this behaviour?”
“What if everybody in the world did that too?” Now this had me remarkably impressed. Rather than habituate good behaviour through fear of punishment, the school was encouraging students to develop their own moral compass and allowing them to base it on whatever motivator worked for them, religious, internal, or otherwise.
And with the kindness and understanding that was modelled for them by the staff, it was no wonder so many of their students had come to the decision not to disappoint.
The school charges no fee, has no fundraisers for parents to contribute to, and asks nothing of them but for them to show love and gentleness to their children. A pile of boxes in the corner of the library, I was told, were books for the students to use this year.
The school also provides all stationary, and in some cases everything down to uniforms, bags, and shoes.
“All they have to do is send their child to school. We’ll provide everything else,” Mr Prasad said.
As I sat listening to the gentlemen explain how they hoped raising a generation of people who value peace and show love to all might make for a better tomorrow for Fiji, I noticed one other thing.
Both the handbooks and the walls of the school bore pieces of all the major religious and cultural groups in Fiji.
The library room had images of Sathya Sai Baba, of course, but also had a picture of the Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The books had colouring sheets of Jesus and his disciples and shared positive messages through Pacific legends and folk tales. This school truly was a glimpse at a harmonious Fiji.
As if reading me, Mr Dutt smiled and said: “We celebrate the festivals and holidays from
“Let us spread this light to the whole nation. Everyone in the nation is full of love, peace and joy.” “Let us start the day with love Fill the day with love And, end the day with love.”
all three major religions too. We celebrate Christmas and Diwali and several others.”
“One year we only had one Muslim student in the whole school, and we all came together to celebrate Eid with that child, and we still do this every year.”
I wondered if some conservative families might oppose the idea of their child receiving the beliefs of other religions, but the school had found a balance there too.
They taught and encouraged not the belief systems or religious teachings, but the positive messaging behind each holiday, which, as they’d said, were simply universal human values common to nearly all religions.
A thirty-minute interview became two hours of basking in the knowledge focused but heart-run atmosphere the school has created.
I was handed copies of the books, and my awe of the school has grown yet more as I read through them.
I leave you with this simple excerpt from the Year One teaching handbook:
“The mind is the seat of emotions. Peace is an emotional balance, a state of ‘stillness’. Peace is the aim of all human effort.”