CHENNAI: Learning their ABCs is not the first thing the children at Indradhanu School do — the Waldorf System that they use does not make them read or write till Class 1. The system, based on the educational principles of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, has over 1,000 schools in the world and around 10 in India, Indradhanu in T Nagar being the only one in Chennai.
“In our school, up to the age of seven there is no writing, reading, homework and definitely no exams. The no exams holds good up to Class 8,” says John Miller, the founder of the school. Miller is a medical practitioner himself, specialising in pediatric occupational therapy. He runs a school for autistic children called Vidyanjali, and conducts training programmes in other schools.
“In this system a doctor certifies when the child is ready for the next class. The link with medical practitioners and therapy is important,” he says. His two children study in the school, and he believes that children need to be kept free in the early years so that they can make their decisions better. The children usually move on to mainstream schools after the age of 14.
Sujatha, a teacher in the school says, “We have our own rhythm in the school, with hours for things like painting, cooking, and gardening. We focus more on hand skills in the initial stages, and on natural materials. They are encouraged to go on walks and pick up objects,” she says. There are no electronic items in the school, only wooden blocks and knitted dolls. “Even in cooking, we make them use traditional items like the ammi because they will be used to electric mixers at home,” she says.
She adds,” We understand the child well in this system, we understand how children feel emotionally.”
A lot of the teaching is left to the creativity of the teacher. Sujatha gets the children to use tamarind seeds and ice cream to make shapes on the floor based on what she draws on the board. Sometimes the children are made to trace the shapes by moving on the floor.
The school is still small now, with a few children up to Class 2. “We hope to expand and spread this system of education in India,” says Sujatha.
Some of the schools following this system are the Bangalore Steiner School, Tridha Rudolf Steiner School in Mumbai, Abhaya Waldorf School and Sloka in Hyderabad.