Sri Aurobindo International Institute
of Educational Research
SAIIER promotes and coordinates most of the educational and cultural programmes in Auroville, the international township in South India dedicated to the evolution of consciousness.
At its heart lies Integral Education, an approach that seeks to develop all parts of the being: physical, vital, mental — and organise these around the psychic centre, with the spiritual quest for meaning and purpose.
SAIIER nurtures this vision through a constellation of schools, learning environments, and long-term experiments that span from early childhood to lifelong learning.Each initiative under the umbrella of SAIIER grows from the soil of sincerity, freedom, and self-discovery.
Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research
Duration 12 min Auroville Pictures & No School Prod. 2018
How is Integral Education Different?
Evolution-Centric Education
Or the Human Aspiration
At the heart of Integral Education lies the proposition that humanity is not a finished product but a being in transition.
Humanity’s deepest longings — truth, freedom, joy, and light — have endured through every age.
They are not merely personal dreams, but signs of a greater movement within life itself. Though these ideals are often contradicted by our everyday experience, they also point to something higher and more real — experiences that may seem rare or inaccessible, but are in fact the next step in our unfolding, signals of what Nature is preparing. They may be attained slowly, through the general evolution of the human race, or more swiftly, through conscious and concentrated individual effort. An Evolution-Centric Education invites the child to participate in shaping the world it will experience.
Integral Education seeks the growth of the whole human being.
It develops the body in strength and balance, the emotions in harmony and sincerity, the mind in clarity and depth. It also brings forward what lies deeper — the soul’s quiet guidance and the spirit’s vast light.
Integral Education recognizes the central aspiration of the being, around which each of the faculties must be developed, so that they may be brought into conscious collaboration.
Within Outwards
The path begins within
The learner is invited on a quest:
“Who am I?”
They question and gradually grow aware of what they are, why they are here, find meaning and purpose in this quickly changing world, and often choose to serve something greater than themselves.
From an inner poise, the quest flows outward — into work and action, into a shared aspiration of the world transformed.
Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research