We shall first review the developments in the School
from the year 1959.
As already stated earlier, the Free Progress System
was introduced on an experimental basis in 1959 at the Secondary level; from there it evolved to a surer and larger base
in 1961; a small group of students were trying out this method and the Mother
named it Vers la Perfection. However
the whole of the secondary section was not following the Free System. One
section – in fact, the larger section – was
still continuing with the old method. The school at the secondary level was
thus divided into two sections.
In 1963, as already mentioned in the previous issues, the
whole secondary section was united and was brought under the purview of the Free
Progress System.
In August 1963, some teachers wrote a letter to the
Mother regarding the Free System. This letter has been published in one of
the previous issues. As a consequence of
this letter the secondary section was again divided into two. One of them was following
the Free progress method and was named Vers la Perfection and the other was
following a modified form of the Free Progress System. This pattern continued from
1964 to 1967. It may be noted that the students of the Free Progress System did
not have to sit for the quarterly Tests; for the other students it was
compulsory.
As already mentioned, in July 1967, many letters were
written to the Mother regarding quarterly tests and, as a consequence, these
tests were abolished.
In November
1967, two teachers, Amita and myself, wrote a letter to Mother making some
suggestions regarding the reorganisation of the secondary section. This letter
is reproduced below.
The letter
suggested reorganising the curriculum of the students of a certain age-group. It
advised reducing the number of scheduled classes; teachers would give
individual assistance to their students in the mornings and meet them as a
class only in the afternoons. The letter ended:
Many teachers feel that the division between X’s classes and
what is called the “Old System” is not desirable. With the reorganisation we
suggest, the differences between the two will be greatly diminished. Do you
think that this division should continue? Must we go on waiting for it to
disappear?
The Mother’s answer:
It would be infinitely preferable that the division
should disappear immediately. The effectiveness of what you suggest will become
apparent only in practice. Therefore it seems to me that the best thing is to
try, either for a full year if the results are slow to show themselves, or for
three months if the results are clearly apparent by then. With sincerity and
flexibility you should be able to solve the problem.
6 November 1967
(CWM, Volume 12, pp 175-76)
On the 11th November,
Mother gave an interview to three teachers, namely, Tanmaya, Arati and Kittu. In
this interview the details of the new proposals were discussed. The Mother also
gave the name En Avant to the new section.
However in 1968, the two sections
did not unite. It happened only in 1969. Thus there were two sections at the Secondary
level, one named Vers la Perfection and the other named En Avant. Both these
sections were following the Free Progress system with minor differences.
In 1969, the two sections got
united, and it was given the name of En Avant Vers la Perfection or EAVP.
During the interview of 11th
November, the Mother made some important remarks on the importance of Sanskrit.
We are reproducing some extracts from the interview. This is what the Mother
said:
The ideal would be, in a few years, to have a rejuvenated
Sanskrit as the representative language of India, that is, a Sanskrit spoken in
such a way that—Sanskrit is behind all the languages of India and it should be
that. This was Sri Aurobindo’s idea, when we spoke about it. Because now
English is the language of the whole country, but that is abnormal. It is very
helpful for relations with the rest of the world, but just as each country has
its own language, there should... And so here, as soon as one begins to want a
national language, everyone starts quarrelling. Each one wants it to be his
own, and that is foolish. But no one could object to Sanskrit. It is a more
ancient language than the others and it contains the sounds, the root-sounds of
many words.
This is something
I studied with Sri Aurobindo and it is obviously very interesting. Some of
these roots can even be found in all the languages of the world—sounds,
root-sounds which are found in all those languages. Well, this, this thing,
this is what ought to be learnt and this is what the national language should
be. Every child born in India should know it, just as every child born in
France has to know French. He does not speak properly, he does not know it
thoroughly, but he has to know French a little; and in all the countries of the
world it is the same thing. He has to know the national language. And then,
when he learns, he learns as many languages as he likes. At the moment, we are
still embroiled in quarrels, and this is a very bad atmosphere in which to
build anything. But I hope that a day will come when it will be possible.
So I would like to have a simple Sanskrit taught here,
as simple as possible, but not “simplified”—simple by going back to its
origin... all these sounds, the sounds that are the roots of the words which
were formed afterwards.
11 November 1967
(CWM, Volume 12, pp 414-15)
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