Initiatives - Alternative Schools

Many schools attempt to provide quality holistic education to children from poor economic backgrounds. These schools come under a special category called “Alternative Education” schools because they seek to explore different alternatives in education. Such schools continue to encourage the spirit of enquiry in a child and help them make their choices based on nurturing the child’s interest and learning. A lot of importance is given to the child’s psychology at an early age so that they lose the psychological fears or complexes they may have towards learning. This encourages children to think independently and become more responsible. Most of these schools are engaged in creating and using innovative teaching methodologies that ensure that rote learning does not happen. As an example – some schools have developed excellent language teaching methodologies. Others may use creative games and experiments to explain difficult concepts in Math or Science. Some schools have changed the classroom structure to encourage better children-teacher interaction. Such creativity is typically missing in the conventional education stream practiced by majority of schools in India. Alternative education schools are often founded by persons with a strong interest in what education means and what it should provide. These schools try to address the inadequacies in the conventional system and create a space for exploring alternatives in education.

Many of these schools have been especially created to not only address the pitfalls in the conventional education system but also ensure that children from poor socio-economic backgrounds are not deprived of the opportunity for high quality education. These schools assist children in taking the mainstream government exams.

Some of the groups working in this area are listed below. Please click on the group name to read more about them.

Anugriha
Auroville
Gram Mangal
Poorna Learning Center
Poorna Pragnya
Vikasana

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