Vimukt Shiksha was created to liberate the vision and understanding of learning-sharing from the walls of factory-schooling; and, to develop learning spaces and systems that liberate the full potential of human beings. It seeks to stimulate and inspire teachers, activists, practitioners, educationists and policymakers by creating a transdisciplinary platform for mutual sharing of innovative visions, ideas, research, resources, and experiences around lifelong societal learning and human potential.

Editors Manish Jain and Shilpa Jain

Layout Editor Sumi-Chandresh

Portions of this document may be reproduced with the source and respective author(s) acknowledged.

Editor's Note
Manish Jain: Learning Societies: A Reflective and Generative Framework


Unmasking the Schooling Society
Pawan Gupta: Liberating Education from the Chains of Imperialism
Catherine Odora-Hoppers: Turning the Monster on Its Head: Lifelong Learning Societies for All
Sangeeta Kamat: Education for What?: De-mystifying the World Bank Agenda
Dayal Chandra Soni: The Process of Your Life Should Be the Process of Your Education
Stephanie Pace Marshall: A New Story for Learning and Schooling: A "New Mind" for the New Millenium

Learning Communities: Experiences and Explorations
John McClellan: Envisioning Learning Societies Across Multiple Dimensions
Norman Longworth: Lifelong Learning and Learning Communities: A Vision for the Future
Vidhi Jain & Manav: A Search for Meaning: Udaipur as a Learning City
Ron Burnett: The Challenge of Change in Creating Learning Communities
M. Srinivasan: Schools Beyond Walls: A Stepping-Stone to Learning Societies
Dee Dickensen: Learning Society of the Future: Questions to Consider

Conceptual Priorities
Jan Visser: Rethinking Learning: Implications for Policy, Research and Practice
Vivek Bhandari: The Artifice of Modernization: Post-coloniality and Beyond
Vachel Miller: Meaning, Purpose, and Connection: Spirituality in a Learning Society
Terry Ryan & John Abbott: Re-connecting the Brain to Living and Learning
Anita Dighe: Diversity in Education in an Era of Globalization
Shilpa Jain: Rethinking Decentralization for Nurturing Learning Societies
Kishore Saint: Education and Svaraj in a Time of Svarth

Shikshantar, a not-for-profit movement, was founded to challenge the monopoly of factory-schooling as the primary means of nurturing human learning and just, community-led development in society. We are committed to creating spaces where concerned individuals and organizations can come together to: (1) generate meaningful critiques to expose and transform existing models of education and development, and (2) elaborate (and continually re-elaborate) complex shared visions and practices of lifelong societal learning for Swaraj in South Asia.

Shikshantar is based in Udaipur (Rajasthan, India). Our core team works in collaboration with local, state, national, and international partners through a dynamic process of ‘research for action’. We are closely linked to the Institute for Development Studies and Practice in Quetta/Karachi (Pakistan) and The Swaraj Foundation in Chicago (USA). To learn more, or to find out how to join our efforts, please contact us at:

SHIKSHANTAR

21 Fatehpura, Udaipur 313004

Rajasthan, India

Tel: (91) 294 526-003

Fax: (91) 294 520-177

e-mail: shikshantar@yahoo.com

www.swaraj.org/shikshantar

We welcome and encourage your reactions, questions, suggestions, and support.