I attach the report by journalist Paulo Chico for your appreciation. The report shows how the Sathya Sai EHV program became public policy for an important Brazilian municipality. From the surprising results, ArcelorMittal Brasil decided to support its implementation, and in 2011 UNESCO will make an evaluation of the results of the practice on the behavior of students and teachers. Reproduction of the material is authorized for the purpose of divulging the importance of EHV, so long as the source is quoted. If necessary, we can send photos and videos to illustrate the material.
Gonçalo Medeiros
The lesson that comes from the heart
Paulo Chico
The Program for Education in Human Values, developed in the municipality of Serra (ES), shows positive results, such as the reduction of violence among students, who then do better in their studies. All this starts with activities such as meditation and the search for self-awareness and self esteem, following the teachings of Indian educator Sathya Sai Baba – a learning experience based on love, already adopted in European and Asian countries and which will also soon become a reference in Brazil.
I am sure that when you went to school there were classes in Portuguese and Math, History and Chemistry, and some foreign language... The learning of any one of these disciplines, of a strictly technical character, could have been efficient or not, depending on various factors. However, from negligence, distraction or pure lack of information, schools usually leave out another range of knowledge. Are you wondering what? Try and remember. Did anyone at any time give you guidance as to how to learn more about yourself, through simple practices such as meditation? Do you think you developed your self esteem in order to be able to grow and express affection for others?
From early on, when asked by adults ‘what do you want to be when you grow up', the child is taught by the belief that the 'to be' in question is restricted to classical fields of knowledge. Doctor, firefighter, lawyer. Engineer, bricklayer or plumber... the options are infinite. It is a pity that in this process of formation, the school almost always forgets that behind each professional stands an individual – a human being – who thinks, feels, cries, and that lost in its unknown universe of feelings, reacts in various ways. Gets sick from psychosomatic causes that fill the consulting rooms. Suffers from mysterious ills that in the absence of a diagnosis, resist all treatments and prolong the suffering. A process for which the personal, economic and social cost is incalculable.
And there are some that turn violent – simply because they were not educated with love. And even less, for love. The concept of Education in Human Values (EHV) was developed to act in the formation of an integral individual. Idealized by the Indian educator Sathya Sai Baba, the method is already a success in various European and Asian countries, and also in Latin America – more precisely in Brazil. The program was implemented as a pioneer project in the municipality of Serra (ES) , and revealed that from the planting of this simple, almost obvious theory, delicious fruits are grown. The school is fertile ground for a good harvest. However, it is important to know how to sow the good seed. Apart from the student, the main focus of the Brazilian version of the program is the teacher. After all, he is the main sower of seeds.
“Childhood is the moment when our conscience is still a blank sheet of paper. Concepts and past examples will determine our acts for our whole lives. The word ‘education’ comes from the Latin 'educare', which means take from inside to out! And we are only capable of giving what we have... The teacher can pass to the student only that which he has already experimented, or practiced in his life. It’s a question of example. Human values are transmitted by radiation. The teacher lights the match of his feelings and illuminates the student. To go beyond the knowledge printed in the books, and be able to teach solidarity, patience and compassion, the educator must have true knowledge of all that”, explains Gonçalo Medeiros, philosopher, president of the Institute of Education in Human Values, and coordinator of the Program in the schools.
In the opinion of the educator, the current system of education emphasizes the brain, in detriment to the heart. Children are pressured to achieve success, and not happiness. They learn to earn their life, and not to live it. “Did anyone teach us to serve? To ask pardon? To be grateful and happy? We are not educated for this, which leads us to unhappiness, and consequently to violence. Thus the majority of relationship conflicts, inside and outside school, such as the fights that occur in the streets, originate from the lack of love. Only those who emanate and irradiate peace can teach it. Why is it that the schools and universities are not producing a ‘critical mass’ capable of proposing and implementing changes in society, aimed at improving quality of life? Why are they only developing intellectually? They are still insensitive to the concept of emotional and spiritual intelligence.”
In just a short period, many results obtained
In August 2009, the Human Values Program went into operation, still in pilot format, in three units in Serra: in the Julite Miranda Freitas elementary school in Nova Almeida, in the Jacaraípe elementary school, and in the Professora Maria José do Nascimento Municipal Center for Primary Education in São Domingos. Around 1700 students had their first contact with the new philosophy of learning, without there being any change in the basic content of the curricula, or conflict with the religious beliefs of the families or the students themselves. The culture of wellbeing started here, and the first results were not long in coming.
In the schools where the program is being developed, the child learns from early on to practice the five fundamental values for building a solid character: truth, right conduct, peace, love and non-violence. The result was that in these schools, expressions that had fallen out of use, such as ‘thank you’, ‘please’ and ‘excuse me’ started to come back. In the Jacaraípe school, there was a reduction of 90% in warnings for bad behavior. “Before, the students ran around a lot during recreation. They would bang into each other and never say sorry. Lunch time was always bedlam with everyone pushing and shoving. Fights were common, with children hitting each other – but since we installed the use of books, music and meditation, everything changed”, reports director Deoclécia Puffal.
