Sri Sathya Sai - Founder Chancellor, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning was established as a Deemed University in 1981 with the two campuses at Prasanthi Nilayam and Anantapur. A year later, a third campus at Whitefield became part of the Institute. As affiliated colleges, the two campuses at Anantapur and Brindavan, had distinguished themselves as premier institutions under the jurisdiction of Sri Venkateswara and Bangalore Universities. In connection with our request for conferring the status of a Deemed University, the University Grants Commission set up early in 1981 a Visiting Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. V S Jha, a distinguished educationist, to visit the Sri Sathya Sai Colleges at Anantapur, Prasanthi Nilayam and Whitefield. The Committee, after the visit and discussions with functionaries and representatives of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, recommended that Deemed University status may be given to the Institutions of the Trust. The Government of India in its notification dated 10th November 1981 notified the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning as a Deemed University.
Inauguration of SSSIHL by Chief Justice of India YV Chandrachud on November 22, 1981
(Sri Chakravarthi as first Registrar on extreme left)
The Institute had decided that it will not multiply faculties just with a view to making the university bigger. The faculties which were set up included Science, Arts and Commerce. Later, Education and Management Faculties were added. The Institute had decided that it will have an open admission policy for students coming from different parts of the country and will offer all courses only in English medium. As there is no uniformity in the standards of various school/pre-university boards and as the calendar of examinations/ results of these boards varied, it was felt that the Institute should have a common admission test. The admission test has two sections – one in the subjects of choice of study of the students and the other in General English language ability.
One of the weaknesses of university education in India is the lack of rigorous training in undergraduate courses. The medium of instruction at the school level is often the regional language. Even those schools who offer English medium of instruction are found wanting in the quality of English language teaching. The Institute provided, from the beginning, a broad, liberal approach to university education. Strong undergraduate teaching programmes were thought to be essential if the later postgraduate programmes were to be rendered useful.
It was felt that, along with the deepening of the knowledge of the students in their subjects chosen for study, there should be a broadening of their horizons, and to this end, courses beyond their chosen fields were included as part of the overall credits to be secured. Science students took an elective subject in the area of Arts and Social Sciences and Arts students took an elective course in Physical and Natural Sciences. All the students at the undergraduate level, (and later at the postgraduate level also), took courses on Indian Culture, Unity of Religions, India – its social, economic and political problems. These courses called “Awareness” courses have undergone regular changes.
University education at the Institute is not meant to train the students for any specific employment. It is to provide the students with a higher order of reasoning power, to understand the laws of nature through tools appropriate to their chosen subjects. Along with a progressively better understanding of the complexities of their subjects of enquiry, the students develop a sense of exploration. The academic programmes are so formulated as to give a rigorous training in the basics of the subjects of study. Teaching is so done as to promote the students’ ability to think for themselves and to enhance their ability to learn. It is the art of learning rather than learning the subjects per se that will be found useful as the students proceed to higher classes.
Brindavan Campus of SSSIHL
The Institute has, from the beginning, provided for a five-year integrated course, especially in Sciences, so that students can receive their Master’s Degree at the end of the term. Such five-year integrated courses provide for a systematic coverage of the courses by avoiding duplication and redundancy. The difficulty levels are also increased by graduated steps so that the process of learning is rendered smooth and stimulating. Teachers who normally teach Masters level courses could teach the first degree courses, which not only enabled students to get a perspective which they would not have achieved otherwise but also helped the teachers to orient their teaching to inspire young aspiring students to scale greater heights than what conventional undergraduate teaching would have done. Five-year integrated programmes are not generally offered and hence introduction of these integrated courses constituted an important and significant improvement. Twenty-five years after this programme was undertaken by this Institute, we find that special assistance is being offered by the U.G.C. to some universities to introduce such five-year integrated courses in science so as to improve the overall science teaching.
Anantapur Campus of SSSIHL
As the Institute draws students from all parts of the country, English has been the only medium of instruction. The Institute strengthened the English language teaching so as to improve the communication abilities of students. As against conventional teaching of English through literature, the Institute initiated a syllabus of English teaching through language. The idea is to enable the students to enhance their understanding of their subjects through better English language abilities. We have noted a positive correlation between the students’ proficiency in the English language and their proficiency in their subjects. Twenty-five years ago, the Institute took such an initiative; and it is now being realized by colleges and universities that in a globalised world, it is necessary to equip the students with better communication abilities in English.
Sri Sathya Sai inaugurating the Computer Center at Prasanthi Nilayam Campus
A commonly observed deficiency in undergraduate teaching-learning context is the near absence of practical training, due largely to the lack of laboratory and infrastructure facilities. The Institute has from the beginning placed emphasis on setting up laboratories and providing for running expenses. We had built into the syllabus and credits provision for practicals to match the theory lectures and this has given the students a depth of understanding which many science students elsewhere do not have.
The syllabi of various courses of our Institute are continuously upgraded so as to incorporate developments that constantly take place. The Boards of Studies constituted for revision of syllabi are given the authority to meet as often as they require and prepare such changes as they feel necessary and desirable.
Such initiatives taken by the Boards of Studies are appreciated and endorsed by the Academic Council. The Institute, therefore does not have any moribund syllabus. Depending on the felt need, courses are not only modified but substituted wholly by other courses in order to make the academic programme vigorous and dynamic.
