Swetha Krishnamurthy is one of the few educationists in the city, who has the courage and ability to keep herself off the beaten track when it comes to affording school education to young wards.
Coimbatore, January 19
Swetha Krishnamurthy is one of the few educationist in the city, who has the courage and ability to keep herself off the beaten track when it comes to affording school education to young wards.
Her school “Pallikoodam“ follows the “Reggio Emilia" approach to inculcate education at Coimbatore.
Simplicity caught up with the educations and here are the excerpts from the interview:
“Ten years ago when I moved to Coimbatore from Chennai, I was hunting for a school for my children and I was disappointed to discover the stereotyped and “factory- model” of education which existed here. Eventually and thanks to the guidance from my mentor late Dr.Clifton Chadwick, we put together an approach that is being followed by us now quite successfully”.
“This approach is meticulously crafted approach and it helps in developing and building the thinking processes and behaviors in students when they are taught a subject, content and how to work with others to deepen their understanding of the content” says Swetha.
Today, we have to cater to a generation where constant innovations and creativity takes place. We also have to get our present generation to be critical thinkers, and problem solvers, who have who are embedded with effective communication and collaborative skills, and these traits have become a quintessential requirement for a holistic education and we teach this in our Rak's Pallikoodam.
“Pallikoodam” follows the Reggio Emilia approach for the smaller kids while following the 21 st Century Learning and Citizenship for the grade schoolers. The teacher-student ratio is healthy at 1:20 and the kids work during the normal school hours like the olden times. The school provides lunch to the kids every day and the teachers, parents, and kids form a team in order to ensure that the future is bright and colorful” says Swetha.
“The Reggio Emilia approach was born in Italy and it was founded by a group of inspired parents after the defeat of Italy in the Second World War. They were led by Loris Malaguzzi, an educator, psychologist and philosopher and the objective was to create a generation of happy cum successful youngsters who will make the country rise again”.
This approach believes in the rights and opinions of each child for each child happens to be a competent, capable and natural researcher who has the desire for knowledge while also being ever ready to face challenges. The involvement of the parents gives the children a sense of security while the teacher plays a critical role in being the child's partner who recognizes the learning abilities. In order to further the process, the teachers listen, observe, inquire, document, work and react to the experiences of the kids," stated the Founder Swetha.
In order to make the kids independent and curious, the team of teachers and the Founder have created corners in the place of classrooms. There are corners for Math, English, Science, Social Studies and outdoor areas for sports and activities like loose parts play where they assemble the stuff using their own creative minds.
The school has a scribbling area too and the kids are free to study in any part of the school. The people at Pallikoodam call the environment of the school as the third teacher. The school gives an equal emphasis for both sports and academics for the kids.
“All of this took place while I was pursuing my education at the University of Birmingham about ten years ago. We had to study and choose a method which was best suited for India and my mentor put the curriculum after considering our setting. Yes, it was done with the board exams in mind too for the students will have to reach the next level.
With regard to 21st Century learning my experience at an existing institution helped me to understand what needed to be done. Our in-house lunch programme was brought in order to reduce the burden of the parents while the 'Weightless Bag' is aimed at making it lighter on the kids. The books are given only when there is homework and we specify the time that should be used for accomplishing the same, “shared the educationist who is trying to do things differently.
Pallikoodam is coming up with a huge facility on 5 acres of land off Avinashi Road in Peelamedu and half the space would be reserved for sports while most of the 130000 square feet of built area will have 2 blocks - one which take up 750 kids who will pursue the ICSE pattern and the other which will take up another 750 kids who will pursue the IGCSE pattern.
The six-court badminton infrastructure is being guided by Dr. Arif (Gopichand’s coach) and the main coach Mohammad Ali will be stationed here by him. While Dr.Avinash will be the in-house physio, Silesh will be the football coach. The school will also have the requisite infrastructure for tennis and basketball. It will have a cycling track for parents who can come during the weekend. Professional kids will be given schedules to ensure that they play and study besides having yoga as compulsory for all. Much of the facility will be hopefully ready by the June of 2018.
“There are three types of learners - the audio learner, the visual learner and the kinesthetic learner. Our lesson plan is designed to reach out to all three types of learners. Everything will be optimized for we don't know what’s going to come in later. We ensure that communication and creativity are taken care of while addressing the curriculum. This will help the kids to adapt to whatever that is in store for them. The students will ask the questions and will seek the answers too”, “added Swetha while showing the file which chronicles the activity of each student on an ongoing basis.
The school lunch break is only 30 minutes while the hours extend up to sixty minutes. The sports kids will be let to come at 6 am to do their bit with fitness and sports, get ready after a bath and have breakfast provided by the school itself before attending the classes for the day. They will finish the academics by 2 PM and go back to their sporting activities. The institution is going to keep its sports facility open for outsiders too. The inclusive approach has a TRIPS field program on Saturdays and this kind of helps remedial children to catch up with the rest by pursuing academics on the same day.
The team of teachers is coordinated by Poornima while one of the teachers Mallika is a lactation consultant. While Ritu is a Ph.D. in English, Preeja has an M.Phil to her credit. Agily, Pratiksha, and Smitha share the same vision and this is perhaps one of the few schools who encourages teachers to share their views with visitors. One of the teachers is a scientist. The school has homework for the parents too, for they requested and told how to spend time with the child. The kids, parents, and grandparents participate in all the annual day programmes by singing, dancing and performing in plays.
“Children are constantly exploring the world around them. Our philosophy offers the children endless possibilities and opportunities to be in charge and to be a protagonist of their own learning. It’s of utmost importance that teachers and children alike invest in researching and collaborating together in order to be part of each other's learning process. The child wants the teacher to see the process of their learning while they put the effort to accomplish the task, rather than the product. We want intelligent children and not rote learners. We, therefore, encourage them to think deeper and ask questions as they research different theories, “opines Swetha Krishnamurthy.
Swetha Krishnamurthy is happy to share the fact that she hails from a noble family which has put Coimbatore on the world of academic excellence but she wants her work to stand out and speak for itself.