Alternative Schools - Anugriha

Introduction

The Anugriha Charitable Trust was established in 1993 by Mrs. and Mr. M.R. Raghavan as a public charitable and a tax-exempt educational trust with the intention of evolving and demonstrating alternative educational methods in India . Mr. Raghavan, a chartered accountant and computer consultant, established and operated a consulting firm in Bombay before leaving the city to start a school in rural Tamil Nadu. Aruna Raghavan is an M.Phil in English, a former sub-editor of a reputed English magazine and a former schoolteacher. The Raghavans have spent the last decade exploring and experimenting with new methods of early childhood education. In 1991 they established the Primrose Institute in Bombay where they conducted courses for parents on how to utilize alternative educational methods to foster a love of learning in their children.

In 1992 the Raghavans left Bombay and invested their entire life savings to establish a primary school at Arasavanangkadu, a village of 1500 people situated ten kilometers from Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu. The school, named Shikshayatan, commenced operations in mid-1994 admitting 15 children aged 3 to 3 1/2 years to the first class. All of the children were drawn from low-income, scheduled caste families in which they are the first generation to receive any education.

Educational Philosophy (Presentation by Aruna and Raghavan)

Education is the process by which centuries of knowledge can be transferred in the shortest possible way to the next generation, so that they can start at the highest level of learning. When we thought of this as a philosophy we came up with 7 stages of learning.

1.         Training of the senses - the five sense organs, plus the two motors (hands and legs). This is the first process of any child’s education. We need the child to be in best physical condition to learn. The child sense and motor organs mature from 0-8 years.

2.         The second stage is data and information - everything is data or information. We continually imbibe data or information everywhere. This starts by the time the baby is 3 months old and throughout one’s life.

3.         Once we have data and information we have learning - learning from the data/info stored. This is a continual process. Starts at 0 (and continues) throughout one’s life. Since this is a continual process, no exam can evaluate this because learning is never complete.

4.         Learning leads to assimilation - every time we hear a new idea, we assimilate. Our scope widens. Our perspective widens. Things we take in and also what we leave out is also assimilation. What we take, what we leave and how to work on it is assimilation. This again happens throughout one’s life.

5.         Assimilation leads to education - education is seeing the common thread between everything and not focusing only on the differences. When we say perspective widens we mean this is leading to education. The child becomes mature from here on. This happens around 12 years and above.

6.         Knowledge - If there is a common thread, what is it? This is the thread of life itself. This is knowledge. There is a common thread, called divine, called life. We are all trying to do the same thing i.e. trying to learn about the life we are leading. These are the questions we begin to ask when education begins. This can typically happen once the child has some amount of understanding about our surroundings, its environment, people, the world we live in and all of the planet. (over 12 years).

7.         Wisdom - Once we understand and believe that there is a common thread and that we are from the same source and we go back to the same source, the way we relate to people changes. The way we relate is wisdom.

At Shikshayatan, we hope to take the children to this point by the time they are 14 years. If children can go out feeling one with everything he will never carry baggage, fear or anger in him. Whatever he does we hope he can carry this with him. Whether he is a doctor or teacher or lawyer he will still be a good person. All the methods employed in the school are based on this philosophy.

Education methodologies (Aruna and Raghavan)

We run a school in the village in Arasavanangadu school. In the next month or so we hope we will also have mobile library, which will go to various villages taking laboratory material and books to children not able to come to our schools. We also do teacher training for teachers from other schools. Education is one and the same for all. Education will take care of any social needs the child comes from. This is the base we take off from. The idea for the physical part of education comes from Dr. Glenn Doman from Philadelphia , who bases the entire growth of the child on growth of brain which starts from cord to the cortex. He recommends a number of physical training programs for children including creeping, crawling, walking on balance beam and running. Village children have extremely poor immunity. One of the first things that happens with creeping and crawling program is that the nose stops running, (we have) very clean children in our schools. This program helps in good writing. Our children have some of the best handwritings. No stammering or stuttering.  We take children from 2 to 14 years old. Irrespective of the age the child joins the school, we put the children through the physical program. We believe that it is only when the physical (condition) is fine that we can get the child to read or anything else with the mind. The first one year is entirely for the physical (exercise) and nutritious lunch and snack that the school provides. A homeopathic doctor also visits. The pons and the midbrain are very essential to transfer of data of whatever comes in to the brain. The sense organs only transmit the data. They don’t have any consciousness of what to do with what they have sensed. The brain cannot see, hear, sense. It has to use the 5 sense organs - the auditory pathways, visual pathways etc. The pons and the midbrain act as relays for transfer between the sense organs and brain. These are best developed when the child has done the normal process of creeping (moving on stomach) and crawling (moving on 4s). It works at any age. Man is the only creature who can cross pattern. Its because we cross pattern, our intelligence is what it is.  When the child is 5-6 years, we have yogasanas, evening games, etc.

The reading, EK program and math program - The EK is the introduction to the world program. It includes the littlest insect to the biggest stars. It gives the child the knowledge and vocabulary and on this is based the reading program. The math program is based on a dot-card system, about which we won’t talk at this point.

(Showed cards that form the EK program) On one side is the picture and back is the information about the picture. Pictures are from over 100 categories with 10 cards in each category. If a child is young, it is rewritten in larger form for reading. The brain does not see, only the eyes see. The visual pathways are fully developed at 8 years. So when the child is young, we need larger letters. Cards are laminated so that they are not destroyed easily. Every calendar gets converted into a card.

When we take 10 cards and give details of each card we are increasing the ideas of the child that much more and also helping the child assimilate. Our children are extremely good with animals, for eg, they will start with phylum, subphylum … genus. This is done as a game. If we tell them small words, they are not as interested as  if we tell them large words. A large word gives them a sense of accomplishment, J  (Jayashree). The EK program makes the word and object familiar and use of words familiar. For eg. When the cheetah is spoken about, everything about the cheetah is spoken about - the spots, how fast it moves etc. Also (we) show a video if possible. If the child hears a words so many times from so many different perspectives then the child is ready to read it. For a child a word needs to be familiar, interesting, joyous and written big to read it. That’s why any one year child can read Pepsi anywhere - tasted it, cold, gave great joy, very pleasing, and fizz. We have not sent him to school, yet he can read. The whole program is based on the fact that every child reads before he is taught to read, does math before he is taught, knows about the word before he is taught, we are merely helping the child articulate what he already knows. We also believe music, poetry, art is important for the soul and emotion.

 We have one school with 104 rural farm laborers' children. We are from Bombay and we landed in this place one fine morning. We have a lot of children with lot of handicaps and first 2 years we had problems communicating. They did not know any other language except their dialect and we did not know Tamil. We went into a study of how to help the child learn, especially if the child had difficulties. And the same method when used with normal children helped them become brighter. Medium is Tamil, but the English is just as good. The same method can be used for teaching any language. Children over 14 years, go to government schools 4 kms from the village.

If you know about advertisements, (you would see) that the methodology uses everything an ad uses. There is kaleidoscopic change. Cards are shown 1 card per second and 10 cards are shown at a time and stopped. About 30 cards are shown per session. After that the children are asked to go and play. We start at 2 years to give good health and nutrition before starting reading program at around 3 and half years. And by 6 years a normal child can read an encyclopedia happily. The whole method was originally devised by Doman for mentally hurt children.

 Contact information

Mr. and Mrs. M.R. Raghavan
Anugriha Charitable Trust
3/31 Anugriha
Arasavangkadu, via Sembangudi P.O.
NQM District, Tamil Nadu - 612 603

Email: actrust@vsnl.com  

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