COMMUNITY ROOTED EDUCATION, INDIA
Following the 2016 Educateurs sans Frontières assembly in Hyderabad, the Montessori community in India has been working tirelessly to set up programmes to reach more children from low-income backgrounds, developing a set of low cost Montessori materials and training modules to introduce the principles of Montessori practices.
An early focus for EsF Hyderabad was early childhood care and education in Aanganwadi centers (early years settings in rural areas) in Andhra Pradesh, India, which lead to the launch of a new initiative called Community Rooted Education (CoRE). CoRE is an initiative to bring Montessori education to underserved communities around the world, especially in remote areas, among migratory tribes, to displaced persons and refugee communities. CoRE is built upon the Montessori triangle: focusing on the child in its local environment, with adult educators who are rooted in the community and steeped in the local culture trained to use Montessori techniques and materials to support the child is in its development.
On the basis of a study of Aanganwadi centers and the National Early Childhood Education Framework, EsF Hyderabad developed a set of low cost Montessori materials and a training module to introduce the principles of Montessori practice. The programme, called Community Rooted Education, was presented at the World Congress in Prague and aroused a lot of interest from around the globe.
Community Rooted Education was a first introduction to Montessori principles with a focus on the preparation of the adult and the environment with the use of the low-cost materials to aid the work of the child. 55 Aanganwadi teachers in Thullur district have now been trained in EsF Community Rooted Education. They have been introduced to the basic principles of Montessori practice. Classrooms are equipped with key materials focused on activities of daily living, sensorial, language and math. The 10-day training is followed by monthly 2-day workshops for the following 10 months.
Additionally, a Montessori classroom has been set up for the children of an orphanage in a rural area, in collaboration with the Telangana Minorities Residential Educational Institutions Society (TMREIS). TMREIS adopted one orphanage in Hyderabad and sought the support of EsF Hyderabad in creating a Montessori environment for these children. Helen Mohan Elias from the TMREIS wrote an inspiring account of the beginning of the work with the TMREIS. She continues to work with the children in the school in Hyderabad and consult with TMREIS as they move forward. EsF Hyderabad hopes to offer an orientation to Montessori principles to the staff of the Minorities schools in the near future.
Children of Pragnya Montessori School perform at the Fifth Assembly of Educateurs sans Frontrières in Hyderabad, India.