Joie De Vivre Education

It was a regular coaching class that prepared students for competitive exams. A regular teacher getting his regular MBA degree from a reputed institute who was adjudged to be qualified to take the class (and who needed some pocket money) walked in with his regular handout of a reading comprehension exercise.

The class began at a usual pace and with usual questions and usual concerns till something strange happened: The reading comprehension had, in the course of a certain explanation, given way to discussions on the real world, on the nature of relationships and on existence. The teacher wondered how this had come about but was strangely thrilled at the discussions.

The teacher was also overjoyed to see how the students responded to issues authentically once they felt connected to the issues being discussed and found themselves in an environment that was not based on measurement, competition and fear. The teacher also wondered why such discussions were rare in classrooms and in his own experience as a student.

The teacher soon found himself mired in the lives of his students. While classroom discussions still centered around success in a competitive exam, after class sessions became of a completely different nature. The teacher began to spend more time with his students after class than he did with them in the classroom. 

For the teacher, the students were no longer entities that had to work towards tangible success in terms of cracking a multiple choice test or succeeding in an interview, rather they were beings with a rich inner life rife with stories and possibilities. Success for the teacher no longer meant crossing the hurdle of a test paper but of helping his students understand themselves better and be happier and complete. The teacher in turn was also through the mirror of this relationship beginning to understand himself better and was being filled with awe and a deep need to learn and educate himself more through such rich interactions.

The teacher began to experience something which he had seldom felt in the classrooms he had been subjected to: a sense of fulfillment emanating from a feeling of joy. He was quite certain that the students were experiencing something similar too. When the teacher parted with the particular batch with whom he had built more than just a rapport, he was fairly certain that if he were to continue teaching in any classroom and in any capacity, he would have to start with the same sensitivity that he had been taught by this serendipitous experience.

However, existence had other plans for the near future. The teacher upon completion of his degree began to work as a management consultant. The initial draw of a new life kept him occupied for a while but the seeds of understanding about education continued to germinate .

The teacher while continuing with his job began to moonlight as a part time educator, facilitator in youth and student engagement forums online and offline as well as exploring wisdom literature across the ages. The teacher also sought out communities and individuals working in the field of holistic education.

After six years of exploration, a large library of over six thousand titles or part timing or supporting holistic education from the sidelines no longer seemed enough. Following his heart, the teacher decided to plunge wholly into education that is non-fragmented and based on self exploration.

Joie De Vivre Education was thus created with a vision of bringing together passionate teachers, facilitators and educationists as well as provide education that addresses an individual’s growth from different facets. Joie De Vivre Education was created to be small in inception, small in execution and small in a way that stress could be laid on quality and depth as opposed to scales and profits.

Rather than lofty goals and dreams of changing the world, the founding members of Joie De Vivre Education as well as the extended team see the organization as a way of joyful understanding of life and believe that this simple and small step is a sufficient start to wherever the journey may lead.