Marayzes Nascimento, a teacher at the same place, reveals that the change in behavior of the students immediately caused improvements in the results of the whole 3rd year of elementary school. “They used to arrive agitated, running and fighting. After the work of transmission of human values, they started to concentrate. and their grades improved immediately. In just three months of activity it was possible to see the advance. They are also more caring and attentive – and truly closer to us.”
So far, positive points for the project, which captured the sympathy of the school boards and the teachers. And what will be the opinion of the students? Well, you should know that implementation of the EHV also affected the quieter students, those that were often isolated by excess of timidity, helping them to overcome internal barriers, starting to take part in the lessons and relate better with their colleagues. A case in point was that of João Alex Vandaluz, 9 years old, and Gabriela Amorim dos Reis, one year older, both in the Jacaraípe school. "I’m calmer now, and play with the others”, he said, and she agrees: "I always liked to be very quiet. Now I even do skipping with my friends”, with an undisguised smile on her face.
Later on, with the success of the first experiments, other schools in the chain installed the system – and, most importantly, they did it voluntarily. This is another example of the power of learning by radiation. From simple observation of what happened in the three pioneer units, which were already experiencing positive changes, other units decided to wager on the idea. Teachers at the Valéria Maria Miranda elementary school, in Vila Nova de Colares, took training so that the EHV could start at the end of 2009. According to director Cláudia Maria da Silva, violent games stopped immediately, up until then common among the students. “We noted that they began to value themselves, and as of then also value the space they occupied. They started to respect each other, with daily proof of solidarity”.
For Iara Silva do Nascimento, grandmother of three children at the school, the change was significant. She had had problems with her eldest granddaughter, who she said was in an ‘answer-back’ phase. “I suffered a lot with her, but with this project there was a transformation. After a while I could see why she was changing. She became more caring – would sit down and talk to me. Before, she wouldn’t even let me help her with her studies. Now, she comes looking for my company”. For Vânia Vitorino de Almeida, the five words taught in the classes made a difference in the education of her children, pupils at the Vila Nova de Colares school. "They are encouraged to work their good points with their colleagues, and this reflects at home”.
The parents and educators hope that once the project has expanded around the whole chain of schools, it will help to alter the social structure of the municipality of Serra, which is adjacent to the state capital. Part of Greater Vitoria, the town has a population of around 330,000, and has some of the highest indices of violence in the state of Espírito Santo. At the age of eight, Rhilary Brandão dos Santos could understand the importance of the project. For her, being in school started to have a new meaning. "We learn just good things with the teacher. This is better than learning things we shouldn’t. Before bringing in these novelties, even the games we played were full of violence".
A better understanding of the value of silence
"Silence, given so little value in western education, is a powerful tool in the building of a complete human being. It gives us access to our interior, where the fount of all wisdom resides. Education in Human Values helps the child to know itself, and for this silence is one of the most important tools. History tells us that when we remain silent, we make contact with all our divine potential, from where emanates intuition, creativity and brilliance. In our seminars, we teach the teachers the techniques for concentrating on feelings, so as to experience true peace. Peace is a state of harmony and interaction with your own self. We lose it when we let the difficulties of life take over. When the teachers learn peace, they learn to teach peace”, explains Gonçalo Medeiros.
Daily practice of EHV in the classes includes activities such as meditation. For this the schools reserve a period of 8 to 10 minutes at the start of the first lesson. For the development of social values, the teachers tell stories with examples of attitudes that favor good interaction between people, and speak about respect and collaboration. Group games are encouraged during break, such as typical children’s songs and dances. Whenever possible music is used to help in relaxation and concentration. Theater and dance help in the understanding of the dynamics of group activities, favoring relationships. Children are invited to be more participative, giving their opinions and developing their self esteem. Love itself is the basic point for the success of the project.
"A child is born alone, full of love, happiness and solidarity. Current education, both in the family and in the school, does not focus on love of oneself as a priority. After a short time, the child starts to be compared with others, losing the reference to itself, the self confidence and faith. It assimilates fear. Later, the child learns everything through reading books, except for how to have emotional and mental peace. You can see how calamitous is traditional teaching! It teaches us to love the other, but not to love oneself. This way a person loses self esteem, love, equilibrium, and becomes dependent on affliction, uncertainty and doubt. The way to happiness and success is through self-knowledge. If you don’t talk well to yourself you will not communicate well with others, or achieve harmonious sociability”, is the opinion of the president of the Institute for Education in Human Values.
Education in Human Values was conceived by Sathya Sai Baba in 1968, after observing a crisis in education in India, a country capable of training competent professionals, with doctorates and masters degrees, but not fully happy human beings. In that scenario, the master – whose name in Sanskrit means ‘embodiment of the universal love of Father and Mother' – felt that the only way to help the young would be to re-structure the Indian system of education, to develop moral and spiritual austerity. As of 1982, education for the integral man started to spread to various countries. At the end of 1994, Sathya himself said to Gonçalo Medeiros. “Wherever you take human values in my name, I’ll be with you”.
