‘Prerana’ which means, “Sublime Inspiration” was started in the year 2000 as an outcome of the immediate requirement to bring into focus the changing needs of the modern child. The drudgery of the endless exams and tests early intellectualization, have deprived children of their natural innocence and the simple joys of childhood. It was in the midst of burning issues, that ‘Prerana’ from an inspiring ideal became a tangible reality.
Originally a conventional school, it began its tryst with destiny in the year 1996. While doing good work, in successfully meeting the demands of the mainstream education, we initiators realised that the education we have today only focussed on the intellect, fuelling competition and materialistic cravings. India, with a population of one billion, should concentrate more on its educational policies rather than anything else. Education should lead children towards wisdom rather than just knowledge, as morally strong children grow up to be harmonious adults. Waldorf education came as a whiff of fresh air; Dr Rudolf Steiner (1861 – 1925) was an Austrian Philosopher and thinker, whose life work enlightened areas such as education, art, medicine, architecture and spiritual philosophy. A new educational movement occupied an important place in the developments arising out of a spiritual Philosophy called Anthroposophy. It means – human wisdom and knowledge of the nature of Man. It provides a path to the attainment of direct knowledge of the higher worlds. His educational philosophy is based on his spiritual understanding of a human and that child is a multi –faceted being, with a three fold nature comprising of body, soul and spirit. His aim is to make the child healthy, strong and inwardly free through education. Steiner says,”receive the child with reverence, nurture it with love and set it forth in freedom”. Steiner’s public work in education did not start until the end of I world war, when central Europe was in utter despair and he was concerned of the restoration of social order. The first Steiner school was established in Stuttgart in Germany in 1919 at the behest of the owner of the Waldorf Astoria cigarette factory. The factory director, Mr. Emil Molt wanted an education, with a spiritual basis, that will help his factory worker children and at the same time inculcate values suited to the humanity of the future. This education based upon a spiritual science recognises human being as a spiritual entity and to the teacher, the child is not complex mechanism but a divine creation. The past 90 years saw the emergence of 1000 schools in 60 countries. Each school is uniquely relevant to the social, cultural and economic conditions faced by its community. Waldorf school curriculum is deeply rooted in the local culture and traditions and each school is unique because it reflects the life and conditions of the community where the school is established. The key feature of the curriculum guided by Anthroposophy is to take into consideration the three fold nature of the human being, which means—
• Willing
• Feeling
• Thinking
And how these forces unfold as the child develops. Steiner education seeks to develop the proper relationship between these faculties. By doing so, the child’s physical, emotional and intellectual development is holistically addressed. Waldorf education aims at offering age appropriate learning based on the unfolding of the 7 year cycles. Capacities and abilities of children are different in each of these phases and so learning is also different.
Art and aesthetics, history and culture, endearing languages and enduring customs, the rhythm of life and harmony of faith, all go into the making of Incredible India!
India was the nerve centre of different cultures; art and tradition, where the Arabian nights formed as significant part of Indian story telling as the tales from Krishnadevaraya. It is a cauldron where polo existed with the local kabbadi. Over a period of time, there was a dimensional change in the teaching learning process. And the momentum drifted from pursuit of knowledge to exam oriented study. It is in this pressure filled, fiercely competitive world that one finds the need for the Waldorf system of education, where the class rooms provide the right environment for learning to take place but with a difference. The Indian education system is growing through a major transition, Waldorf education has come like a breath of fresh air. When one enters a Waldorf school one is ceased by the warmth of the environment. The serene ambience, the aesthetically done walls adorned by the students’ paintings, with the music floating in the air. The sheer joy was perceived and felt even by the ordinary passerby.
Children are at the mercy of the decision adults make. A young child’s education is no child’s play. Indian toddlers in the sophisticated new age schools don’t any longer draw on paper, but on the computer screen with a mouse. With computers in the classrooms, stories are not told any longer but are shown on CD’s. With children becoming more &more tech-savvy they are getting that much more isolated with self indulgent activities like –videogames, TV and now the monster IPod. It is in school that the impressionable formative years are spent. All initial learning is purely imitative. Undoubtedly the teachers, the aesthetic environment, peer group in the class above all, the educational curriculum will have a deep impact on the child. ‘I make my own textbook’, quipped a boy of class II. These ignited minds welcome learning with an openness. They don’t have to trudge along to school with heavy bags on their backs. They are armed with a pen and a compass box along with a brush and a flute. The sight of a caterpillar or a butterfly can start off a child into happily humming a tune. They don’t need special occasions to sing. For the teachers too, it is not a profession, but a way of life. Indian teachers connect well to Waldorf education because of the spiritual freshness it ushers in, which is automatically transferred to the curriculum. What makes the Waldorf education so special to an Indian teacher is the deep sense of self that comes about with it. For a Waldorf teacher, the process of learning never ends. They gladly accept the responsibility of every child under their care and consider teaching to be a consecrated service- thereby working on areas of concern like, how to help a child to be strong enough to know when he is weak, to be brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, to be unbending in honest defeat at the same time be magnanimous in victory, and who will master himself before he seeks to master others.
