The Need For A School System

Goals for ISKCON Schools

H. G. Urmila Devi Dasi ACBSP

How to have excellent Primary and Secondary education for devotee children?

People often think of schools as teachers, buildings, or both. It is actually leadership that is the most important factor in a school’s success. Yet, almost no emphasis in ISKCON has been put upon training, or even finding, highly qualified educational leaders. Leadership is also essential to create resources for home education and starting small schools.
In addition to needing top quality local, individual school leaders, Prabhupada wanted, from a very early stage in ISKCON, to have international leadership for all education. Education is probably the only international ministry he developed. From his lectures, letters, and conversations, and to some extent in purports, one can see that he wanted an international ministry to set and maintain standards, to ensure (and possibly train) teachers and leaders, and to develop curriculum materials.
I would add to this list the need for funding beyond local capacity, and the need to have an information center.

Other schools in the world, whether government-run or private, are part of a school system. Often, that system also serves home schooling families. That system provides overall leadership, certification, curriculum, educational materials, and teacher and leader training.

The Goals

1. An information center. The center would have information on educational resources, including human resources. (recently started from Radhadesh).
2. Support for schools, existing and beginning.
3. Support for families.
4. Training for teachers and administrators. This would include complete training and certification program for teachers (including home educators) and school administrators. This program will include initial and in-service training.
5. Educational materials, both for students and parents/teachers (Recently started).
6. School accreditation: To establish and maintain an international system of voluntary school accreditation, with both self-evaluation and periodic outside inspection. Accreditation will cover all aspects of education, including academic and spiritual instruction, spiritual practices, physical facility, teacher, administrator and staff qualifications, compliance with local legal requirements, and standards for graduation.
7. A research center on Krishna conscious education. This center would have academically trained and credentialed persons who would regularly conduct research regarding schools, teachers, students, parents, teaching methods, home-schooling, and any other topic specific to education in ISKCON.
8. A fund to provide monies for all the above. The fund should have broad based, international sources and include all aspects of fundraising, such as annual and capital campaigns and planned giving.

Plan

Achieving these goals could be done with a central, international office of education. Eventually, there should be regional/national offices in addition to the international office. It could also start with one national or regional office which could be then copied in other countries or regions, with an international office added later

Details

Objectives
(Note: Objectives are not in order of importance.)

Goal #1 Information Center—Already started with the MED from Radhadesh
Objectives:

Create and maintain a web site for Krishna based education
- Free ebooks
- Free articles
- List of devotee resources for all levels of education, worldwide
- List of relevant non-devotee resources for all levels of education, worldwide
- Information on training programs
- Availability of help/advice through live chat, email, and phone
- News of educational projects, all levels, connected with Krishna
Database of devotees who are qualified in various areas of education
Annually updated information on all educational projects connected with Srila Prabhupada
Information packets for ISKCON leaders
Presentations to ISKCON groups and leaders about education

Goal #2 Support for Schools
Objectives:

Provide information, research results, and resources for existing schools
Establish a broad based fund for school start-up and improvement; grants from the fund will be tied to accreditation standards
Provide information and resources for Sunday schools, summer camps, and so forth
Give information and advice to local communities that want to start schools
Work with local communities to make improvements and solve problems
Organizing small sangas and large conferences of school educators
Affiliation/relations with non-devotee schools to incorporate Krishna consciousness
Get input from parents, teachers, leaders, ISKCON school graduates and other interested persons about the types of programs desired and needed

Goal #3 Help and Support for Families
Objectives:

Articles and books specifically geared to giving Krishna conscious education at home
Materials for parents whose children receive an academic education at non-devotee schools
Seminars for home educating parents
Establishing small sangas and large conferences for home educators

Goal #4 Teacher and Administrator Training
Objectives:

Create a short certificate program to train parents to teach their children at home
Create a Sunday School teacher training and accreditation program
Establish a broad based fund for training
Double number of available in-service seminars
Train others to train teachers
Establish a minimum of five training programs a year, worldwide
Market in-service training to non-ISKCON community
Establish a devotee directed and run initial training and licensure program for both teachers and school administrators, either in conjunction with a non-ISKCON institution of higher education or as part of an ISKCON university. Ideally, this program should grant teachers certification that is recognized both in and out of ISKCON.
Publish guides for teachers
Publish guides for home educators
Publish guides for school leaders

Goal #5 Curriculum and Educational Materials—Already started: 1) Learning to Read program and 2) Festival-based curriculum
Objectives:

Establish a broad based fund for curriculum development
Publish a complete nursery through secondary program (student and teacher materials) that parents can use to educate their children at home, or that can be used in schools. This program should facilitate accelerated learning
Work with accredited Krishna conscious college or university to offer home schooling families the opportunity to give their children a Krishna-based bachelor’s degree at home
Publish specialized, elective, courses for high school such as astrology, deity worship, cow protection, and others

Goal #6 Accreditation
Objectives:

Establish a broad based fund for initial development of the accreditation program
Establish different levels and kinds of accreditation for various types of schools, educational programs, and courses based on time, place, and circumstance.
Publish a guidebook for all accreditation standards and procedures
Develop a plan so the system can be self-supporting
Train personnel to inspect and accredit schools and courses

Goal #7: Research Center
Objectives:

Regularly publish on a public website research connected with Krishna conscious education
Regularly publish in academic journals research connected with Krishna conscious education
Regularly translate research into practical changes or new projects for Krishna conscious education
Regularly inform ISKCON’s leaders of research connected with Krishna conscious education

Goal #8 Fundraising
Objectives:

Gradually contact persons interested in any or all aspects of the program
Produce a monthly newsletter and, in general, keep contact with interested persons.
Study fundraising or connect with volunteers who have knowledge and experience in various aspects of fundraising.
Determine the minimum needed for initial activities
Develop a statement of the ethos of the fundraising program.
Find a person who will develop and head a capital campaign to raise those funds.
After at least half of the funds are raised quietly, the local key public figures should be taken into confidence and elaborately made aware of our activities. They should be enlisted as patrons/ supporters wherever possible and this should be publicized. These activities would increase the confidence and acceptance level among the general population.
A central fund would then be established to take care of the initial expenditure towards setting up educational programs and all the work of the office.
Find a person to run an annual campaign which could include:
- Publicizing the concept of each ISKCON member (in the broadest sense of the term) giving at least a small but fixed sum yearly to the project.
- Possibly, earmarking a portion of the ISKCON membership fees towards education.
- Similarly a percentage of the revenues of each temple could be earmarked for this purpose.
Find a person who will become expert in planned giving or have whoever is in charge of capital campaigns add planned giving to his/her portfolio
Gradually establish a development department with both paid staff and volunteers, and with sub-departments for the annual fund, capital campaigns, and planned giving. Some individual members of the department should have expertise in various methods of fundraising, such as events and electronic fundraising.
Over a period of time, a mechanism should be put in place to make each school and course virtually self sufficient in terms of finances and other needs.