The Institute

From Near to Far

“Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations.”
— The Mother

Educational Work in Auroville

Since its founding in 1984, the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research (SAIIER) has served as a living support system for Auroville’s wide-ranging educational work. It holds the function of nurturing, protecting, and resourcing educational initiatives aligned with the spiritual vision of Auroville and the Integral Education of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

SAIIER anchors dozens of schools, research programmes, community initiatives, and collaborative experiments across Auroville and its bioregion. The strength of the Institute lies in its quiet continuity: in the people who have built it through trust, through steady work, and through a shared aspiration to place the soul at the center of education.

“Auroville is a dream, a concept, a symbol of a new way of life, a new way of perpetual education. … This education will aim at creating and effectuating the maximum possible vibrations of unifying harmonies in the world.”

Kireet Joshi

History of SAIIER

The Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research (SAIIER) was founded in 1984 to support Auroville’s evolving educational landscape. Its name had been given by The Mother years earlier and brought into being with the support of Kireet Joshi, then Special Secretary for Higher Education, Government of India.

In 2001 a special committee appointed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development visited Auroville to evaluate the work and potential of SAIIER. The areas of research proposed and demonstrated by SAIIER, in light of their interest to India and humanity, were met with enthusiasm and this confirmation established a regular collaboration between the Government of India and SAIIER.

Through decades of experimentation, SAIIER has grown into a constellation of schools, research centres and programmes. With advances in technology, SAIIER and its units are increasingly working in collaboration with others across distance.

Evolution-Centric Education

Faith in a positive future

In Auroville, the aim is the integral development of the multiple personality of each individual. Education is not so much a matter of training of skills as of awakening to a process of self-discovery, self-becoming and self-perfecting.

The youth live in a new society-in-the-building, where people from more than 50 countries have come together to be part of this attempt towards human unity. Everything is to be invented. This has an educational impact of its own, which supports the growth of the children: The doors are opened to go towards new manifestations and unachieved dreams. They are invited to believe in the future, to be part of its creation, and this invitation awakens the best of what they are.

SAIIER Units – Auroville as a Living Laboratory

Integral Education beyond the classroom

SAIIER supports a network of units and initiatives that embody Integral Education in various fields — from body consciousness to language research to performing arts. These spaces make Auroville itself a learning environment, where the city becomes the curriculum and each action an opportunity for growth.