I'm building a micro-school based on 5,000-year-old Shastra wisdom.
This is the story of how—and why.
For the last decade, I worked with schools —20+ schools, 1000+ school leaders, in multiple cities.
I learned: What schools do well (certification, largely accepted structure, batch processing) and What they can’t fix (system constraints, time pressure, teacher dependency, future readiness)
I enquired: How can we improve schools and for that I explored various pedagogies like Montessori, Reggio Emilia Steiner, etc. While they are all good to support the school system, but if I wanted to look beyond schools, there was only one pedagogy that stood out, and it was Gurukul Methodology
I wondered: After exploring several ancient Indian texts, watching several hundred long videos and podcasts during the last 2 years, I understood that people did not leave Gurukul system by choice, it was actually sabotaged by the colonial powers as it was creating deep thinkers.
I realised: Arranging money for this is the second most difficult task, the most difficult one is to find those parents, who would send their children to this school as not many parents dare to think beyond the status quo.
Pick the suitable one out of the following two:
We're building in public—with transparency, not polish.
EdMonks Learning Systems is not a finished product.
We’re researching, testing, iterating—in real-time:
- Running free workshops with 200+ parents
- Conducting diagnostics with 100+ students
- Documenting what works (and what doesn’t)
Our long-term vision:
A comprehensive Gurukul-inspired middle school program (eventually Grades 3–8, possibly a micro-school).
But we’re not building this in isolation.
We want to talk to parents, teachers, students—anyone thinking critically about education.
If you have ideas, questions, or skepticism—reach out.
Our Chronicles:
Here is the step by step journey that you can take to help your child prepare better for the future.
THE ORIGIN STORY (CHAPTERS 1-5):
Chapter 1: “Why I Left Corporate to Work in Education” (2017)
Chapter 2: “50 School Leaders, 1 Realization: System Change Isn’t Enough” (2017-2020)
Chapter 3: “The disconnect with school during pandemic – the hard way” (2020)
Chapter 4: “The Flynn Effect Reversal: Why Today’s Kids Score Lower on IQ Tests” (Research Breakdown)
Chapter 5: “Why I’m Building a Micro-School (And Why November 2026/2027)” (Decision Point)
WHAT'S WRONG (AND RIGHT) WITH SCHOOLS (CHAPTERS 6-10)
Chapter 6: “What Schools Do Well (That Gurukuls Didn’t)” — Structure, exposure, socialization
Chapter 7: “The Time Constraint Problem: Why Teachers Can’t Teach Deeply” — 40 students, 45-min periods, syllabus pressure
Chapter 8: “Why Tuition Centers Make Things Worse” — Dependency, shortcuts, no root-cause fixing
Chapter 9: “The 3 Challenges in Math Learning” — Cognitive, comprehension, anxiety (and why schools can’t address them)
Chapter 10: “Middle School Matters More Than You Think” — University of Chicago research breakdown
SHASTRA-BASED WISDOM (CHAPTERS 11-20)
Chapter 11: “Swadhyaya-Chintan-Sangati: The 3-Step Learning Process” — Self-study, reflection, peer discussion
Chapter 12: “Why Gurukul Students Taught Each Other (Teach-Back Method)” — Teaching = deepest learning
Chapter 13: “The Sanskrit Effect: Why Language Shapes Thinking” — Research on Sanskrit, cognitive benefits
Chapter 14: “How Gurukuls Built Self-Directed Learners” — No spoon-feeding, productive struggle
Chapter 15: “The Guru-Shishya Model: What Modern Mentorship Misses”
Chapter 16-20: More Shastra insights (add as you research)
BUILDING THE MICRO-SCHOOL (CHAPTERS 21+)
Chapter 21: “The Learning Center Begins: (18 – 30 Students), 1 Room, Infinite Possibility” (March 2027)
Chapter 22: “Week 1: What Happened When We Tried Swadhyaya with 3 Kids”
Chapter 23: “The Future Readiness Framework: 6 Areas Every Child Needs” (with infographic)
Chapter 24: “Why We’re Not Rushing to 50 Students” — Depth over scale
Chapter 25-onward: Weekly/monthly updates (what’s working, what’s not, insights, pivots)