| “To aid life, leaving it free, however, to unfold itself, | | | | found that she could get these children to be on par |
| that is the basic task of the educator”. Maria | | | | with normal children in their reading and writing abilities |
| Montessori. | | | | within a few years. That set her thinking about how |
| It was a normal school class – noisy, a little chaotic. | | | | normal children could do much better, too. |
| A few students paid attention to the teacher standing | | | | Montessori tried to get the government to apply her |
| over them. But most of the kids pushed and shoved | | | | scientific education principles in public elementary |
| and screamed at each other. Two or three just stared | | | | schools. Not surprisingly, the governing bodies in Rome |
| off into space. | | | | would not give her access to these schools. |
| Next door, in the Montessori classroom, it was a | | | | Montessori, however, got the opportunity to set up a |
| different story. No pushing. No shoving. It was quiet and | | | | day- care center and school in a poorer district in |
| orderly. Children picked up materials and worked on | | | | Rome, where the parents were quite happy to have |
| their own, with minimal assistance from the | | | | their pre-school children taken care of during the day. |
| specially-trained teacher. When finished, the kids put | | | | This allowed her to experiment with all aspects of the |
| the materials back where they had found them. A | | | | education system, starting with the classroom design |
| four-year-old cut carrots by herself. The children | | | | and the furniture. She spent the close to 50 years |
| exuded a quiet confidence and a natural eagerness to | | | | defining and refining the Montessori method – a |
| learn. | | | | dedication and commitment that is difficult to find in any |
| My encounter with the Montessori method of | | | | other system. |
| education grew out of an article on education that I | | | | We can see the philosophical essence of the |
| wrote as part of my “Resurgent India” series a | | | | Montessori method in one particular story. In a public |
| few years back. I was invited to visit the Sri | | | | park in Rome, Maria saw a baby of about a year and |
| Ramacharan Trust in Chennai, a local NGO that had | | | | a half, a beautiful smiling child, trying to fill a little pail by |
| introduced the Montessori method in Corporation | | | | shoveling gravel into it. There was a smart and loving |
| schools in the region. When I visited a range of | | | | nurse next to him. Since it was time to go home, the |
| classrooms – some traditional, some Montessori | | | | nurse was exhorting the child to finish his work. When |
| – in a government school in Saidapet, I was truly | | | | that had no impact, she herself filled the pail with gravel |
| amazed by the stark contrast. | | | | and set the pail and the baby into the carriage with the |
| The spirit behind this endeavor was a feisty lady – | | | | fixed conviction that she had given the child what he |
| Mrs. Padmini Gopalan – and her colleagues. An | | | | wanted. |
| inspiring leader, Mrs. Gopalan took it upon herself to | | | | Maria was struck by the loud cries from the child and |
| convince the government to allow her to try this | | | | by his expression of on his little face. She realized that |
| experiment. She claimed existing classrooms, installed | | | | the little boy didn’t want the pail of gravel; he |
| her own Montessori-trained teachers and assistants, | | | | wanted to fill it himself. It was part of his |
| and began running classes in a whole new way. Under | | | | self-development. This is what happens to children all |
| her able leadership, the Trust now runs almost 20 | | | | their lives, Maria thought. They are not understood |
| Montessori programs in schools and Balwadis in | | | | because adults judge them by their own adult |
| Chennai. | | | | measures; and the adult, trying to help, lovingly helps |
| Having studied different education models over the last | | | | him do this; but the child normally is looking for the |
| eight months, my wife Girija and I are yet to find a | | | | learning opportunity and not the object itself. |
| better system than the Montessori method. I have | | | | I am puzzled why the Montessori method, the most |
| devoted the last month reading up on Montessori | | | | scientific system of education that mankind has |
| methods. The more I learn, the more I am amazed by | | | | developed, remains largely ignored. With its ability to |
| the depth of insight that Maria Montessori has | | | | handle large class sizes and mixed-age classrooms, |
| generated in the area of children’s education. | | | | this system seem ideally suited for the Indian context. |
| A medical doctor by training, she first applied scientific | | | | Please share your own insights of why the Montessori |
| learning principles to the education of disabled and | | | | system has not found more widespread appeal. |
| mentally challenged children in her native Italy. She | | | | |