Shruthi's schooling: (cont)

This has been a longer break than intended. Since I write to myself more than for others, I think I'm a bit laidback.

Coming back... We followed instructions given by Kamal religiously. We waited, chewing our nails wondering if Shruthi is fine and a thousand questions ... 'did she cry?', 'did she ask for me?', and many more.

By 11.30am we drove out of home and reached school earlier than expected. The most sensible thing a school could do to prevent us anxious parents from undoing what a good school day could do is to lock up the front gates. Dozens of us were hanging around, not bothered to interact with the others till it was time. At 12.30pm, we went into the school but were asked to stop at the boarding point. The children will be got here they said. So, more anxiety, more knots, tears... never knew I was so emotional and insecure about 'letting go'. And then, there came the little one - radiant, smiling, tiny, strong Oh! how much more stronger than me... showed that she had a good time. She had had a good breakfast and lunch and was given a small pack of snacks for the evening. What a relief!

She wanted to sit by herself... virtually elbowed me out of the seat and we had a quiet journey back to the day care together and then within minutes at home. To her, it was another happy day and for us, time to gather ourselves and throw away anxieties.

From then, till now, going to school has been enjoyable for Shruthi. She has never had complaints and I think I'm blessed to have such a wonderful friend and companion at home. (Guess all mom's will say this... yet, Shruthi, you are very special to me!)

Shruthi's schooling

That was way back sometime around Feb 1999. Shruthi was due to turn 3 that April. She was already at a day care and had absorbed a lot of things that the older children did. For instance, she would sit down with any book with pictures and try and read out a story to herself! It was hilarious, spontaneous and most creative. How many many stories came out of those pictures and how beautiful it was to see her live through those pictures and how it transported this cynical adult who is recording it after 10 long years into her welcome world!

Another thing she liked to do was play around with crayons. She would simply rub them one colour on top of the other talking to herself completely absorbed. I've never seen that kind of concentration in directed activities except during EPL at school.

Alright, back to the theme - We then lived in a huge apartment complex. There was no short of activity for adults and children. One evening in the course of a conversation, I realised that parents who had children of Shruthi's age or even younger were sharing their experiences of school visits and exchanging notes on admission processess. I was working at Eklavya Ahmedabad as a teacher trainer. My familiarity with schools was good by then. 

As a parent, I believed that children should go to a school which let them live, have fun and experience so many important things in life that the dull existence of a home would not provide for. I was also very very against putting my child in a school that involved travelling and most importantly interviewed them for an admission into pre school. I was willing to give the school alternative and fair ideas without charging them but I don't think anybody would've been willing to go for it. The difficulty of the test was in proportion to the reputation of the school itself.

Anyway, exercise number 1 - have a passport photograph of the child. That was the first time I was going to ask Shruthi sit down for a picture. We walked into a studio in Gurukul. The guy made this chubby, rolly polly girl sit down on the stool. We thought she had settled down and the guy said,'mere tharaf dekho'. Her eyes took in the whole scene and she got completely interested in the equipment. From where she was she queried him about it and he responded. He then said,'abi tumare photo kinchna hai. mere tharaf dekho'. She sat down and glared at him. He then said,'thoda neeche dekho' and that did the damage. She was then asked to look up because we realised that she had double bent on her stomach and the next thing she did was to really look at the roof. It was hilarious and an unforgettable experience witnessing the sincereity and eagerness displayed. We had to get her off, talk to her and finally decided to go for the best pic the moment we got one. A copy of that picture is a cherished treasure and i will scan it out and post it here one of these days.

A sigh of relief! Step 1 executed. 

Step 2 - Search for a school. I eliminated one school after the other because of the interviews and test.  Between Kamalakar and me we decided that she would continue at the day care for a full academic year and we continued with our routine.

There were days when Shruthi would go with me to office if there were no alternatives. She was the only one who enjoyed it. Core house offerred so much for exploration. She liked to play at the preschool play ground, run back and forth in the lecture hall endlessly as though she hadn't had enough and travel by the lift between the ground floor and the Eighth Floor with whoever she wished to. She was happy, gloriously dirty and starving at the end of the day. A chance interaction with Kamal Mangal one afternoon when he was there for work offerred us what we were looking for.

Kamal runs a school called Anandniketan in Ahmedabad. It was known for the facilities, a very child friendly environment and most importantly, the railway line at the backyard and the rabbits that strolled around. Shruthi hadn't qualified according to their age requirements. Kamal picked up a conversation with me and offerred to keep Shruthi in school because he felt that she was ready. It was June and the school was due to re-open in a week. He suggested that we send her to school on June 14, 1999. It was on an experimental basis for a whole month. If the school felt that she was adjusted and enjoyed being there we would then pay the fee for admission. I think this was more than what anybody could ask for. So, both Kamalakar and me prepared for the Big Day. We decided to drive her to school and wait outside and get her back home.

The previous evening Kamal sent a person from his staff home and asked us to meet him briefly. He told us to put Shruthi in the school bus (Route No.1) and occur at school only in the afternoon at 12.30pm. One of us had to travel with her by bus and inform where she had to be dropped off since she had to go back to the day care.

The first day at school will be posted shortly! 

Space - nothing to do with my earlier postings

Today I visited a school next door which at the outset sounded very honest and sincere. This is a school which caters to children in the neighbourhood - most of them first generation learners. They have been trying to do a fine balancing act and the changes that have come about among the children, the staff and the learning environment in general is very impressive. In the midst of our chat, the chairman came up with a query for play ground space which made me sit up. So, today.. I only talk of 'space'.

It got me thinking.... How many branded, good schools in this city (Chennai) have space for playing? Almost every other school I know of have rented out premises which is a walking or a short travelling distance from the school. So, right now, we could discount chances of children running out of their classrooms energetically after hurried lunches for a short game. Space to play therefore defines when and what to play with set rules taking into account the time needed to go back and forth. 

This also brought back fond memories of an imposing government school I studied in a little township Neyveli. The ground was huge. The school was big and had close to 2000 students by a rough calculation. We had a nice long jump pit, a wonderfully maintained basket ball court and space, space and more space. One could just sit and get lost gaping into nothing, bumping into nobody for a little introspection, play with friends a very intense, passionate game of ko-ko and get back to class sweaty, full of energy or sit in groups gossipping. I was not a very 'game' person. I did not enjoy the structured P.T classes especially when we were close to our Sports day. One had to slog with dumbells (or whatever) and other group exercises in the hot sun. No child or parent complained. Occasionally, a girl who was down with chicken pox or fever resting in the shades would be the envy of the rest of the school. Yet it was fun. The frustration in the sun, the exercises, failure at the long jump pit for a record of 7 years, doing sit-ups in front of the school as a punishment and much more are memories of that 'space'. There was a way to space out and believe me, it was theraupatic. We never had a to find a quiet corner or a table and chair of a well kept high tech room. It was simply the school ground. 

Today, we are expanding our virtual universe, virtual space. We have become loners for most part and being driven by some agenda or the other. Schools are so custom made to suit this life style. No space... No spacing out. Where is the time to waste when there are many things to do?

A few years back, I had a few lower primary grade children in my school who would draw microscopic pictures on one corner of the sheet provided. Their letters were small. My mentor who is a child psychologist suggested that these children be taken out and given activities in the open ... like painting a wall, drawing on sand etc. She explained that these children had to experience space. By doing so, we get them understand the physical and mental space. Space exploration since then has always been high on my list.

So, thanks to cyber space, I can put down my feelings. See, we need space for this too.