TIME TO GO TO SCHOOL: A pre-nursery class in session. FILE PHOTO

Rasheed Kappan and

Chitra V. Ramani

BANGALORE: The city has a large number of nursery schools and institutions, which profess to teach in the Montessori method. While the number of nursery schools is almost 2,000, the Indian Montessori Centre (IMC) here has recognised only 15 schools, with five more applications pending with it.

But recognition was no obstacle for several institutions to open shop with a board that cried aloud "Montessori." With a little knowledge and hardly any infrastructure, they are simply using the name of a system that has made a mark globally for its innovative approach to learning, where "self-exploration" by the child is the buzzword.

Yet, the trend has caught on with the belief in the Montessori system growing.

As Sujatha Mohandas, principal of the Shishu Griha School, put it, "Two decades ago, people did not have any idea of the system. Today, more parents want it. The system is more of pupil initiation, where the child is the initiator. That is where the joy of learning is."

She had seen the awareness catching on. "Today, where there is too much of pressure on the child, these alternatives are being looked at. But for the system to work well, there have to be only small groups. It cannot function in big groups," she told The Hindu.

Recognition by IMC is not the end-all for the Montessori schools. "Most of our students (the eventual Montessori teachers) are supposed to go to the schools to interact with the students and that way, we get a regular feedback about the institutions. This is part of their curriculum. Besides, the recognised schools need to renew their status every two years," IMC director Shyamala Rao said.

IMC, which is recognised by the Government, is located at No 74, 4th Main, Malleswaram, Bangalore 560055. It can be contacted on Ph: 23467993 and on www.indianmontessoricentre.org.

But if the IMC has some mechanism in place to ensure quality of its recognised Montessori schools, no such formal structure exists for the other so-called nursery schools. Many schools do come under the Karnataka Unaided School Managements' Association (KUSMA).

For KUSMA though, the problem is not about the lack of regulation but the Government's interference in their matters. The association president G.S. Sharma made it clear that the Government had no authority over pre-schools under the Education Act, 1983.

The Act, he said, gave the Government authority only over primary schools. "The Government can have some authority over primary schools, where the students are aged over six years. It is society that should have some authority over pre-schools."

Mr. Sharma said the Government had now begun to demand Rs. 2,000 to issue registration certificate to the pre-schools. "This action is unwarranted. The Act has been questioned and a case is pending in the court," he said.

Parents, he said, preferred to send their children to private nurseries as the Government's anganwadis lacked infrastructure. "Who would want his ward to go to a school that has no benches, no toilets and other essential facilities? Naturally, parents would want their children to have all benefits."

Interviews

A recent verdict by the Delhi High Court has brought the spotlight back on interviews of children and parents by school authorities. While most schools admitted that interviewing small children was not required, they frowned upon any ban on interviews with parents.

Mr. Sharma felt that asking the children inappropriate questions was unwarranted. "The school authorities should only make sure that the child is healthy or not. That should be the only criterion," he said.

But he was for interviewing parents. "It is equally important for the parents to ensure if the school has an atmosphere that aids in the child's learning," he said, indicating that it should be a two-way process.

Ms. Sujatha Mohandas said the interactions with the parents were not about testing the latter's knowledge.

"It is about helping the parents be aware of the system itself. As for the child, every two-and-a-half-year-old is the same. We give priority to the locality of the child's home and parents who genuinely want to join the system. Interaction helps us in finding that out," she explained.

Pioneers

M.V. Gopalaswamy set up the first nursery school in the State in the early 1930s. His nursery school was known as Shishu Vihara. Paul Chinnappa, who was the Deputy Director of Public Instruction during the 1930s, began a school in Visveshapuram in the city. Another educationist, Nagesh Rao, started Vanita Vihara in Mysore during the same period.

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