CHENNAI: Clapping their hands, dressed up in their new vibrant clothes, wearing mallipoos, and chanting ‘Pongal O Pongal’, the kids at Bala Mandir – Madhuram Narayanan Centre (MNC) for Exceptional Children celebrated Pongal on Friday. “We have celebrated Pongal for almost 20 years. This year, the specialty is that we are celebrating Pongal outside the building, in the front yard. We wanted to encourage the children to participate freely and we aim to expose the kids to real-life celebrations,” shared Vimala Kannan, founder-principal, MNC.
The organisation has a culture of involving parents in almost every activity, especially for kids under the category of Early Intervention (under the age of six), elevating it to a wholesome event. “Usually we get involved in kolam making and watch other celebrations unfold inside the school. This time it was like celebrating it in our village, with everyone involved,” shared Devi, a parent. Pongal preparations were monitored and coordinated by the teachers. Vimala said that almost 15 kg of Pongal was prepared. The turmeric for the event was used from the school’s herbal garden, Madhuvan, maintained by students and teachers.
Under the school’s scheme Sambhavam — an experiential learning that encourages the kids to get involved in outdoor activities that add to developing their intellectual abilities, — the school management noted that activities like gardening and preparations for festivities, help them gain more exposure and experience in all activities. Andal Raghavan, member in charge, Bala Mandir MNC, said that the kids were given demonstration classes on what Pongal is and how the celebrations proceeded. She said, “The kids were taken to the shops. They were shown the vessels, vegetables, and other necessary items. For the festival, they created the brick oven. All of them brought materials like sand and sticks and made the furnace. They also got involved in organising and decoration. However, the preparation of the pongal dish was done by teachers and parents, with regard to the safety of the kids near the fire.” After the Pongal holidays, the teachers informed that the children would be asked to recollect what they did for Pongal, making it an unforgettable experience for them.
Though everyone participated in almost every task, the students were categorised into different sections. Andal said, “For the orientation itself, we made them into four groups — three groups of kids from the Early Intervention section and one group of kids from the Jivikam section (above the age of 8).” Jaya, a parent, said, “Even every parent was assigned a different task, which made us concentrate more on our task and contribute to the event.” The school currently has around 66 students under the Early Intervention category and 32 under Jivikam informed S Vasanthi, director, Bala Mandir MNC. She said, “We want the children to get involved in every activity, thus, we are ensuring integration at every level. We at MNC, also make it a practice for the parents of the kids to attend the classes along with the children, especially for Early Intervention. Their attendance is also mandatory for as long as their children need extensive support. Through this, we empower parents to become advocates for their children.”
MNC was established in 1989 as a research and demonstration centre and integrated with Bala Mandir Kamaraj Trust in 2018. Maya Gaitonde is the honarary general secretary and Jaya Krishnaswamy is the founder of the MNC Unit.