Eklavya Early Years has designed its own blended curriculum with aspects of Montessori, Waldorf, Froebel and other innovative pedagogical approaches. We place a lot of emphasis on the following aspects:
Multi-disciplinary learning
“Every student can learn, just not on the same day or in the same way.” - George Evans
Research suggests that there are three different learning styles – visual, auditory, kinaesthetic and tactile. Each child has an inborn proclivity to one of the learning styles. As a result, we believe in providing a wholesome curriculum that caters to all learning styles so that each child has the best opportunity to learn in a way that suits her.
That said, we also believe that from an early age, children must also be introduced to new ways of perceiving such that we achieve all-round development. Thus, our curriculum seeks to not only reinforce the child’s dominant learning style, but also gradually and lovingly encourage the subordinate learning styles so that the child is a balanced learner.
To achieve this, our learning environments are filled with multi-disciplinary materials that cover music and arts, logical thinking, books, fine motor skills, practical life exercises and sensorial learning. We also focus on rhymes and songs of different languages (Indian and foreign), stories, clay work and dance.
Nurturing स्वतंत्रता
From infancy, a child’s attempts at achieving individual liberty must be encouraged and guided so that she may finally arrive at independence. At Eklavya Early Years, we take this a step further.
We believe that each individual must be स्वतंत्र. स्व means ‘own’ and तंत्र means ‘control’. Quite literally, it means ‘I am under my own control’, not merely independent of others but responsible for my own actions and their consequences.
Our curriculum makes it possible for all children to become स्वतंत्र, capable individuals who do not rely on the assistance of adults to do their daily tasks and realise the importance of their own actions.
Our classrooms are designed keeping the child’s proportions in mind, and the children are trained to do all the tasks – from eating their food to cleaning up after themselves – on their own. This makes them feel proud and boosts their self confidence and self esteem. It also makes the child feel that we, as adults, value them and know that they are capable.
Our curriculum emphasises on practical life exercises – daily life activities such as buttoning, zipping, tying shoe laces, etc – not only because they enable the child to become self-reliant and independent but because they teach the child concentration, systematic thinking, will power (‘I must finish what I have started no matter how difficult it is’).
We also take this a step further through our innovative Khari Kamai programme, where we encourage children to learn the values of hard work and persistence, as well as the lesson of how hard one must work to even earn 5 rupees. This programme runs for 2 weeks around Diwali. A list of small household jobs are given with a corresponding monetary value. Khari Kamai can be done through arranging their room , laying the table, folding clothes, watering plants, filling water bottles, etc. No more than Rs 20 can be given for one hour’s work.
This hard-earned money is then donated to a good cause such as helping underprivileged children, which teaches the children to do good for society with whatever they earn.
Mixed-age group classes
“There are many things which no teacher can convey to a child of three, but a child of five can do it with ease.” - Maria Montessori
Traditionally in India we have had the joint family structure where children of all age groups grow up together. The younger children emulate their older siblings and cousins while the older ones learn empathy, compassion and sensitivity by taking care of the little ones. There is a lot of give and take that naturally occurs due to this structure, encouraging a unique sense of kinship and comfort for all children. As society moves further towards nuclear families with a single child, we believe that it is our responsibility as a school to create this nurturing environment that mimics the joint family for our children. Therefore, we offer mixed age group classrooms for children aged 3-6 years.
Benefits of mixed age classrooms
- It is often observed that children learn best from other children. Here, the younger ones learn from their older peers
- The younger ones emulate the behaviour of their older peers learning responsibility, courtesy, taking care of themselves and their environment quicker.
- Social skills are improved as the younger children learn to talk, discuss, come to an agreement, negotiate and solve a conflict and so on by watching their elder peers.
- It provides the young children an experience of the real world where they must interact and cooperate with others of different ages and backgrounds.
- It fosters a sense of responsibility and independence as the older children feel more capable and accomplished when compared to the younger ones. This boosts their self-confidence and self-esteem.
- Older children learn to be more patient, compassionate and thoughtful as they take care of their younger classmates.
- Since they are often viewed as role models by their younger classmates, this improves their leadership skills.
“The world is the true classroom. The most rewarding and important type of learning is through experience” – Jack Hanna
Learning cannot be confined to a classroom. For true learning to happen, children must draw their own connections between what they learn in the classroom and what they experience in the outside world. That’s why we believe that field visits are an essential part of our curriculum. We organise weekly field visits for all children to various places of interest within the city.