Ashok Kumar Thakur did not get English education and wanted his children to study in an English medium school, but they did not pick up skills that matter. This was when he decided to do something. A firm believer that a student should be prepared with life skills, he left his secure business to start a school.
Muni International School follows the UPLC system of education, that is, Understand the Problems that Life Creates. The teachers, or rather the gurus of MIS, are mere facilitators of the self-teaching-learning process of the students in the school.
Muni International School adopted the Aiklavya model of Creation; the Group Reciprocal/Responsibility System (GRS) of peer learning, which de-centralizes teachers’ authority and reconstitutes them as motivators and facilitators of learning through ‘Guided Discovery’. The Aiklavya model imagines every student to be a learner and a teacher, not only learning but also creating and sharing knowledge with others.
According to Thakur, the Aiklavya model of education is a symbol of self-learning. At MIS, they are focused on child-centric education where every student competes with themselves, and teachers become facilitators.
“All successful people are Aiklavyas. Greatness can be achieved only by self-learning. The present educational system of Muni International School is replicating the ancient system of Taxila and Nalanda Universities where learning took the centre stage, not teaching,” said him.
“While recruiting and training teachers, we ask them not to teach the students. Everybody can teach. We do not need teachers. What we need are gurus who can help students understand everything. It is the duty of students to learn and understand.”
His aim was never to build a chain of schools but to create an example of how a school should be, to inspire others. Thakur’s education model is now appreciated globally, owing to its unique curriculum design.
A UNESCO panel for education analyzed and recognized the Aiklavya model under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4. SDG 4 is “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. This education model is adopted by various schools and school boards in India and across the world.
Ashok Kumar Thakur is an ex-serviceman based in Delhi who is the mastermind behind the ‘Changemaker School’ Muni International School (MIS), where the role of a teacher is de-centralized and reconstitutes the teacher as a motivator and facilitator
