The motive of education is not to feed children the prescribed knowledge in textbooks. Schooling is the grooming of an individual for the real world.
“Our professional journeys start from the very first day we enter school.”
Ashok Thakur, Founder, Muni International School
At Muni International School (MIS), educationist Ashok Thakur has concocted a unique blend of knowledge and wisdom, aimed at creating global citizens with universal order. “We see the entire world as a single unit. An ecosystem where every stakeholder is vital for the envisioned optimum progress of our society,” explains Mr. Thakur, “If you nurture every child to make them an essential part of the larger order, values do not have to be spoon-fed. They develop naturally.”
The ‘Muni Method’ redefines the definition of work – from the focus of traditional industrial-era education on specialized skills (which restricts opportunities to a few people with more resources) to a universal understanding of the energy and contribution the global order needs – ensuring that even the strata with the lowest resources can become proficient, “To prepare global citizens, we need to fill every child with the strength to be a change-maker,” he contends.
The Difference in Approach – Change beckons for Education
While few world leaders and prominent institutions can claim to have a curriculum that promotes this universal order, Mr. Thakur’s Muni International Schools have based their entire process of grooming young students around this concept. Instead of knowledge imparted, learned, and tested in silos, the teachers at MIS are trained to merge standalone streams of subjects to align with the understanding of existence and universal human values.
“I pondered around the idea for years before coming up with the unique blend where we take the best of the modern educational approach and amalgamate them with the ancient wisdom of the Gurukul System,” Mr. Thakur’s Modern Gurukul System merges different subjects like Math, Science, Social Studies, Economics, Language and Political Science with essential human skills like Research, Creativity, and Thought Construction. “Every child is then given a platform to themselves decipher their environment, applying the knowledge through self-learning, self-evidencing, and self-evaluation,” he says.
Teaching as a tool to promote UNIVERSALISM WITH GLOBAL ORDER
At MIS, teachers don’t teach only set curriculums but focus on charting out the course of growth for every individual student. They redefine education with ancient Bhartiya mythology of learning of Shravan, Manan, and Nidhidyasan with Samya Nakul and Yoga Nakul. Communication is divided into three parts – 1) Cause, 2) Critical Thinking, and 3) Creation with the ancient art of discipline Sadhana. The objective is to enable them to gain the first-hand realization of the importance of different subjects in our environment and existence. As a consequence, the fledgling prodigies at MIS are self-realized and self-competent individuals with highly developed levels of emotional intelligence and a global worldview.
The basis of this philosophy of understanding existence at MIS are two pillars that form a fresh lens for children to view the world – Upyogita (utility) and Purakta (wholeness). So far-reaching is the influence of children in how they are taught that the curriculum at MIS is developed by the teacher but ideated with the children through extensive non-partisan discourse. MIS uses all possible ancient and modern methodology to find Swadharm for young generations towards becoming a developed nation.
Ironically, MIS has decades of expertise in developing curriculum focused on value-based skill education and holistic development, an approach only recently endorsed countrywide by India’s new National Education Policy’s (NEP) vision.
Ashok Thakur, Founder, Muni International School
The Gurukul Method of Understanding our Role in Existence
The strategy starts with solidifying the thought of the child. We call this Student Purpose Finding (SPF) or Swadharm. Apart from the modern techniques of counseling, SPF explores Vedic pearls of wisdom like palmistry and astrology to help children realize their destiny early on.
Students are encouraged to dream big – but also never forget the path of universalism and their role as global citizens which the world needs right now.
Ashok Thakur, Founder, Muni International School
At MIS, educators emphasize the need of developing the right environment for child to learn through the process of self-realization. This is because the environment speeds up and multiplies the formation of aim and objective. Instead of competing against others, children because are taught to develop the attribute of self-competition. This promotes collaboration and automatically eradicate vices like jealousy and bullying from the environment.
Redefining the No Child Left Behind Policy, the process of self-realization has enabled MIS to achieve literacy with the least resources, fourteen years earlier than when NEP recently proposed in 2020. In fact, there are shining examples of students achieving literacy in a matter of a couple of months. Such is the power of the process of Student Purpose Finding at MIS, tailormade for the vision of a larger order where knowledge is shared and not monopolized.
The process of self-realization enables MIS to achieve literacy under the No Child Left Behind Policy fourteen years earlier than when NEP recently proposed in 2020. And that too with minimum resources.
With the ancient wisdom of Gurukuls, students at Muni International School are encouraged to fall in love with their country and become aware of India’s greatness. Mr. Thakur has developed a holistic program called Bharat Bodh that teaches children about the importance and values of Indian tradition along with the achievements of our great forefathers, inculcating a sense of pride and belonging.
Innovation in Education, at every level of learning
The essence of “innovation that adds to the growth of universalism” is central to how a child is groomed at Muni International School. Mr. Thakur has crafted a unique method of encouraging children to innovate at every step, aptly called the Aiklavya Method. Mr. Thakur has designed 42 innovative methodologies that were appreciated by UNESCO on the world level. All of these methods are based on a child-centric approach and with a focus on nature/ existence. The process enables a child to teach himself by merging different learning methods into a single fold. MIS promotes a shift in focus from the ‘rote and writes examinations” method to practical aspects like application, exploration, and rationalization of knowledge.
Watch: Innovation In Education | Mr. Ashok Thakur, Muni International School
Children at Muni International School develop an innate habit of taking initiative. With a “one of its kind” system of Student Parliament, the school is governed by its beneficiaries. Every classroom is a state that periodically elect representative who then form the bigger federal structure of the school. A dedicated R&D department which strives for the “humanization of education and maximization of human skills”, helps each student to excel at their contribution to this structure.
With a “one of its kind” system of Student Parliament, Muni International School is governed by its beneficiaries, like a true democracy.
Students are taught to take responsibility of the well-being of their peers and family. They are trained from a young age to efficiently handle medical emergencies by making them well-versed in techniques like Acupressure, CPR, Yoga, and Naturopathy.
Glorious Results that prove the Muni Mechanism
Muni’s exploits have not gone unnoticed. Mr. Thakur’s unique style of education has been praised by UNESCO. MIS has been recognized as a “Change Maker” School by the Ashoka Foundation, USA. It has received the “Excellence in Education Award” from Eureka Global Assessors. MIS also holds the distinction of being the only partner school of the Government of Japan in India for the student exchange programs.
“It makes us proud to know that the practices we have championed at MIS for over 15 years are now being implemented nation-wide by the central government.”
Ashok Thakur, Founder, Muni International School.
Muni International School’s well-researched curriculum yields overwhelming results in a very cost-effective way. This also enables us to offer the chance at premium education to children from the lowest strata of the society. Mr. Thakur has pioneered this approach of alternative learning which is now being recognized as a method to rectify the flaws of the mainstream education structure.
