What is the difference between the Vedic Eco Village School and Govardhana Academy?
Govardhana Academy is a day school affiliated with the standard, modern, educational system. A special characteristic is that the students are fortunate to receive academic as well as Vaishnava education and training. The students have Vaishnava association and Vaishnava teachers. So it is a combination of traditional education and modern day curriculum that is the norm in most countries of the world.
The Vedic Eco Village school is a traditional system where students being in a boarding/residential facility where students live with the teachers. It is based on long standing established curriculum referred to as the 14 standard books of knowledge. Srila Prabhupadada spoke extensively of the need and importance of a Gurukula. We attempted to establish such a Gurukula in the early days of ISCKON, but met up with obstacles and eventually failures. However, this should not deter us from trying to introduce what Srila Prabhupadada desired. Thus our attempts here is to establish the traditional education
The new school is not meant to compete with Govardhana Academy.
Who will be the teachers in the Eco Vilage?
We will have 2 kinds of teachers, one is Ashram teacher, the other an academic teacher. We have not yet selected teachers. Ideally the teachers will reside in the Colony. However in our current situation, teachers may come to share their particular expertise on a daily or weekly basic. We will have a mixture of residential and visiting teachers.
We will be looking for devotees who have teaching experience and recent graduates of Mayapur Gurukula or those who have received this type of training. There are devotees in Saranagati Village who have very valuable knowledge and expertise, for examples local teachers, farmers and gopas who are involved with land and cow care. There are devotees with other kinds of experience. Another area will be teaching different skills like carpentry, forestry - these are less brahminical, although the primary focus will be on brahminical education.
There is also a need to open communication with the existing Govardhana Academy to see which areas there can be co-operation and assistance and exchange to promote the over-all aspect of Vedic education. There is a good possibility of having joint programs and ventures as the Gurukula gradually established itself and developing.
Why are Girls and Boys separated?
Vedic culture does not promote co-education (mixing boys and girls in education). Education has traditionally been separate. It is part of Vedic culture to segregate men and women. This way our culture differs from modern culture, in that we stand by very basic well defined principles.
We encourage people to develop specific educational systems for girls - there are directions in our Sastra for this. For example Srimati Radharani is proficient in the 64 arts and sciences, which is a large curriculum which should be introduced. Some devotees in India are created books about this, which can be adapted to our present situation at Saranagati. In Vedic culture, education is for one an all and eduction is meant to be for one's entire life. Life is education and education is life.