Why School Education?
My entry into school education was an accident of sorts. After acquiring my Masters degree in Chemistry, I just had started my research work and was still in the process of getting the paperwork done from the University. During that time someone advised me that I could spend some of my available time productively in helping one of the schools in Kotagiri in the Nilgiris where my dad was posted. The school was a relatively new one sending out its first batch of class X-students and I accepted it purely as an adhoc job. However, on going there and spending some time with the children I found that the students were not taught the way they should be. I started reading about Educational philosophies, pedagogy and also started experimenting with different teaching styles and methods which actually got me hooked on to the students and the teaching job. I found that the students responded very well to my hands-on practical teaching of Science and I was enjoying myself and at ease teaching. While I tried to apply the best teaching practices at that time, I decided to complete my B.Ed., degree not because it was a requirement to be a teacher but because I wanted to learn more about Education. However, most of what I learnt there was irrelevant to what was being done in classrooms. I also enrolled into a computer course and got a Diploma in computing. I was still pursuing my research part time although it slowly became my second priority.
My Journey in School Education Changes Direction to Ooty (1993):
After spending two interesting years trying out different interesting ways of teaching and engaging children and also getting the Bachelors degree in Teaching from the Madras University, I slowly got interested in Philosophy. For some time during this period I dabbled with the writings and discourses of Philosophers mainly J. Krishnamurthy and Rajneesh although I read quite a bit from Plato to Bertrand Russell to the more recent Spiritual Gurus which I will not go into here. My interest in the philosophy of JK moved me to the Blue Mountains School in Ooty which was set up by Mr. F.G. Pearce who is considered to be the Father of Indian Public Schools in our country. Mr.Pearce himself after much disillusionment with the Public School System in the country set up this school as an Alternative School. It was a completely different experience for me as a young teacher to be there and have a chance to experiment with the educational philosophies of the great Educational thinkers such as, J Krishnamurthy, A.S. Neil, Helen Parkhurst, etc., and Alternative Educational philosophies such as Self-paced learning, Team Teaching, Experiential Learning etc., which were all done in true spirit (I could write a complete book on the Educational experiment that was attempted in BMS- maybe some day I will write one). Unlike these days where schools do it just to have a catchy name to attract parents and only pay lip service to alternative education the BMS Experiment was a committed and focussed one driven only by a passion for providing children with an alternative, interesting and individualised way of life long learning. However, personal greed and selfishness of some people derailed the work that was being done there and the experiment started there still remains incomplete. Personally, I believe that Mr. Pearce had very good intentions while he founded the school and I have no doubt it had its glorious days as a seat of highly creative and quality alternative education. However, inspite of this it slowly fell to a low point due to lack of leadership and various other factors which we need not discuss here. In a nutshell no one can claim that the BMS experiment was a failure nor was it a complete success. While at BMS I completed my Masters in Education from the Madras University.
The Journey Continues…to Assam (1997)
After a couple of years at the Blue Mountains School, Ooty I moved on to another Premier school of the country The Assam Valley School that was being set up in Assam by the Williamson Magor Tea Company. AVS was a fantastic place where I spent the best part of my teaching career with some amazing people and I also started a family here, so it has a special place in my life. It was an excellent place and a very good community at that time where we came across and made friends with some wonderful human-beings. Life at the Assam Valley School during its formative years was really one where we “Worked Hard and Played Hard” under Headmaster Paul Carling, a Scotsman of impeccable integrity who lead by example. He and his wife Jane Carling who was also a strong and committed woman set up this school with the help of Mr.Bhaskar Ganti (who was the founding Dean of Studies) assisted by other colleagues on sound values and student centric philosophies which made the school a special one. Under Mr.Carling the school truly strived for a holistic education supported by the Williamson Magor Tea Co.