Rishi Valley School

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Rishi Valley School is a boarding school in India, founded by the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. It is located close to the town of Madanapalle, Krishnamurti's birthplace, in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Rishi Valley is a 3 hour drive from Bangalore.

The school accepts students from standards (grades) 4-12 (UK years 5-13) in about 21 boarding houses. It is known for focusing on a more holistic approach to education which includes developing an appreciation for nature, art and music. The schools goal is to help its pupils to become sensitive citizens. The school also runs the Rishi Valley Institute for Educational Resources (RIVER) program and a rural school and health center.

With a large campus spread over 350 acres in the Rayalseema area of southern Andhra Pradesh, Rishi Valley was chosen by Krishnamurti for its atmosphere of peace and serenity, centred around a large banyan tree, one of the oldest in India. Unfortunately, the magnificent tree is now in decadence, and has already lost several of its main branches. The school is nestled in an ancient valley under the Rishikonda hill where, as folklore has it, a well-known sage ('rishi') used to meditate. The Rishi River, a rain-fed stream, that flowed down the hill has long since dried up, but Krishnamurti retained the name for his first school. Rayalseema Andhra is an arid region located in a rain-sheltered area of the Deccan Plateau. Rishi Valley is surrounded on all sides by ancient granite hills with striking formations. In recent years, the school launched a reforestation and conservation drive that transformed the school campus into a veritable forest area and the once-barren hillside bordering the campus is now covered with a green cover of young trees. Conservation and enhancement of the natural environment remains one of the school's core values. In July 1991 Rishi Valley was officially declared a Private bird-preserve, and was cited by the International Council for Bird Preservation (now BirdLife International) as one of the sites where the endemic Yellow-throated Bulbul is found. The campus hosts over 200 bird species. The Institute of Bird Studies and Natural History in Rishi Valley is offering a six-month "Home Study Course in Ornithology - Intermediate Level" at a highly subsidised rate and even offers Kalpana Chawla Memorial Scholarships for deserving students. Over 950 students have enrolled for this course since 1997.

[edit] Founder's Philosophy

Education was always one of Krishnamurti's chief concerns. He felt that if only the young and the old could be awakened to their conditioning of nationality, religion, prejudices, fears, and desires, which inevitably leads to conflict, they might bring to their lives a totally different quality.

In his own words, " A school is a place where one learns about the totality, the wholeness of life. Academic excellence is absolutely necessary, but a school includes much more than that. It is a place where both the teacher and the student explore, not only the outer world, the world of knowledge, but also their own thinking, their own behavior. "

His concern found expression in the establishment of schools in India and abroad. In addition to the schools managed by Krishnamurti Foundation, many other schools like Vikasa vidya vanam in India were inspired by his philosophy.

While his philosophy is an integral part of the school's culture, students are not exposed to it until their senior years. This mainly happens during assemblies or in-class discussions.