Poornodaya Vidyanikethan threw a lovely Christmas Party for its neighbours on the evening of December 15th (2018). PV had invited the parents, several senior citizens, and staff members of government offices in its vicinity. The event began at 6:30 pm on the serene evening.
The educational director of PV, Mr. Anish K Joy welcomed the guests. Further he held a brief discussion with them on the pressing need for a value-driven & value-preserving vision for the educational system in the present times. He presented the fact that it is almost always easy to forget the goodness of old golden values and build an institution, especially in education which thrives without its true meaning and purpose. He also, presented a short video clipping of a cooking class held in a Poornodaya classroom to demonstrate how it is attempting to bring in this lost meaning which is often missing in modern-day school classrooms. He also pointed out; how it is possible through such holistic interventions to organically provide a didactic experience to the children for learning language, mathematics and the valuable life skill of cooking.
After his brief presentation, the institution’s advisory board member, Mrs. Shanthi Menon explained how it is important for an educational institution to provide a holistic learning environment for children. She shared her past 50 years of experience as an educationalist and noted that she has “never met anyone who thinks about education like the way Kondody management envisions”. She praised its open-minded approach towards education.
Following Mrs. Menon’s note, the volunteer from USA, Mrs. Rebecca Leah Friedman (nutritionist, chef & organic farmer) presented her views on the importance of healthy food habits for the development of children. Very keenly, she suggested the importance of having dinner together as a family in the modern homes. She was also delighted to share the variety of healthy fruit salad snacks with the guests, which she and the Poornodaya mentors had prepared.
Towards the end of the tea party, the educational director invited comments and suggestions from among the guests. Mr. Shaju S Paalithottam (former Principal, St.Anne’s Kurianad) praised Poornodaya Vidyanikethan’s vision and highlighted the importance & challenges of maintaining a high quality team of teachers through ethical Human resource management practices.
Dr. Tharsis Joseph (former Principal, Devamatha College) congratulated Poornodaya Vidyanikethan’s management for conceiving such a noble vision in a rural village and wished it “all the best” for its future endeavours.
During the comments and Q&A session, Mr. Sony (one of the parents) who was impressed by the institution’s management, sought to understand the details of its curriculum and its official designation as an educational institution. The responses to this question were given by Ms. Maya Mary Ittan (Principal), Mrs. Shanthi Menon (advisory board member) and Mr. Anish (Educational Director). Mrs. Maya explained the classification of the various educational
domains of the curriculum and regarding its equal emphasis on head, heart and hand. She also pointed out how this approach in classrooms will be more humane and effective for students. She has formulated a curriculum by combining elements from Montessori and Steiner (Waldorf) curriculums as well as from ideas of Rabindranath Tagore, Jiddu Krishnamurthi and Mahatma Gandhi.
Mrs. Menon added to Ms. Maya’s inputs by highlighting the problems caused by excessive reliance on text-books which encourage the children to fall into the rut of following the textbooks like a prescription rather than like a basic outline of things to be learned. She opined that this approach stifles a child’s creativity and real-life problem solving skills.
Mr. Anish explained to the audience that Poornodaya Vidyanikethan follows an alternative independent curriculum from Kindergarten to Standard VIII and comes under the official designation as an institution for catering to or supplementing homeschooling style of schooling by providing a homely atmosphere and a thriving learning community for children. He further said that, from Kindergarten to Standard VIII, the curriculum at Poornodaya is designed for students to appear for board exams of their choice from among Cambridge IGCSE, International Baccalaureate (IB) or National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) at high school and higher secondary level.
Following the Q&A session, the Christmas Tea Party was concluded without much delay by around 8:00 pm.