संस्कृतशाला-प्रस्तावः

Motivation

We have all heard of (and some of us have visited) schools where:

• students are instructed in samskritam and hindu arts
• besides regular subjects like science, mathematics, english, history, social science etc..

Often, the medium of instruction is bilingual - Sanskrit for some topics (esp. humanities), English for others.

Benefits of such schools are as follows:

• Kids growing up in an environment filled with Indian culture is desirable - not just for their development, but also for the revival of bhAratIya samskriti.
• Samskrita, that unifying language that is at the core of classical hindu culture, (perhaps together with regional languages) and hindu arts – if taught – would provide such an environment.

Long term plan: full fledged school

There is currently no such school in USA. Let us start one in the Bay area.

Why this will work?

• There is no shortage of students who would benefit from such a school.
• There is no shortage of teachers who can staff such a school.
• There is no shortage of parents who can pay for such a school.

Positive examples.

• There are 4 Chinese bilingual schools in the Bay area! And, 0 Indian bilingual schools.
• Hindu schools in USA.
  • Maharshi School in IA.
  • ISKCON’s Synergy school in Seattle, WA area.
    • A similar school exists in the SF Bay area.
  • http://3rfoundation.org activities.
    • Hindu high school in MA (4 years): Includes Yoga, Sanskrit, Bharat natyam, ayurveda etc..
  • Jiddu Krishnamurti school in Ojai CA.
  • Hindu University of America, Florida.
• We have also seen videos of St. James school in UK where (mostly non Indian) students are taught samskrit [please click on links to follow videos, I strongly encourage you to watch them].
• Indian Sanskrit schooling examples:
  • Certain gurukula-s in India.
  • Jaipuria School Intro (Uses syllabii prepared by SampadAnanda-msihra, Aurobindo Ashram), Lucknow UP.
  • Arya Samaj related schools.
  • “Akshara Dyuti”, a Samskrit Learning programme in regular schools. www.culturalindia.org. Details.

Obstacles

What is lacking is:

• A groundswell of interest.
• A starting point and coordination.

Intermediate plans: home-schooling co-op

• What is homeschooling? Read this FAQ.

Other potential directions

• Add Samskrtam classes in curricula of a local school.

Participation

What can you do if you

• I know it is a multi year project, as described here and here. But everything has to start somewhere. Please join this this email list.
• Please forward this web page to those who might be interested. Distribute widely. <–Important.