Sri Sathya Sai persiding over the All India Vice Chancellors Conference at SSSIHL - 1987
Higher education in India has also suffered from the lack of an acceptable examination system. What was reasonably good when the number of colleges and universities was small is no longer so. The problem is acute in the case of universities which have a large number of affiliated colleges, with varying degrees of infrastructure facilities, quality of teaching staff and intake of students. Out-of-date syllabus, poor coverage of even that syllabus, absenteeism, question papers which test just one’s memory and ignore higher abilities such as comprehension, analysis, problem-solving etc., have characterized university education. Reforms and improvements could not be initiated in many places not only because of resistance to change, but also because they required changes across the board and not merely in a few components.
Aware of such problems which were overtaking higher education in the country, the Institute met them squarely from the beginning. The approach to teaching, learning and evaluation has to be a total one. The Institute initiated steps to bring into being an objective and comprehensive examination system. Instead of a single year-end examination, the Institute opted for a continuous internal evaluation followed by a semester-end examination. This provided for monitoring the progress of students throughout the year. It also reduced the tension of students whose performance in the year-end was seen as a make-or-mar system. The students could see that their performance in monthly tests, mid-semester examination, assignments and end-semester examination together mattered for their grade and as such reduced the scope of any one component distorting their overall performance.
The structure of the question papers provides for testing different skills of the students. It also ensures that the whole syllabus is covered without leaving any significant portions of the syllabus. Teaching-Learning therefore becomes a rewarding exercise.
Sri Sathya Sai explaining an exhibition of Indian Culture and Values to leading educationists at Prasanthi Nilayam
Many formal education institutions consider themselves as values-neutral. Instead of aiding in providing a conducive atmosphere for the practice of values, educational institutions, by placing restrictions on themselves and by narrowly defining themselves as places of mere intellectual pursuit, move away from the responsibility of moulding the character of the students. It is in the realization of the need to engage fully in the character formation of the young students at the University level that the Institute has laid stress on Values Education.
Values Education is universal in its nature and scope and is relevant for all people irrespective of the geography, profession, creed or caste. It is required for the whole of mankind because it is the practice of Values of Love, Righteousness, Peace and Truth that distinguish human beings from all other living creatures. To be distinctly human in conduct and disposition and not only in appearance and form is the object of all education. Bereft of humanness, we degrade ourselves to the level of animals which are devoid of the sense of discrimination.
Sri Sathya Sai with Vice President of India and leading academics during SSSIHL Convocation - November 22, 1987
Education of the students is not confined to what is learned through formal classroom interactions. Far more learning takes place when students stay together in the campus hostel, where life is governed by a combination of administered as well as self-regulated discipline.
As many aspects of our lives are not governed by our scholastic abilities, it is necessary to provide opportunities for learning in places other than classrooms, such as hostel, sports ground, music and theatre arena and social work in the villages. It is these fields that help the students learn the art of team work, mutual interdependence, sharing and caring, respect for others’ talents and skills. The process of learning is continuous: conscious assimilation of ideas and generation and manifestation of feelings of nobility, altruism, selflessness and spirit of sacrifice, characterize the atmosphere here. These become part of an ongoing building up of the character of the students. The more important feature of such learning is the ability to identify oneself with others’ problems, resulting in a natural empathy with others. Such sensitization is, after all, the basis of participation in communitarian activities undertaken for the welfare of a larger body than the immediate family or one’s own concerns. All this builds up a nourishing and nurturing learning process. The training of the mind and the sensitization of the heart therefore goes on simultaneously, endowing the students with the capacity to deal with problems of living and issues of life. Self-effort, active team work, meaningful interaction with wider groups, responsible behaviour as a member of institutions and organizations, a natural reaching out to the disempowered and underprivileged in a spirit of common spiritual brotherhood – all are to become characteristics of their evolving personality during the period of their study and stay.
Sri Sathya Sai with Students during the Krishna Janmashtami Festival at Prasanthi Nilayam
Students’ performance in non-academic items which we call as integral items are also evaluated. Criteria were evolved to assess the students’ level of participation in social service activities, sports and cultural events, elocution, quiz, general discipline etc. In all these what is considered important is the willingness to engage in such activities and the co-operative attitude that is displayed in organizing events. While all secular education is pursued with the understanding that the results of any inquiry are only tentative and are subject to modification, spiritual education is to be pursued with the conviction that there is an unchanging and eternal principle that governs all material life. While secular education calls for pushing the frontiers of the seen world, spiritual education demands a recognition of the boundary-less Unseen.
Prasanthi Nilayam Campus Hostel of SSSIHL
Both students and teachers are co-learners in spiritual education. While academic learning starts and ends in the Institute for most students, spiritual learning continues throughout life in the wider University of Life itself. Strictly speaking, there is only a beginning and not an end for education as it is a life-long pursuit.
About the Author
Sri K. Chakravarthi with Sri Sathya Sai
Sri K Chakravarthi joined the Indian Administrative Service (Andhra Pradesh cadre) in 1960; worked as Collector of Anantapur District, and held various positions including Finance Secretary (Projects), Commissioner of Relief and Commissioner of Commercial Taxes. He left the IAS in 1981 to become the first Registrar of Sri Sathya Sai Institute and later served as the Member-Secretary of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust. Currently, he is the Chancellor of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning.
Source: Vidyagiri: Divine Vision 2006
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