The Second Miracle of Daburia
On July 14, 2010, Maharishi’s Global Family Chat included a special broadcast on News from Israel involving the Transcendental Meditation program. Dr. Reuven Zelinkowsky reported on the success of implementing the TM porgram in the Daburiya High School, an Arab school in Israel that was about to close due to poor academic performance by the students and problems in the school. After the TM program was implemented, there were dramatic improvements in all areas including the school achieving 2nd place in the National Education Award in 2008 and placing 3rd in the National Education Award in 2009. This is the first time that any school in Israel received the award in two consecutive years.
The principal of the Daburia High School, Abed Elsalam Masalcha, explained why his school received the 2008 National Education Award. He said it was because of the way they tackled the discipline problem—with meditation. “Meditation is at the core of everything we did.” He went on to elaborate how using the Transcendental Meditation program addressed and solved the core problem of disciplining a student’s behavior.
We have seen that in order to change the student’s behavior, or to overcome the discipline problem, we need to change something within the students. What I mean to say that it is not enough to make rules and try to make everyone follow them. In fact you don’t change their behavior at all. That is why we adopted meditation. So practicing meditation, the students will start to really change. Not just for a year, or two or three. We are giving the student the possibility, that throughout his life, he will not only succeed at school for a short time, but through the meditation, also succeed throughout his life.
When the school received the 2009 National Education Award, the committee justified its decision with these words:
The award was given to the school for its program in preventing violence and improving the school’s environment based on the Consciousness-Based Education program. This Consciousness-Based Education program is based upon the development of both students and teachers abilities and uncovers the unlimited creative potential of the human being. The program prevents the problems by tackling them at the root and provides the base for actualization of both the scholastic aspirations of the students, teachers and parents.
The most important element of the Consciousness-Based Education program is the Transcendental Meditation program. It is a simple, natural, mental technique that improves behavior and the ability to learn. It elicits success and enjoyment in learning, creates a focused atmosphere in the classroom, improves academic achievement, increases self-esteem, reduces violence and chaos and increases teacher satisfaction in their work.
The teachers, school board and parents are involved at all levels of the program and closely follow the process in the school.
You can also view the Daburiya High School video, The Second Miracle of Daburia here: http://www.cbe.org.il/video/daburia_jE.wmv. The You Tube short link is: http://bit.ly/bYF6On. If you wish to download the actual video go to: http://www.cbe.org.il/video/cbe.htm. This miracle is happening in hundreds of schools around the world. For details visit www.davidlynchfoundation.org.
Tags: meditation in education, school discipline, student behavior, Transcendental Meditation
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