The Auroville Pre-Creche
What if education began not with schooling, but at the very beginning of life itself?
The Auroville Pre-Crèche stands at this beginning, where,
“to educate a child is to educate oneself,…” -The Mother
Inspired by the principles of Integral Education, the Pre-Crèche understands that a child’s growth depends on who the adults are ‘being’ around them. In the spirit of Sri Aurobindo',s firstprinciple of teaching, “Nothing can be taught,..” the role of the adult is not to shape learning from outside, but to offer an environment of trust, presence, freedom and gentle guidance in which the child's own development can emerge naturally guided by an innate wisdom.
For over 25 years, the Auroville Pre-Crèche has welcomed the youngest members of the Auroville community, children of Aurovilians, newcomers, volunteers and guests. In a warm, homely environment, children are cared for and accompanied through the early years of life, while their parents are supported to participate in the work and collective life of Auroville.
The Pre-Crèche currently offers two programmes:
Baby Group (approximately 8 months-1.5 years) - The Baby Group is a parent (or caregiver)-and-child space, offering families a warm experience of Auroville’s diverse, multinational and multicultural community and a gradual introduction to collective life.
Crèche Group (1.5–2.5 years) — The Crèche Group is a space where young children begin to experience life in a small collective without their parents by their side. It offers a gentle transition from the intimate parent-child relationship towards greater independence.
Research: The Pre-Crèche is also an ongoing research of what early childhood education can mean within Auroville's experiment in collective living. It seeks to bring scientific understandings of child development into dialogue with Integral Education and the oriental wisdom of collective ways of life, asking what new forms of child care, upbringing and education might be possible for a future humanity.
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