About Us
About the Gurukulam
Agastya Gurukulam started an online home-school in 2020-21 in pursuit of its vision of decolonized Indic education. We are now poised to expand into in-person schooling through our Bangalore and Houston campuses for the 2023-24 academic year. Through our schools, we attempt to revive the traditional Bharateeya method of education that flourished in the pre-Macaulay era across India (see Education System in Ancient India and The Beautiful Tree to learn about the amazing indigenous education system).
Four years and a several hundred students' worth of experience later, we now have
Gurukulam - our complete schooling program for Grades K through 8 currently. We are working on accreditatiom and hope to expand upto the 12th standard in the future. Children learn subjects like KanThasthikaraNam, Samskritam, GaNitam, Itihasa-bhoogolam, Vignanam, Yoga/Kalari, MaatrubhAshA, Visual Arts and electives like Classical music, Chess etc. Depending on availability of spaces, we may also admit children Part-time, i.e. to study selected core subjects only.
Co-schooling (after-school) program for Pre-K through standard 12 students enrolled in other schools, named as Kutoohalam (3.5-5 years); Jignaasa Levels 1-4 (6-10 years) and Pragna Levels 1-6 (11-17 years).
Short term programs (1-5 weeks long) offered at various times of the year - Deeksha, Chetana, Upakramah etc.
Vision
To create thought leaders of the future - well-rounded, of high intellect, and firmly moored in dharma
Mission
To develop well-rounded, culturally rooted and confident individuals, successful both in their worldly pursuits and inner happiness, through rigorous Samskritam- and Shastra-based education
Goals
Make children so fluent in Samskritam and its literature, that the entire treasure trove of Bharateeya shastric knowledge is accessible to them.
To revive and spread the traditional Bharateeya Shiksha Paddhati and make it accessible to every Bharateeya child
Our Philosophy
Traditional education begins with memorization centric instruction for the first few years, followed by logic centric education in the second phase and a rhetoric level of education that focuses on research and self-expression. We plan to follow this sequence of progression in the school.
Secular Bharateeya education no longer survives in practice. Hence there is only an incomplete body of knowledge available on the curriculum and the teaching methods of the traditional system. We are attempting to revive this based on research into written records, but this curriculum may contain gaps that need to be filled with age-appropriate modern syllabus and techniques.
Classes are held online, with planned biannual camps (assuming logistics permit) to augment the school experience. The school day will include the study and practice of Yoga or another physical/martial art. We will provide approximately 4-5 hours of tele-instruction a day, and parents must be willing to put in significant time to help their children complete work assigned to them. There are likely to be some challenges in the initial phase as teachers and students settle into this (traditional, yet for us) novel format of education.
As this is a virtual gurukulam, parents play a very important role in ensuring that traditional gurukulam discipline is maintained at home. This also includes ensuring that they follow the traditional dinacharya – i.e. complete their morning bath and panchamahayagnas prior to the start of class everyday. The school will close for major Indic festivals. We will also celebrate some of these festivals at school.
Please NOTE: Movie- or television-watching should be strictly limited, and when permitted, should not include any shows that teach values that conflict with dharma. We have parents' groups where engaging video links with gurukulam-appropriate content for children to watch for “TV time”, are shared.