In an age where, Indian Universities are turning out more and more skilled think tanks, we are tempted to ask a vital question- what is education and how is it different from literacy? If literacy is the ability to read and write, are all literates educated? The answer is not necessarily, “yes”. Then do we have a true method of teaching? Yes, Waldorf education humbly rises to the call. It helps the child find meaning in his life. It comes close to Vedic education where recitation was the common mode of communication and it was generally believed that understanding would come later. Here the focus is on comprehension, creativity and cosmic individuality as the necessary tools to realize spiritual and academic goals. Waldorf educates gradually and keeps the
• Social fabric alive.
• Cultural revival, festivals are celebrated and brought to meaningful life
• Reverence and gratitude for what we have is inculcated
• Age appropriate learning - there is no need to jumpstart the child’s learning by introducing analytical thinking and computers at an age where the child should be indulging in healthy play.
• Art and science are brought about in a healthy interplay, removing abstractness to a large extent and thereby stirring up enthusiasm for learning and discovery in every child. The teacher gently leads the children through life’s various phases and their emerging individualities.
Waldorf education based on the principles suggested by Rudolph Steiner- answers the developmental needs of the child, according to the first 3 stages of a child’s life. When learning is age appropriate, it enhances the natural growth of the child.
In the first seven years the child largely learns through imitation. The child needs to go to school to study, to stand upright, to talk, walk and think. Learning comes most naturally by observing people and the happenings around. It is a challenge for adults to be worthy of that imitation, which the child does it so unselectively and instinctively.
The kindergarten teacher creates a second home where the child flows into the mood of the class and feels rested. Everything happens in a predictable manner, the morning verses, sand play, free play and story time.The class has a lot of natural things from seeds to shells and the teachers engage the will of the child through the power of imagination. The teacher has a structural plan to bring out the myriad activities in this soft environment.
The second seven years – the glory of imagination – when the child is ready for formal learning, show the signs of readiness with the fall of the milk teeth. The child begins to experience the world through delicate feelings. The child has to be nurtured with care as sequential and logical thought begins to unfold. At every stage of learning the child’s inner needs are borne in mind by the teacher. While it is essential to acquire knowledge and master the technique of reading, writing, literary and numeracy, the process to reach this level must be done creatively and artistically. The teacher becomes the architect of the class, leading the class all the way to middle school. “Inquiry into self demands a great deal of delicacy.” The teacher should lead through beloved authority. Along with the more abstract topics the children are engaged in honing their artistic faculties like painting, drawing, music and poetry; thereby bringing an inartistic subject to moving life. In an age where Indian art is almost dying, skills like basket-weaving, pottery are done. The teacher’s effort is to enliven the subject she is teaching by bringing it closer to life, the children learn for a lifetime with utmost reverence. Wonder leads the way for reverence, which later paves the way for good judgment. The materials used too are meant to serve the main criteria. It should be purposeful and it should be beautiful. The teacher handling the main lesson organizes the subject in such a way so as to appeal to the realms of thinking, feeling and willing in a balanced and harmonious way.
The third phase of seven years is the search for truth. With an emerging sense of judgment, there is an upsurge of other emotions coming to the brim. With judgment coming from sensitivity and the growing turbulence of the inner self, trying to meet other demands that are both social and physical.
In a Waldorf School, learning goes beyond the realms of a classroom. It is not artificially or externally enforced but willingly and naturally experienced. A Waldorf child is happier more relaxed, realises that learning is great fun and is more about the educating the WILL rather than educating the mind. The Indian curriculum provides for the child to be part of the good society but it is in Waldorf education that individuals unite in pursuit of common and selfless goal, that a child gets an opportunity to be a part of a great society. There is a thin dividing between survival and success. But an ocean of effort of the WILL to cross that thin barrier. The one system teaches you to survive where as we at Waldorf believe in success that comes from true happiness-where the child WILLS himself to be happy.
By,
Indira Varma
Founder Prerana Waldorf School
Road No. 14 Banjara Hills, Hyderabad
mbanjara@yahoo.com,prerana_mbanjara@yahoo.com