DIGANTAR IN INDIA: A CASE STUDY FOR JOYFUL LEARNING

The hearts and minds of children and young adults are wide open to the wonders of learning and the fascinating complexities of life. The school has to provide for all these experiences. However, this experience of ‘going to school’ destroys children’s spirit to learn, their sense of wonder, their curiosity about the world, and their willingness to care for the human condition. After finding an ‘extraordinary sameness’ in our schools, Goodlad (1984) wrote, “Boredom is a disease of epidemic proportions. … Why are our schools not places of joy?” (p 242) As educators, we have the responsibility to educate and inspire the whole child - mind, heart, and soul and put more joy into students’ experience of going to school and get more joy out of working inside one. It is rightly said that joyful learning can flourish in school - if you give joy a chance. This paper discusses the example of Digantar schools as a case study of alternative schooling for joyful learning.