Re-imagining Education with MANISH JAIN, 22-26 July, 2025

Register here: https://forms.gle/LtxALXyDud3yYhKy9

Have you ever felt powerless to improve the current education system? Have you carefully analyzed and evaluated the way traditional schools are operating only to find it becoming less and less meaningful and facing more challenges in an uncertain future? Do you feel concerned about the way students are locked in buildings, removed from local contexts, controlled and pressured to conform to accreditation standards, labeled “good” or “bad"?

In short, we need new educational experiments: co-creating learning spaces where young people can freely explore the world and learn together, play, connect with the community and with others. But what will those experiments look like? What kinds of radical educational practices and experiments are happening and possible today? What are the possibilities and challenges we can explore in 'unschool' activities? How can you begin to reimagine education in your own community?

What makes traditional education seem problematic? What haunts learning in India, Vietnam and in most so-called “third world” countries? Can the education system be reformed or must it be dismantled? How can we resist the colonial legacies of schooling, and what forms do these ethical responses take in our local specificities?

And many more questions that we will find answers to together in 5 days in Hoi An.

Tentative schedule

Day 01: Arrival. Introduce stories from attendees. Analyzing the education system: "What do schools do to our minds?"

Day 02: Manish Jain's story - From Harvard, World Bank to Grandmothers University and his deschooling journey. The panorama of education, the connection of the school system and the global economy.

Day 03: Inspiration from alternative education projects around the world: Shikshantar, Swaraj University and Ecoversities alliance. Open space to harvest everyone's talents

Day 04: Design and make a prototype of your own educational project. Concepts of Alivelihood and Deadlihood. Gift Culture. Healing ourselves from diploma diseases

Day 05: Review, feedback and departure

About the facilitator:

Manish Jain is a pioneer and leader in the movement of alternative education and unschooling in the world. In this workshop, Manish will bring his stories, experiences and solutions to educational problems with over 25 years of working in the field of alternative education.

Before spending most of his time promoting the re-imagining of education, Manish Jain studied at Brown University and Harvard, worked at Morgan Stanley, the World Bank and then he went to the UN and UNESCO, after realizing the nature of the globalization system that was ruling the world, realized that he needed to return to India and learn from his illiterate grandmother.

Manish shared that he is "unlearning" from his Master's degree in education from Harvard, and his bachelor's degree in Economics, International Development and Political Philosophy from Brown University. Currently, he and his wife, Ms. Vidhi, are unschooling themselves, as well as unschooling their 21-year-old daughter, in Udaipur, India.

His alternative education experiments include:

Co-founder and coordinator of Shikshantar: The Peoples' Institute for Rethinking Education and Development was established so that individuals and communities can:

Question and transform existing models of Education, Development and Progress; + Master the learning process and learning ecosystem of individuals and communities; + Imagine (and continually re-imagine) shared practices and visions of Swaraj (self-rule)

Co-founder of Swaraj Jail University in Udaipur Central Jail - Jail University. Where the space behind bars is transformed from a place of punishment for prisoners into a self-directed learning space for prisoners, where each prisoner can discover their passion, practice necessary skills, and regenerate self-esteem, leadership skills and building future goals.

Co-founder of Swaraj University: Alternative University program, self-directed education (Self-directed Education) for 2 years.

Co-founder of Creativity Adda Delhi: Unschooling space, self-directed education inside government public schools. Where young people are free to play, study and participate in any class or activity they desire or request without having to worry about grades, textbooks or tuition fees, because of these things. That does not exist in Creativity Adda Delhi. Where you learn through practical work, creating real products and results.

Co-founder of Ecoversities Alliance: A global network of individuals, organizations, and communities engaged in rethinking higher education. These visionaries work both inside and outside the conventional education system and universities. They also contribute to building locally-rooted learning spaces that promote community spirit regeneration, sustainable ecology and local economic development. Many of these initiatives are connected to various grassroots, social and ecological movements, as well as indigenous communities.

He also participated in editing many books on Vimukt Shiksha (liberating learning).

Time: from July 22th to 26th in Hoi An, Vietnam

Program cost:

For public: 400$

For Vcil Community Membership: Sliding scale from 0 USD to 400$

This cost included:

- Accommodation from 12th to afternoon of 16th July 2025

- Meals during program

- Facilitation fee

- Design & coordination fee

Target participants:

The program is not only for teachers or educators but also organic farmers, architects, social activists, healers, artists,... One of the first things we need to unlearn is exclusionary thinking - only those in the education sector are allowed to redesign education. Therefore, anyone interested in a happy, sustainable lifestyle and rethinking development is welcome to attend to create a space for diverse knowledge and skills.

Registration deadline: The form will be closed when we receive enough registration (maximum 30 participants)

Contact information:

- Facebook: Vcil Community

- Whatsapp/Phone/Zalo: (+84) 768217586 (Vu)

- Email: vcil.group@gmail.com