Minon John’s parents, both artistes, believed that they could home-school their children and make better ‘humans’ out of them.
At 16, Minon John’s calling card may be as a National Award-winning child artist and a painter who has conducted more than 60 exhibitions. What a lot of people don’t know is that he has accomplished all this without ever attending a single day of school. “My parents always had this idea of not sending us to school,” he declared. While other kids of his age went to school, Minon got his education from his parents, books and travelling — homeschooling of the exciting kind.
While a whole generation is insecure with the education they have and try to post-script degrees to their names, Minon stands apart, “I have a lot of dreams, but nothing is set in stone as new dreams come up....but right now I want to concentrate on my painting and also follow my recently discovered passion for photography. Ultimately, I want to do all the things that fascinate me,” he stated, a tinge of honesty apparent in his voice.
Minon’s parents are both artists, his father John Baby is a scluptor - craftsman who is dedicated in the research of traditional handlooms and his mother Mini John is a painter and his sister Mintu John is a Bharatanatyam dancer who is also home schooled. Talking about his parent’s decision to home school him, he said, “Their thoughts and lives were immersed in our education. They had the confidence that they could bring up their children without the conventional educational system and that they could raise us to be good human beings”.
Does he think he missed out? “Of course. I do miss school, but that is meaningless. Because travelling, reading and exploring has been a pretty amazing education,” countered the lad who shot to fame in the Malayalam hit 101 Choodyangal. Paradoxically, this lack of a formal education hasn’t stopped him from being invited to handle seminars and classes in schools and colleges, “My father and I used to take classes for schools. I also used to take special classes and seminars in college about educational psychology,” said Minon. Incidentally, Minon was awarded the National Award for Best Child Performance when he was 11 years for the movie 101 Choodyangal, directed by Sidhartha Siva. Turning back time, he said, “101 Choodyangal was solely a movie of Sidharth eettan. I can take no credit for that,. I was at an age were I couldn’t understand films or anything, for that matter, seriously.”
Reach Out: @MinonJohn