KOCHI: The Freethinking School, in association with Vikram Sarabhai Science Foundation, Kakkanad, which provides Montessori-based experiential learning to children aged 2.5 to six years, is offering scholarships up to 100 per cent for children based on their family’s earning capability. These scholarships are being offered for the 2021-22 academic year when schools are expected to reopen.
“These are turbulent times. There has been job losses and salary cuts. We want to ensure that children don’t lose out. To support the parents and offer continuity, we will ensure that 45 per cent of our students will benefit from thescholarships,” said Suchitra Shyjinth, managing trustee of Vikram Sarabhai Science Foundation.
Montessori is one of the most-affected education sectors during the pandemic, not only from an institutional revenue standpoint but also from that of a student who is losing valuable years of early education. Covid may be over next year, but the impact of the pandemic will be felt for much longer, says the office-bearers.
“The early years of childhood form the basis of intelligence, personality, social behaviour, and capacity to learn and nurture oneself as an adult. Ninety percent of brain development in a child happens by the age of six, hence these are critical years and the Montessori programme is the most scientific method that caters to the developmental needs of the child,” said Sandy Philip, founder and director of The Freethinking School.
The vision of the school is to take Montessori to the masses The school was started six years ago and has 3 branches in Bengaluru and one in Kochi currently.