In the schools included in the project, training of teachers starts with a request for them to practice silence. "In this moment they feel peace, as they are already in unity with themselves. We teach them to practice forgiveness. First, each one forgives him- or herself, for what they did to others. Then they forgive one another. With this they reach an internal state of harmony. At other times we practice the experience of universal love. It is the current closest to all human values. If I detest myself, I detest those around me. If I criticize myself, I criticize my fellows. If I hate myself, I hate my fellow men. I do to others what I would do to myself... When they experiment the energy of love, the teachers feel an enormous internal contentment. The feeling arises within them and they pass it on to a student. When they enter the classroom, they are attentive, sweet, respectful.... because as I said, we give that which we have within us", says Gonçalo Medeiros.
The teaching of these principles is done in 16-hour courses, with the support of books, manuals, videos and musical CDs. From then on, the five essential words for EHV transcend theory and gain real meaning and application – and prove their firepower in the harmonization of relationships. 'Truth' becomes always present, established in our conscience. ‘Right Conduct’ becomes visible in every action. The young start to do unto others as they would wish others to do unto them, that is – good. ‘Peace’ fills the minds of the whole school community. Thanks to this ‘Love’ finds the ideal space to grow in the minds and the hearts. The final result is that ‘Non-Violence’ is manifest in the renewed conduct of teachers and students, in an example of what we can and should be, fully, as human beings.
After the first steps, accelerated expansion
With the schools that entered the project during 2010, ten units are now using the system in Serra, with a total of 727 educators and 7,843 students. Expectations are that, up to the end of 2011, the program will be applied in all municipal schools, benefiting a total of 1,210 educators and 12,503 students. Children’s families are also starting to appreciate the principles of EHV, from among other things the distribution of the Magazine Education in Human Values and Disarmament Pamphlet, with the principles of ‘Non-Violence’ as applied to the home. In November this year, it is planned to hold an event in Serra that will represent the Culmination of Human Values Activities for 2011, with the participation of Unesco representative in Brazil, and around 800 educators from Brazil and abroad will be present, and will visit the units involved in the program, giving them the chance to confirm the results for themselves.
Gonçalo’s trajectory in the dissemination of human values started way back – to be precise, in India, after a personal experience. “I had been in the country many times. I used to see students from the Sathya Sai Baba schools, but I didn’t pay them much attention. Then, in October 1991, I went to a public drinking fountain. It was a hot, sunny day, and one needed to drink plenty of water. It is the custom there for many people to use the same cup, as they pour the water into their mouth without touching the cup with their lips. I was surprised by a young boy. Before I could get the cup, he got there first and served me. I drank the water. He asked me if I would like more. I said yes, and the young lad filled the cup again and gave it to me. This was my awakening to Education in Human Values, as I realized I had not learned to be well mannered, at least not so well mannered as the boy had been with me, despite all my qualifications in Philosophy.”
From that moment on, Gonçalo’s life underwent a transformation, and he founded the Institute of Education in Human Values in Rio de Janeiro on April 4, 1993, and started to promote EHV. “I worked in important companies, like the Bank of Brazil and the Central Bank. I had a successful professional career, but even then there was something missing, and I could not find true happiness. I suffered at that time from migraine crises a few times per week. It was terrible, even after trying various cures, and discovering doctors who suffered from the same malady. I realized the importance of EHV one morning, when before even getting up, I felt an acute headache coming on. Instead of getting up and taking medicine, I lay quiet, relaxing each part of my body in turn. Suddenly I noted that the headache had gone. From this I concluded that the cause of my physical discomfort was the absence of emotional and mental peace. I reassessed my whole life.”
Since then, the Institute has trained more than 25,000 teachers in towns and cities all over Brazil. From Rio Grande do Sul to Pará. From Santa Catarina to Amazonas, and included in this extensive list are municipalities in the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Minas Gerais, Goiás, Bahia and Pernambuco, as well as the Federal District. Apart from giving courses, Gonçalo has spoken to another 24,000 educators, in live lectures or over the internet. As a result of more recent experiences, other municipalities in the state of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais and Paraná have shown interest in adopting the Program of Human Values in their municipal schools.
In the case of Serra, the success of the project is also due to partnerships, which once established make full implementation possible. The first step was to interest the Municipal Secretary of Education, who decided to try out the program, and selected the schools that would participate. “The methodology is very simple, the cost is low, and the results have been proved scientifically. The project is a powerful instrument in the education of content and complete human beings, and in the prevention of violence”, affirms Márcia Lamas, the city’s Education Secretary.
The Institute, whose website is www.valoreshumanos.org – trains the educators and guides the work developed in the schools, including the training of ‘multiplying agents’, who can act as assistants in the qualification of their colleagues. Finally, the program had the fundamental support of ArcelorMittal do Brasil (previously Companhia Siderúrgica de Tubarão) -, which made available its Center for Environmental Education for the training, and supplied teaching material and meals for the participants, during the period of classes. The ArcelorMittal Foundation, which supports social projects in the region, also covers expenses for the courses and the accompaniment of the project in each unit. Indications are that as of 2011, Sai Baba and his teachings will be more than ever present in Brazil.