User:Gloria de Souza/sandbox

Gloria de Souza
Gloria de Souza ( 5th April 1937-3rd April 2013) was an educationist and a social reformer. She founded Parisar Asha in 1982 to serve India’s "Multi-Cultural Diversity" of human communities through an Environment–related learning system which replaced the generally prevalent 'rote-learning' method. Gloria De Souza was the recipient of numerous awards, including -  The Leslie Sawhney Programme of Training for Democracy, India : The John Dalvi Award for outstanding service in the Cause of Education for Good Citizenship in 1999 and The All - India Catholic Union’s ‘Life - Time’ Award for exceptional work in Relevant Education for India in 1994.

Early Life
She was born Gloria Maria Pia de Souza on 5th April 1937 in Baghdad to Beatrice & Cajetan de Souza. Being a brilliant student, she had many feathers in her cap. She completed her Bachelor of Arts (Sociology and Political Science) Degree at St. Xavier’s College, Bombay in 1956 and went on to pursue a Bachelor of Education Degree in 1959. Then she qualified as a Specialist in Environmental Education from the Gwent College of Higher Education, Wales, UK.

In 1982, she received a Fellowship from the ‘Ashoka Innovators for the Public’, Washington, USA-which is specially awarded to individual entrepreneurs having a ‘development’ idea for national enrichment. With this Fellowship, a work – space was offered by the St. Xavier’s Institute of Education - Bombay, and support from ‘Child Relief and You’ (India), the work of Parisar Asha was initiated in 1982. Since then, developments attracted support in myriad forms, notably from UNICEF, the Aga Khan Foundation and the Tata Trusts (India) giving wings to the fledgling Parisar Asha.

Parisar Asha Environment Education Centre was founded to revive the ‘dead’ education system based on the traditional method of rote-learning. Gloria created and introduced modern experiential learning that challenged children to think and solve problems instead of just cramming information. She beautifully infused the modern education system into non-western settings and uplifted its standards. Her continuous endeavour of adoption, persuasion, training and organizing helped to spread the impact of her revolutionary system widely.

Her hard work eventually received its due recognition; and the Govt. of India introduced her work into other districts, and UNICEF asked her to help first in Sikkim and then beyond. She slowly spread her influence in other areas of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Middle East.

Tarabai Moda was one of her favourite changemakers. She received some of her best lessons from this dynamic lady, employing an environmental approach that made sensory awareness the key to learning- by- observation, enquiry and discovery.Tarabai Moda (1892-1973) was a recipient of the prestigious Padmabhushan award, in 1962. She spearheaded an approach that enabled the impoverished rural children and their parents to learn from daily experiences in their environment. Gloria’s exposure to Tarabai’s creative, simple ways of using the learner’s available environment to internalize concepts related to maths, science and geography, was an enriching experience.

Gloria, felt that tenacity of purpose, clear vision and an open mind could revolutionize a person’s way of living and transform him/her into a better person. She had always been sensitive to the living conditions of all humans whom she encountered in her environment, and she epitomised an unfailing sense of discipline, transparency and accountability.

Awards
Apart from having received the prestigious Ashoka ChangemakerHer Award, she was honoured with many more awards.


 * 2003 : -  The Shree Hariharaputra Bhajan Samaj, India : The Samaj Shakti Award for unique contribution in Education..


 * 1999 : -  The Leslie Sawhney Programme of Training for Democracy, India : The John Dalvi Award for outstanding service in the Cause of Education for Good Citizenship.


 * 1999 : -  The St. Xavier’s Institute of Education for Graduate and Post Graduate Studies in Education, Mumbai.  The Fr. A. Solagran Award, to an Alumnus of the Institution for signal Christian Virtue, and an outstanding contribution to the Advancement of Learning.  (*  Had received similar recognition earlier, in 1987.)


 * 1994 : -  The All - India Catholic Union’s ‘Life - Time’ Award for exceptional work in Relevant Education for India.


 * 1991 : -  The Sophia College for Women’s recognition of one alumnus for each decade of its 50 years of existence ‘For significant work done in the service of the nation.’


 * 1987 : -  The St. Xavier’s Institute of Education for Graduate and Post Graduate Studies in Education : The Fr. Sologran Award to an alumnus for signal Christian virtue, and an outstanding contribution to the Advancement of Learning.

Parisar Asha Environmental Education Centre
After exploring the myriad aspects of [[experiential learning[[ and the modern education systems, Parisar Asha [[Environmental Education]] Centre was founded in June, 1982. Parisar Asha, has blossomed from the Sanskrit word “Parisar”, meaning “Environ” and “Asha” meaning “Hope”. It is a Registered Trust since 1990. This organization was founded to bring back the ‘joy of learning’. The system works towards transforming the standardized State Board Curriculum into an experiential learning system, by incorporating Environment Studies Approach to Learning- ESAL. This is a problem-solving alternative to the cramming of meaningless facts for intelligent internalization of concepts, skill development for applied learning, sensitive growth in attitudes and values, that make the learner conscious of the global ‘parisar’.

With 30 years of presence in the education field, Parisar Asha has been instrumental in bringing about a change in the present education system by providing quality education for all. It has its presence in aided, unaided and public sector schools. It has undertaken school-transformation projects in more than 700 aided- unaided schools.