SAIIER 2021:Nandanam Kindergarten

Kindergarten		Aha! Kindergarten
Entity::Nandanam Kindergarten by the class teachers

The special goal this year was to deal with the challenges caused by the pandemic: to find ways to support the children who were confined at home and help parents deal with this unusual situation where home schooling had become a necessity, for which most were totally unprepared.

We have 4 groups at Nandanam: Jalam Group (age 2½ to 3½ years), Prithvi Group (age 3½ to 4½ years), Vayu Group (age 4½ to 5½ years), and Agni Group (age 5½ to 6½ years). This year we had 54 children in all. 22 teachers guided the parents with activities and material to be taken home and they supported their children at home.

Financial sustainability was also our goal during this period and we did our very best to make ends meet.

Activities of the year:

Nanadanam Kindergarten had to close down suddenly in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and to this date it remains closed. This means that we have no substantial activity for the year to report.

However we felt that children needed to be supported and engaged during these difficult times and as teachers we felt called upon to rise up to the occasion and meet the challenges. We were clear that we didn’t want to go for an online platform as screen time for children so tender of age is not good.

Thus we waited for a few months during the full lockdown trying to get our own footing in these challenging and difficult times. Once official permission for small gatherings was given, following all the Covid-19 safety protocols, we decided to invite parents to the campus in staggered manner once a week, to collect education material plus art and craft activities that were prepared for the children. Thus once a week we had a brief individual meeting with parents to receive the activities done by the children, discuss how things were going at home and also to proposed new activities and lend other educational material.

Before inviting parents to school for weekly meetings, some teachers organized home visits following all the Covid-19 safety protocols. They took a little gift for each child consisting of a notebook, a pencil and an eraser. The intention was to connect with the children directly so that when activities were brought home by parents, children would know where they were coming from and who was sending them – they could put a face to a name. This way if school reopened one day re-integration would also be easier. It was also an occasion to know the family background of children and also discover their personalities. While a few children came boldly forward, others hid under a table or behind a door or clasped daddy’s long legs, partly curious partly shy. Whatever their respone, all the children and the entire family was really happy to receive the visit and it immediately built a sense of trust and collaboration between all.

Once in a while we also organized to meet the children in open air community spaces, in small groups and following the safety protocols for Covid-19. It allowed us to directly connect with the children and know where they were in their journey.

The fact that school was closed gave us teachers more time in hand to study and widen our learning as educators, deepen our connections as a team and through reflections and sharing strengthen the alignment to our goal and vision.

Always following the safety protocols for Covid-19, when small gatherings were allowed, we had a workshop of several days on Positive Discipline for Early Childhood Educators. We also had a workshop with several sessions on Exploring Paths of Music Education.

Outcomes:

Though we could not offer children regular classes and the rich school program, we saw that sending work home for children was very much appreciated by the parents and that children really had something to look forward to every week. It allowed children to stay connected with the school and have a basic educational program for their overall development in spite of the fact that school was closed.

54 children were supported by the teachers and 20 teachers learnt to adapt themselves to the ground realities of the pandemic and support the children differently.

Parents of 54 children received aid during this lock down, to keep the children engaged in a constructive manner.

Reflections:

While we were happy that we could offer something to the children in spite of the school being closed, we were acutely aware of its limits and challenges.

Auroville schools are child-centric and Free Progress is its core principle which calls for a flexible program for children. When children are in school we can adapt our program to their needs, both individually and as a group. When we send designed activities at home then the activities lose their flexibility.

As many things can only be done in the campus, since the whole set up is here, what we could offer as a home program was very limited. Moreover, parents, though with good intentions, tend to over-guide, direct and impose their vision and understanding of the activity on the children rather than allowing things to emerge from them. The craft material we offered home was not necessarily what the child could and wanted to work with at that moment and the parents don’t have material and psychological resources to handle that, whereas if they were doing the activities at school we can always adapt the activity to their needs and interest.

Closer collaboration with parents was an added learning for us. It made us more aware of the ground reality of different families and gave us the resilience to deal with them. Parents took responsibility for their children and dedicated a lot of time and energy for them. Collaborating with parents thus was very inspiring and next year we would definitely like to see how we can partner more with them in their children’s education.

Conclusion:

While we adapted ourselves to the situation, it really made us realize as never before the value of our work in school and the richness of the learning environment we normally offer. This, plus the various workshops that we did have brought the team even more strongly together with renewed energy and motivation.

We sincerely hope that we will be able to open school next year and that the Pandemic will be behind the shoulders for the whole world.