Vidya Bhawan Education Centre

Taking forward Vidya Bhawan's emphasis on equity, reorienting our schooling strategy and national programme to the optimal beneficence for the vast majority of schools, which have non-elite clientele; Vidya Bhawan Education Center since 1995 is providing a forum for cross fertilization of ideas and sharing of experiences, among Vidya Bhawan Institutions, other organizations, many government and non-government organizations, at local, state and national level. Addressing the issue of quality education in the country through research, exploration of new ideas and their dissemination and working more intensively with schools and the community were some of the primary objectives of the Education Centre.

The Education Center's work- through research, consultancy, workshops, developing materials- with various partners such as Eklavya, Digantar, Center for Science Education and Communications (DU on Scientific and Technological Literacy), Dept. of Linguistics (DU); as well as other institutions and organizations such as Lok Jumbish (for development of alternative textbook on science), Sandhan, IGNOU, DPEPs of different states, Gyan Shala in Ahemdabad, CRS (Ajmer), Nalanda (Lucknow UP), SPEED project in Bihar, Seva Mandir, DIETs (Masuda and Dungarpur), Sir Ratan Tata Trust (on Rediscovery of Basic Education), the Research Forum within V.B. Institutions, SPF-GTZ (on Center for Safety Concern), PLAN, MIT etc.- resulted in vast experience being gained, which needed to be consolidated and the work carried forward, extending it in scope and coverage.

Being an institution that aims at raising the level of discourse and debate on education in the country while bringing it and keeping it closer to the ground and to rural schools; the ERC strives to provide insights, good quality discourse forums, networking and dissemination structures as well as capacity building structures. Though the ERC functions outside of the government fold, as any change in discourse on pedagogy would involve pluralism of such structures, it has always been working in tandem and in collaboration with the existing government structures because its ultimate objective is to reach its gains to the poorest of the poor.

Taking forward the Education Center's work of seven years, the ERC continues to function as the Resource Center for Seva Mandir's literacy camps and Non formal Education program (through NFE certification course), with CLEAN India, for other state governments such as SCERT, Chattisgarh and Delhi, with the NCERT (on textbook development and training of teachers), for DIETS in Gujarat and Rajasthan (Surat, through Shell, Hazira, Ahmedabad through Gyanshala,. ), with the Azim Premji Foundation (through the Learning Guarantee Program in Tonk, Sirohi, Pisangan .), with Wipro Applying Thought In Schools (through Whole School Transformation in V.B. Schools). Apart from responding to specific needs of various groups working in the field of education, it not only reaches out to children staying in orphanage (through its work with Sukher orphanage) and localities where the poor live in (through mobile libraries in 'Kachhi Basties' of Udaipur city); but is also involved in extensive networking and providing forums for generating realistic discourse, through regional, national, and international seminars, workshops and courses (on language, science, construction of knowledge, basic education,.. ); thus generating monographs, books, proceedings and enriched reading material.

The ERC with its present strength of about 30 team members (with average qualification of post-graduation), a vast library and a training facility cum office under construction, hopes to set up and support study groups all over the country to facilitate thinking and understanding pedagogy as well as promoting good quality research; and to build its theory on what an ideal classroom could be (where all children get equal opportunity to learn at their own pace).