CyberFair Project ID: 8644

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: Sanskritam-Beyond the Language Tussles
Category: 2. Community Groups and Special Populations
URL: https://sites.google.com/view/aravalisanskritam/home
Bibliography: https://sites.google.com/view/aravalisanskritam2022/bibliography

School: ARAVALI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
    FARIDABAD, HARYANA, INDIA

20 students, ages 11-14 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 16, 2022. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2021, 2022

Classes and Teachers: Ms.Sarbpriya , Ms. Shubha , Ms. Neha , Ms. Priya, Ms. Geetika, Ms. Nishtha, Ms. Aryeda , Ms. Palka.

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://https://aravali.edu.in/index.php/institutions-85/

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Our Community includes teaching learning fraternity with students, their parents as well as our social circle. It includes temples and Gurukuls, where Sanskrit is still a language of communication. During our research we came across the fact that it is not only our school but almost all the schools that are working to uphold the banner of Sanskrit language. We were overwhelmed by the manner in which our team was greeted by the students of one such Gurukuls when we visited them. On our visit we found students sitting around the holy fire pit chanting ‘sholokas’. Entire place was filled with the essence of camphor. It was so serene that it filled our hearts with peace and serenity. In their dormitories students sleep on the mats made of straw. They eat their meal too in a community lunch style, sitting together in a row. Lectures are imparted in Sanskrit language. Students sit on mats with their books while lesson is shared by Gurus in Sanskrit language. Holy Scriptures and Vedas are discussed here. Even many of them have memorised the sholokas written in these Vedas. What inspired our team the most is the simplicity and discipline practiced by these students. We visited their library too to understand their way of life. Here we were introduced to the founder of this Gurukul and various other Gurus who had taught here. We found them to be very focused and proud of the language that they speak and study in.

2. Summary of Our Project

The project undertaken this year is ‘Sanskritam’ - Beyond the language tussles. This project illustrates the essence of Sanskrit language, its significance not only in regional community but also across the globe and its influence in the varied aspects of research disciplines. The project highlights that the means of communication amongst people has changed gradually. It has affected the ancient language of the region as well as the country and how it can be preserved for future growth. The project discusses about the use of Sanskrit in the town’s ‘Gurukul’, a learning ashram where the ‘guru’, teacher imparts knowledge into his students called as ‘shishyas’ using only one means of communication which is Sanskrit. They sustain their lives by fulfilling their mundane chores and updating their knowledge of the current world while sticking to the roots of using their language in both oral and written context.

We have begun with the evolution of Sanskrit language.

We followed it through describing its relevance and value in various spheres of knowledge.

We conducted interviews with the ‘Acharya’, the principal of ‘gurukul’ in the town for knowing the use of Sanskrit and preservation of the language by their community.

We speculated about the future of the language and its connect with the outside world.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Though the project accompanied a lot of learnings, there were multiple challenges too. It was difficult to gather a lot of information about Sanskrit. Therefore, the idea was to collaborate and collect all the information. The information provided on internet could not be called as an enough source to gather facts. The unprecedented year challenged our physical meetings, group discussions and community connect. But we managed to sail through by our connecting online. Low band width and network Practical knowledge is very important to understand how things actually work. During the time of pandemic, when we were not able to meet each other, we used to have meetings through virtual means i.e. via zoom channel. Obviously, practical knowledge was little missing in it. Fortunately, the situations became normal and we got back to school. We planned together to visit a Gurukul in Faridabad where we got immense knowledge about Sanskrit as a language and its importance in today’s world. To start with it, we referred to our school library where we got so many resources to gain information about this language. We took a deep dive into the resources present in the school library related to Sanskrit, questionnaire and Gurukul visit.It was difficult for us to balance our everyday classes and our extensive research work. Sometimes, this proved as tedious work for us as we needed time for composing, communicating, and compiling the huge amounts of the history, Sanskrit offers, at the same time. We overcame this by having an effective time management schedule and compromising our leisure time for giving out our best. Creating a website comes with its own share of challenges like debugging, arranging, and providing quick navigation and searching for eye-pleasing designs. As we were novice, we had to figure out the website layout and design through the gradual process of learning. We recognized our mistakes and moved on further.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

