Around the Child
- Parent Category: ECCD
Around the Child, a nursery for preschool children, was started in 1991. Ms. Jaysimha has developed her own eclectic syllabus for the children, incorporating Montessori teaching methods along with other teaching philosophies that she finds suitable. This syllabus focuses on the all-round development of the child- physical, mental and social- without resorting to competition. It operates in the mornings, with a strength of 40 children ages 21/2 - 5, and 4 teachers. Ms. Jaysimha trains the teachers herself. The school derives it funds from the fees and some personal funds.
In the afternoons, the nursery becomes an educational resource centre, a remedial school for children with developmental disabilities, like autism, Downs’ Syndrome, dyslexia, etc. Doctors and psychologists refer these children to this school, which started in 1995. In this class, the teachers work on a one-to-one basis with each child. They especially focus on the educational difficulties of the child, rather than the medical or social difficulties. However, they also work towards integrating them into larger groups so that they need not be isolated from others of their own age. On an average, a child spends 2-3 years in this class. Two teachers work with 10 children at a time, from the ages of 3-12. If possible, preschool children come to the morning classes as well.
The school has ongoing research from observation of children and experimentation with teaching aids; which feeds back into the designing and updating the syllabus for children. Ms Jaysimha is quite willing to work as consultant for other schools to spread awareness of their teaching methods and encourage them to use it as well. She plans to start a training centre for nursery teachers and a full time school for children with special learning disabilities.