Rishi Valley

Hello Everyone,

Having being students from many different schools in the U.S., we are surrounded with a good education system, modern technology, and the benefit of being given many wonderful opportunities (the AIF Youth Ambassador Program included as well), and that we tend to take it for granted. However, after visiting Rishi Valley School for the past two days, we came to realize how lucky we are to be provided with these materials, and grew conscious of our own education.

Rishi Valley School was founded by philosopher J. Krishnamurti, who believed that students should have both an excellent education and a peaceful environment to become “one with him/herself”. It is located at Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, India, 166 km from our regular site, Bangalore. Rishi Valley also hosts programs like the Rural Education Centre and the Rural Health Centre.  We interacted with the Rishi Valley students and asked them questions about their different education system.  We learned that the students do not have access to modern technology, if even, only an hour a week to use computers. This surprised us, as we became conscious of the fact that we can easily create typed documents, presentations, or use the Internet, while they only have a notebook and a pencil to manage their day. We also learned that in the kids’ campus, the students set their own pace for learning, and that the teachers are there to help support them. Finally, the school actually produces their own ingredients by using their land. Despite being a drought-prone area, they were still able to solve some problems like using millets instead of rice. Millets are similar to rice, but they require much less water to grow, therefore, being the alternative option instead of rice. This makes water one of the biggest problems in Rishi Valley.  Many students, and even the community take initiative in trying to save water. For example, community members saw a leaking tanker, and were able to inform the driver carrying the tanker to try and conserve more water.

Although we spent nearly two days at the campus, we were able to gain an experience foreign to what we could have ever experienced at any other school.  First, we observed that the students and faculty seem to get along really well, as if they were a family together, and not that the teachers come only to teach and the students only to learn. Not only is this because the student-to-teacher ratio is smaller compared to our schools, but that they are also secluded from urban life, as they are surrounded by 100 acres of land. We had the opportunity to walk around some of the land and view the different plants and birds, which is a favorite activity students in Rishi Valley do outside of class time. Seeing many of these plants still overwhelmed us, even though we’ve been in India for a few days, as we are used to waking up and find houses instead of being surrounded by just nature.

Overall, these past two days was a great way to help us reflect on our lives as students, compared to the students in Rishi Valley.

Demitri , Jayden, Mark Jon