Dharawad: Generally schools are for children, however here is a kindergarten in the City where mothers have to attend the classes along with their children.
Kindergarten, Samskruti Shishumandira run under Saphalya Foundation based on Indian Gurukul system started with only three children in a small house I August 2014. This school admits a year-old child along with its mother. There is no extra fee charged for mother. The school starts at 9.30 am for children and 11.30 am for mothers. And the classes are given different names too. While baby sitting is called as Gokula varga, Nursery is called as Nakshatra, LKG is known as Chandra and UKG as Surya.
In this school, the children wear no uniforms, no shoes and have no exams. If the children do not do the homework the punishment is given to the Headmistress and not the child. The most important thing in the school is all the children call teachers as ‘Moushi’ (aunt), and this has given a sense of comfort to the children.
As mentioned above the school is holding classes for mother of the toddlers wherein parenting, Indian culture, moral stories, vachanas, mythological stories like Ramayana and Mahabharata are taught. This the school authorities say that would help mothers get knowledge of our culture, tradition and Indian epics aiding them mould the child in positive manner. Here the mothers have been instructed to cook variety of modern food with ancient touch. This has also made available healthy and tasty food to children.
English, Kannada, Sanskrit and Hindi are the languages taught here. The school encourages children and teachers to speak all these language. A timetable has been set for speaking a particular language on a particular day. When a new child gets admission into the school, the teachers learn basic words of child’s mother tongue so that the school environment feels familiar to the child. Students are being taught indigenous games and arts like playing with Stones, Chowkabara and rangoli among others..Eventhough the school follows modern syllabus, the teaching methodology is of Gurukul style. As there are no benches in the classrooms, the children are made to leave their footwear outside the school. Further, as school is temple of wisdom the footwear is prohibited.
Speaking to NewsKarnataka Samskruti School Headmistress Mrunalini Joshi said that, in our modern life we are losing our roots as well as forgetting our moral values, which is directly affecting our children. We are making children dependent on parents and not letting them become independent. This prompted me to start Gurukula system of teaching. The western education system began only 300 years ago but still it is widely practiced where as our Indian education system has the history of over 5000 years yet shunned. If the world follows Gurukula education system, there will be more harmony in the world with people going back to roots and learning to coexist the ancient way.”
Often women miss out on social life in the midst of family responsibility which leads to frustration. This frustration can be easily showed on children by the way beating them, which directly affects mind and future of children. Therefore in order to give some relief to women, we started mother-toddler classes, where the mothers are free to express their feelings. This has helped strengthen their family bonds, she added.
Mrunalini Joshi also said that if any working mothers are interested in attending the classes, then they are planning to start classes on Sundays, twice a month.
