A glimpse into some of the interventions made by the Gnostic Centre to support the education of the underprivileged.

1. The Gnostic Centre’s work
with Economically Weaker Section

2. The chairperson of the Gnostic
Centre is especially focused and
sensitive to the girl child of
under-privileged background
getting a good education.
She has started a scheme for the
children of the staff members of
the Gnostic Centre and the horse
farm where she works, which also
houses a very large uneducated
labour force.
The Gnostic Centre
Usha Stud Farm

3. One of the initiatives she has
launched is that any staff
member who wants to educate
her girl child will be given a
free scholarship for their entire
education. This is especially
important in a society where
the rural folk do not send their
girls to school, and give
preference to the boy.

4. This is specially significant in a country and state (Haryana,
India) where the girl child is either killed at birth or aborted
earlier, and has a skewed male-female ratio of 1000 boys to
867 girls.

5. To send a strong message to all the staff,
recently the chairperson took the
decision to send the young three-year old
daughter of her personal staff to L'avenir
(The Gnostic Centre’s integral education
preschool).
At the Gnostic Centre, we believe in the adage: 'Charity begins at
home’, therefore we have begun with all the people working at
the Centre and close by in the locality. The following are some of
the actions taken by us…
Educational funding & School enrolment
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6. This is important as it helps social sensitivity, integration and
gives a wonderful opportunity for the parents and child to
learn and cultivate better and healthier living habits. So far
the experiment has been beneficial to the family, teachers
and other students in L'avenir.
L’avenir school, a unit of The Gnostic Centre

7. The Centre encouraged the head-gardener to send his young
son to a school, instead of having him loiter around and get
into mischief. The Centre financed his education and enrolled
him in a local school. After the first year, it was clear that the
son had a good potential and the local school was neither able
Molahera School, Gurgaon
to nurture it, nor was it
able to provide the right
kind of milieu and there
were signs of the boy
getting into undesirable
company.
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8. The Centre took the initiative to identify a good,
conducive boarding school, which was part of a
larger community based on spiritual values. The
Centre encouraged the father of the boy (the
head-gardener) to visit the school personally (in
Central India) and assure himself of its quality
and appropriateness for his son’s future.
Ma Mandir School, Madhya Pradesh
That done, the Centre enrolled
the boy into the school and has
since been funding his education
(including board and lodging).
The boy is now his second year
at the school.

9. In order to encourage one of its
cook-cum-cleaning staff to send
his daughters to school as well
(and not just his son), the
Centre enrolled them in a local
school and paid for their
educational expenses. As that
school was not very conducive,
later the girls were enrolled in a
better (more expensive) school
and the Centre continues to pay
for their education.
Shiva School, Bijwasan, Delhi
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10. The children of some other staff members (gardeners,
cleaning staff) too were enrolled into a local school by the
Centre so that they would learn and use their time well
instead of loitering about and getting into bad company.
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11. In the case of the Centre’s main cook, whose teen-aged
daughters (based in the village) were seeking to better
themselves, the Centre enrolled them in a boarding school (in
Central India) at its own cost. When that experiment failed (as
the girls were quite grown-up and could not adjust), and the
girls chose to go back to their village, the Centre began helping
out by providing an allowance to the cook (besides his monthly
salary) for the welfare of his daughters – not giving it in his
School campus at Ratlam,
Madhya Pradesh
hand, but depositing it into an
account so that it would be used
only for his daughters when
needed (and not, as is so often the
case, spent on his sons instead).
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12. Vocational training & Value education
The Centre also enrolled the head-
gardener’s elder son into a
vocational training course run by a
Trust based on spiritual values, and
providing board, lodging and basic
education, for free. This was to help
the boy develop not only his skills,
but also to imbibe value education,
and develop his thoughts, values and
culture, and to live in a community
dedicated to higher ideals.
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13. Sri Aurobindo Ashram, New Delhi
This boy has completed his training (and is also pursuing
higher studies through distance education), and has opted
to stay back for another training course in the community

14. The son of the Centre’s main cook was also enrolled in
the same Trust for vocational training. After completing
his course he worked with the Centre for a few months
and then found employment elsewhere. He is a self-
earning youth now.
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15. Literacy, Art & Culture classes
The Centre organized
evening classes for the
staff’s children who were
not enrolled in school, in
order to help them use
their time well, and learn
the basics of hygiene, and
literacy, art, etc.
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16. The Centre organized literacy, culture, value education
classes in the evening for its staff. Those who were literate
or semi-literate were allocated the responsibility of
teaching those who were not. Those who were literate
were given storybooks (with good cultural values) to read,
in order to develop their minds, language skills, culture.
The Centre also organized evening sports for its staff in
order to build team spirit, physical health through exercise
and collective games.
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17. Financial Aid
Whenever there is an emergency (medical, death), or on
special occasions (marriages, purchase of property), the
Centre provides financial aid to the staff members. It
also extends the use of its resources and personal care
too when required – for instance, when the driver’s young
daughter had to be hospitalized and later passed away, or
when the Centre’s main cook had to be hospitalized for a
gall bladder surgery.
Interest-free loans are extended to the staff in times of
need.
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18. Upcoming

19. The Centre has set up two projects away from Delhi, in village
areas – and in both these work shall be taken up with the local
community based on their needs for education for the girl child,
vocational training for local women, rainwater harvesting, soil
rejuvenation, organic farming, etc.
The Monk’s Retreat, Uttarakhand
(northern India) in a Himalayan village, at 7200ft.
Academy of the Future, in Rajasthan
(western India) in a village at Aravali foothills