HERITAGE EDUCATION

PERSPECTIVES
AN OVERVIEW…..

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 WHAT IS
HERITAGE ?

“Cultural Heritage are all traces of

human acts and behavior that our
ancestors have passed on to us and
where we as an individual or a
community attribute a certain value to.”

Heritage is not only tangible as is seen

in monuments and ancient works of art
but can be intangible as well music,
dances, folklore, rituals, customs and
practices.

“History lives in song, in generational memory,

in the tale told by a mother plaiting the hair of
her young, questioning daughter, in the soft
afternoon sunlight drifting through speckled
mango trees, in the music of a marriage when in
the early hours of a grey morning, the singers
of night cluster over a warm fire.”- MJ Akbar

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 HERITAGE
EDUCATION

 Heritage Education is an approach to

teaching and learning that uses
information available from tangible
and intangible heritage materials as
instructional resources.
 Through Heritage education children
develop historical consciousness.
 Contact with the authentic remains
brings the past closer and the
children become aware of what the
value of preservation is as this
heritage is for their future.
 They are the future conservators and
this direct contact challenges them
to investigate and to look at their
environment in a different way.

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 4 steps towards
Heritage
education:
• The children have to
detect heritage in their
surroundings
• This stimulates
recognition of heritage

Analysis of what they see.

Appreciation of what they see leading

to the need to protect and conserve.

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GUIDING PRINCIPLES TO HERITAGE
EDUCATION

 Access to culture and heritage is a basic human

right
 In India heritage is a way of life , our collective
memory and identity
 Heritage Awareness, action and good citizenship
should be major goals of Education.
 The most urgent priority is to address threats to
the natural environment such as global warming.

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HERITAGE EDUCATION

 Is not just about the past, but the past,

present and future.
 Is about inspiring creativity and cultural
energy in everyone.
 Should be multi-disciplinary and
experiential.
 Should be enjoyable
 Should encourage critical thinking
 Brings together the intangible with the
tangible.
 Is also about nurturing responsibilities
and values such as respect for other
cultures, brotherhood, peace and
understanding.

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IMPLEMENTATION OF
HERITAGE EDUCATION

Connecting heritage education to the existing

curriculum- to the various subjects taught
 Simple mathematics to forms – sphere, cylinder, number of
storey etc
 Natural Heritage combined with biology
 Cultural landscapes with Geography
 Metal crafts with physics or chemistry.

Connecting heritage education to the local curriculum

 As heritage is all around us, it pertains to the immediate
environment and community where the children live -
languages, festivals, values and significance.

Heritage education as an extra curricular activity.

 traditional dance , music, craft, food etc. It could also
include training children in specific heritage skills ( e.g
making a museum inventory, recording oral history
,photography ,documentation and using this to crate
exhibitions, public performance ,publications and
online resources)

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Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
programs with World Heritage Education (WHE)
ESD is defined as an education approach which supports
and promotes sustainable development, a development
which recognizes the finite nature of the world’s resources
that it is an education approach which ……

“places great emphasis on the need to ensure a

better quality of life for all, in a just and equitable
manner, whilst living within the limits of supporting
ecosystems “.

“a vision of education that seeks to

empower people to assume responsibility
for creating a sustainable future”.

UNESCO has declared 2005 to 2015 as the

Decade for ESD.

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HERITAGE EDUCATION
PROGRAMS

 My City My Heritage  Heritage radio

( Heritage  Films
walks for schools)  Nature trail
 Heritage and Craft  Museum and
 The Environment Education
around us  Setting up a micro
 Creative enterprise
expressions
through Art forms
 Creative writing

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FRAMEWORKS FOR THE
FUTURE

 Environmental Atlas of the Pondicherry

Bio region. Documentary Movie on the
natural heritage of Pondicherry

 Workbook on the Heritage of the region

– bilingual

 Workshops on Heritage education –

twice a year

 Creation of a knowledge centre for

Heritage Education. This knowledge
centre will be responsible in training
teachers in Heritage and Value based
education, conduct research in
innovative teaching techniques and
disseminate knowledge in the area of
expertise.

 Heritage education to be integrated in

syllabus.

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SOME INSTITUTIONS WORKING TOWARDS
HERITAGE EDUCATION IN INDIA
INTACH – www.youngintach.org/www.intach.org
SPIC MACAY
CPREEC cpreec.org

CEE www.ceeindia.org
Sharma Heritage www.sharmaheritage.com
Dakshinachitra, Chennai www.dakshinachitra.net
www.kidsgreen.org
www.wwwfindia.org
www.devalt.org
www.nationalmuseumindia.gov.in
www.sanctuarycub.com
www.gandhimuseum.org
www.downtoearth.org.in
www.bnhs.org
www.ngmaindia.gov.in
www.mapsofindia.com
www.sanskritifoundation.org
www.gobartimes.org
www.cseindia.org
Institute of folklore Chennai
SMRTI
Sri Aurobindo Society
Tattvaloka

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 More links…..
Heritage in the classroom A practical manual for teachers .
www.hereduc.net

UNESCO World Heritage http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm

World Heritage in Young Hands http://whc.unesco.org/education/

The Heritage Education Network http://histpres.mtsu.edu/then/

Heritage For Kids www.heritagebc.ca/education/heritage-for-kids
www.worldwildlife.org
www.britishmuseum.org

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