Montessori sets base in India

India is set to have its own Montessori Foundation. The Foundation will spread awareness of Montessori education and help the growth of Montessori schools in the country. The move to establish the foundation in India was envisioned on the advice of 600 Montessori practitioners and stakeholders from 39 countries.

With the support of Amsterdam-headquartered Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), which is the apex body for Montessori education, the practitioners had recently gathered at a congress held for the first time in India.

Govind Venkatesan, a committee member of the Montessori Congress said, "Our gathering here is not a one-off event. We want to have a lasting impact on pre-school and pre-primary education in the country. This is what has made us decide on forming the Indian Montessori Foundation."

"The foundation will be affiliated to AMI. It will work closely with schools, AMI-approved training centres and alumni of AMI-run teacher training courses to promote research and development of the Montessori approach to education and expand awareness of its principles across the country," he added.

In Mumbai, IMF will work closely with AMI's teacher training institute, the Ratan Tata Institute to help augment enrollments for the course, coordinate networking with the alumni and organise refresher courses for teachers. The IMF will also provide guidance and support to individuals and groups and non- Montessori schools wishing to setup Montessori environments. "We will be providing advice and support based on AMI guidelines for starting schools, and help in implementing Montessori practices in line with standard practices approved by AMI,” said Govind.

Currently Indian Montessori schools cater to children only till the age of six. But to train teachers at a higher level, the elementary level 6-12 AMI teacher training course is now made available at Navdisha in Chennai. To train more teachers at this level, the IMF will help in starting more training centres for the AMI 6-12 years course.

Govind also explained, "Teachers trained through this course will be guided by IMF to setup Montessori environments. Soon there will be enough trained teachers at this level for there to be sufficient environments in Mumbai, and across India."