Day 2 of the Centennials celebrations of Montessori

Bngalore, Jan 7: Day 2 of the centennials celebrations was held by the Tamil Nadu Chapter. "Center for Montessori Training Chennai" came into being in 2002.

They have released a book called "Montessori Upakarmangal" in their regional language and also released a c.d. called "All kinds of everything" which has some catchy tunes and can be sung along there by making music a part of the children's curriculum.

The first speaker of the day was Dr.S.Anadalakshmy who spoke on the subject "Is child a forgotten citizen?" She is a renowned educationist who set up one of Chennai's best schools Vidhya Mandir ,which uses a creative and non-competitive methodology for teaching and management.Dr.Anandalakhmy Aptly brought out all the problems faced by the child in particular the girl child -from the society, his/her immediate environment and sometimes from their own parents. She called female -Infanticide a "Blot on all our collective consciousness" She emphasized that the light at the end of the tunnel was definitely the pre-schooling system as this was the only period where the child goes through a sensitive time where in everything which is offered to him is accepted and internalized. She is of the opinion that our child is so disappointed that he is screaming "Stop the World I want to get Off". But she ended her talk very aptly by giving a quote from Sri.Rabindranath Tagore: "Every time a baby is born it's a sign that God still belives in us".

The next speaker was Ms.Jaimala Kannan who helps set up the Montessori section in N.F.A.L.She spoke from the Montessori point of view on the same subject. She took this opportunity to get the people to "Pledge to remember the child".

The next topic of the day was "Child And Law". Ms.Bharati Ali Co-Executive secretary, HAQ Centre for child rights, New Delhi Enlightened the audience about the Legal rights of the child and also brought into focus a lot of loop holes which need to be addressed if the child needs to be protected.

Ms.Uma Devi could not make it so she sent her paper to be read by her representative.

The next topic was "Child-carrier of culture". Mr.Murlidhar Khoteshwar an IITian who has now dedicated his life to Art of living foundation and is actively involved in the education sector gave out very important information where in he linked part of our customs and traditions to culture and stressed that if the child is not exposed to all that he is entitled to for eg.Values,Practises,Rituals and taught the meaning of various symbols then it would result in nothing less than disaster as we would be responsible for allowing our future to forget his/her Roots and in essence his being. He finished by asking the audience to have an open mind to everything and said "Kuch jaan ke chalo,Kuch maan ke chalo,Sab ko gale laga ke chalo" this is the only way we can show our children to be tolerant and also appreciate our culture as well as cultures form other religion.

Ms.Amukta Mahapatra gave Montessori point of view where in she quoted from Maria Montessori "Everything that is part of culture offer it to the child".

"Child-Urban And Rural" was the next topic and the first speaker was Ms.Shubra Chaterji Director Vikramshila Education Resource Society Kolkata addressed the forum and pointed out the disparity in the way the government allotted funds to these two groups. She bought to our attention that the government was spending 20,000 Rs annually on the urban child and only Rs.856 annually on rural schools.

The last speaker of the day was Ms.Uma Shanker Director Center for Montessori Training Chennai, She emphasized that it becomes the moral responsibility of the urban schools to try to help and work with our rural counter parts.

The Programme ended with discussion between the audience and the speakers where both felt that its not enough to just have these forums but form a group where in what is discussed is out into practice to bring about a change in our society and where in every child gets the right of education becomes preview to all the culture which he has a right to and most importantly the rural sector get the help and support from its urban counterpart.
By: Amitha Prashanth

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