The years fade away when Ms. K. G. Meenakshi smiles. On this yet-to-rain breezy day at Sri Sivananda Balalaya’s campus in the village of Adavathur, Ms. Meenakshi, the founder-president of the Swami Sivananda Vidya Samiti that runs the school, is interacting with some senior students.
The light-hearted banter is not without purpose. For, as Ms. Meenakshi, who also serves as the school’s Correspondent, is fond of saying, “Everything is not always in the textbook. Learning takes place from various sources.”
In her 82nd year, there is little Ms. Meenakshi doesn’t know about education in India. With refreshing candour she admits, “The present system has to go because it is all totally memory-based education. How do you expect children to become researchers when they reach college with this system?”
Long innings
Born in Thiruvananthapuram and brought up in Coimbatore as one of six siblings, Ms. Meenakshi did her Masters in Political Science from Nagpur University.
She worked as a lecturer in Political Science and History at Tiruchi’s Seethalakshmi Ramalakshmi College for 40 years from 1956, and was instrumental in establishing Kamakoti Vidyalaya, one of the earliest Indian School Certificate Examination (ICSE) schools in the State.
Despite having spent four decades in the field of education, Ms. Meenakshi felt there were lacunae that had to be filled in the primary and secondary systems. So after retirement, she got together with her younger sister (Late) G. Sundari and friends R. Indra, Gowri Baskaran, Gowri Jegadeesan and Manimekalai Rajasekaran in 1996 to start Sri Sivananda Balalaya (under the auspices of Swami Sivananda Vidya Samiti), hoping to create the ideal fount of learning.
From a residential building in Thillai Nagar, the school moved to Ramalinga Nagar. The Adavathur campus was inaugurated in 2002 to fulfil Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliation rules that require schools to have a 2-acre premises.
Striving for excellence
“We are not very rich, not very posh, but our ideas are totally different,” says Ms. Meenakshi. “We deviate from the other schools in many concepts. Sometimes even the parents don’t understand what we are doing.”
But the initial resistance has given way to acceptance and even appreciation as the school comes into its own.
In a bid to reduce the stress created by exams and the race for ranks, Sri Sivananda Balalaya has done away with the word and replaced it with ‘assessment.’ The school management has also consciously stayed away from expanding to Standard XII to avoid getting caught up in the marks-based system, says Ms. Meenakshi.
“Children can select the lessons they want to learn and when the assessment can be done,” says Ms. Meenakshi. “In every class, we have a question bank made by the students for all their lessons. In the formal question paper, the name of the pupil who framed the question will appear alongside. This gives children a sense of responsibility and satisfaction that they are being consulted,” she adds.
The Kindergarten to Standard X school also follows an inclusive policy that allows children with autism, Down Syndrome and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to study in the same campus as able-bodied students.
“Our main aim is to make both the special children and society accept each other. But sometimes I find parents do not understand that as easily as the children,” says Ms. Meenakshi, citing the instance of a father who removed his child from the school because he objected to the special children sharing the same facilities as the able-bodied students. Caretakers are provided by the school in every class that has special needs students.
A radical decision
In her 20s, Ms. Meenakshi decided to forgo marriage. “It was a very radical decision, but I wanted to do something in the field of education and I thought that marriage would not allow me to devote time to my goal. My parents were very supportive. But for them, this school would not have come into existence,” says Ms. Meenakshi.
Despite her advanced years and delicate health (a spinal injury three years ago has restricted her mobility), Ms. Meenakshi stays alone with a female companion, and has a schedule that starts at around 10 a.m. and ends at around 2 a.m.
“My sisters are very annoyed with me because I don’t want to stay with them and relax,” chuckles Ms. Meenakshi.
“I feel so happy when I come to the school and see the little children singing and talking with me. This is the way I want to live my life. What would I do at home?”
Need for change
The future of education in India lies in making “every child a think-tank,” says Ms. Meenakshi. “They can and they will, provided you give them the opportunity,” she adds.
Sri Sivananda Balalaya is registered with British Association for Young Scientists (BAYS), which permits students from the age of 5 to 13 years to take up science projects with the London-based organisation. Locally, the school is collaborating with Bishop Heber College and St. Joseph’s College in a range of programmes.
“Everybody talks about the need for a change, but who is going to do it?” she asks. “My dream school is far, far away. I’m yet to reach it. I may not, but my successors will reach there for me. Because a dream school has to be more than what we have now.”