This international platform has given our school the opportunity to be the voice for all the scholars and influencers of Sanskrit language. This is a medium to expand and reach millions of intellectuals who can get benefitted and informed regarding the preservation of Sanskrit language.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

If one attempts to understand India through her rich cultural heritage, knowledge ethos, then one should follow Sanskrit. Since all ancient texts and scriptures are written in this language form, it has also been revealed that Sanskrit is the language of the future, for it is touted to be most suited for computers. The goal ostensibly is to make Sanskrit relevant to the young students. But this will not be served by the way it is taught in toady’s schools and universities. The great grammarian Panini created Classical Sanskrit which proved to be highly useful in simplifying the ideas of Science and research as the modern science considers the role of Sanskrit not only important for the ancient scientists but has a unique place in research of law, philosophy, science, yoga and social science aspects. Learning Sanskrit would open the hidden doors to an ancient world of stories, people and places. Sanskrit not only helps us to envision the past but also opens new vistas for viewing the grand future of our nation. It is a binding force with the notion of one-nation idea. It should be remembered that the members of the society cannot be taken as passive consumers of knowledge created within schools and universities. The study of Sanskrit greatly influences their persona and instils a sense of confidence and poise in human character. Sanskrit when learnt in right way, ceases to be just a language but becomes a way of life-giving use to advantageous consequences for a person. Sanskrit reduces ambiguity in speaking and writing. Teaching Sanskrit through computational tools is an effective way due to which the language has become relatively easy. E-learning is the predominant method to teach where there is no role of human teacher but the software approximates the role of a teacher.

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Project Elements

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

Such projects present valuable opportunities for students to experience and become more aware of the manifest social-economic realities of communities through assuming an agency role participating in such outreach event. Subsequently, these students have to navigate a number of challenges while planning and executing their projects. Student’s ability to make connections under these extraordinary circumstances has been a remarkable achievement Students read and did research work on several aspects of the program, had discussion with the community members and wrote reflections and contribution which described their sense of accountability. Those reflections and their study devised a collaborative research study. Inquiry-guided process sparked their interest in learning. The collaborative writing process strengthens their confidence with academic communication and finally the content enabled them to value their course experience.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

Our project digged deep into the realm of gurukul, temples and schools in regard to usage of Sanskrit as a language of communication. The project is unique in the sense that it has talked about the diminishing preference amongst people for the language. It not only speaks about the language usage, but also its perseverance and how it can help in uniting nations and different spheres of research domains. The scientists, researchers, archeologists, zoologists, philosophers, poets, writers and more scholars have faithfully taken this language's help in their areas. It is a myth that Sanskrit's use is only restricted to religion, but it can be evidently said that only 5% of the language's use is in religion and ancient scriptures, leaving a room for 95% use in other contexts. Our school actively imparts knowledge using Sanskrit language and we have Sanskrit department where educators hold special classes to not only teach scriptures and religious texts, mantra chanting but also describe the significance of this language in Astronomy, Architecture, Vedic Maths and other required areas.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

We received a lot of help support and advice from the parents of our team members. They helped us with the research work and enriched us with their advices. Our parents willingly sent their wards with us to the Gurukul. Besides that the Principal of our institution was kind enough to give us permission as well as organise our trip to one such Gurukuls where the language of communication as well as teaching is carried out in Sanskrit. It was a learning experience for all of us to meet students who were taught in Sanskrit language. We were told that these students are quite focused and they are not only doing well in studies but are also performing well in their advanced studies. These students are quite successful in their life ahead as Sanskrit is not only a language for them but a way of life. We visited temples too, of our town where the head priest allowed us to be the part of their day to day rituals. Our visit was very enriching and enlightening. It gave us the understanding that people are doing their bit to hold the glory of the language as well as pass the baton to the next generation successfully that they too could lead a life of discipline and knowledge. As all our scriptures and Vedas are written in Sanskrit language, therefore the knowledge of Sanskrit gives them a plethora of information to choose from. We are very happy and thankful to be the part of this project. While working on this given project we could explore the areas about which our knowledge was quite limited before this. Therefore, we would like to extend my sincere thanks our Principal and the team leader for this opportunity.

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