Pallikoodam and IDiscoveri
An interesting counterpoint to Academy of Pacific Rim, was actually much closer to home than what i imagined.
The name is Pallikoodam in Kottayam. Pallikoodam means School in Tamil. I only hope this experimental school also turns out to be the school to study. And from what i read, its an interesting concept allright.
The following are some excerpts from Wikipaedia.
Students are encouraged to make music, dance, act, play and do everything that their heart desired, in order to make them into more complete, multi-faceted human beings. The extent of the success of this experiment is, of course, debatable, as the school has come under criticism for its weak science faculty and its lack of emphasis on learning. (Other shallow criticisms regarding the school’s modern outlook, ‘western’ culture and free intermingling of girls and boys, merit only this mention in parentheses)
The ‘upside’ of the Corpus Christi experiment is demonstrated by alumni who have not only gone on to study at some of the finest institutions of higher education in the country such as the IITs, the IIMs, St.Stephens College, and NLSIU, but some of the greatest institutions in the world like Oxford, Cambridge, London School of Economics and Harvard.
The ‘downside’ as mentioned before is the belief, among some of the alumni that, the extra-curricular activities being well and good, a little more emphasis on learning and academics would not have hurt. It is a fact that the school library although having an excellent collection of fiction and general literature, is not as well-stocked in the research section.
Concerns abound about Mrs.Roy’s advancing age and the question who would be a worthy successor, and whether such an individual would be able to take the school forward with the same dynamism and vigour with which she did. To resort to an oft-repeated cliche, ‘only time will tell.’
Just in case you are wondering about the Roy Connection and Kottayam, Yes, Mary Roy is none other than Arundhati Roy’s mother. Another feature is that Arundhati herself did her schooling in Corpus Christy, the previous name for Pallikoodam!
Another point we need to ponder is the possibility to duplicating such concept schools in other cities in India.
It is here that organisations like IDiscoveri comes into the picture. The following is an extract from Deccan Herald.
‘We learn physics and chemistry at school, but why not how the body is built and how I relate to myself and with others??’
Around 10 years ago, Ashish and four other ex-XLRI students reflected on these questions, as they watched the joyful faces of children attending the camps they held in Himalayas.
They realised nothing short of change in the system would enable young school goers like them to sustain the joy. IDiscoveri, the research and training organisation Ashish and his friends founded, is working with various school administrations to build an educational system based on creativity and experience.
Kids go to school because they want their parents to be happy and can catch up with friends in the break. Sadly, the thrill of discovering how the bulb glows or how do plants breathe, seem to be missing.On the other hand, we have teachers who want a job for earning or escaping from mothers-in-law at home. We wanted our programme to address these realities that mitigate both the teacher’s and kid’s ability to enrich each other’s experience, Ashish says.
Only time will tell about how far these initiatives would go in improving our school standards. But these are interesting developments which deserves encouragement and respect.
February 20th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
i hav also written abt Arundhati Roy today.
February 20th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
There is another attempt, “Kanavu”, in Vayanadu. I will see if I can mail you any link about them.
February 20th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
http://theblueyonder.com/wayanad6.htm
Read below “Visit to an alternative lifestyle school”.
February 20th, 2006 at 9:26 pm
chakra,
saw that and commentiten:)
jo,
many thanks for the link man, so nice of u:)
March 5th, 2007 at 2:35 am
.
When my son joined play school, I knew he behaved different. Was more confident and cheerful than other two year olds. Had difficulty sitting in class but knew more than his class fellows. And that was the pattern till he was eleven— didn’t like to write but was precocious where general awareness was concerned.
The teachers were distracted by him. Few who understood him were full of admiration for him but then not many understood him. Shravan was asked to represent the school in debates and story spinning competitions and plays. When Shyam Benegal visited his school, instead of selecting a senior student, his principal chose 12 year old Shravan to interview the famous director. And shravan did them all proud—he was the only one who was well read enough to know about Mr Benegal’s oeuvre.
But since Shravan didn’t like to write and was bored in class his scores started coming down in 7TH standard. The more the grades came down, the more his distracting behavior escalated. His teachers were irritated by him. His principal felt that his classfellows were intimidated by him because Shravan was showing off his superior knowledge.
Shravan did badly in Math in 8th standard and the school used that to throw him out. His councellor felt that although Shravan was naughty , it was the school that had sinned against him rather than the other way around. She said Shravan was a beautiful human and had keen observation powers. For the past one year Shravan has been doing his 9th in another school. But his sunny personality is not in evidence anymore. No longer he participates in plays or makes friends. Where once he was addicted to encyclopaedias and newspapers , now he has chosen to lose himself in fiction. Has lost motivation and energy. If I nag him into opening his school books he will hide himself in the loo—for hours. Or spends time under his quilt thinking God knows what . He is a teenager now and hard as it is to be an adolescent, in his case it has been coupled with his being different.
Now here I am reading iabout Pallikoodam,a school that seems tailor made to my son’s personality. Please be kind and tell me more about this school and how to get admission there. Shravan should be starting 10th standard from this April onwards but is okay if the school feels he has to repeat a year.
We are located in Delhi and I am aware that admissions are over in most boarding schools down South. Please, if you can, help Shravan.
Sincerely,
Jyoti
jykapa@yahoo.com