Chennai: In this day and age, where learning is done in swanky buildings, here is a school in the lap of nature.
We are talking about the Adyar Theosophical Academy (ATA)- A centre for transformative education, that is soon to function at the Theosophical Society, Besant Gardens.
The day school has been allocated nearly 1.6 acres and will begin its academic year from June, and have pre-school, LKG, UKG, class one, two and will follow the ICSE syllabus.
According to the director of ATA, Sonal Murali, “To maintain the student-teacher ratio, we will not have more than 20 children per class.”
So what made them start this on the lush campus?
“We already have six of our institutions running in the Philippines. For a while, we had been keen of starting one in India,” she says, adding, its USP is that it is in the midst of a green space.
Following Theosophist Annie Besant, who believed that access to education was an important empowering tool, the school aims to focus on character building and creating empathy.
“Instead of pushing down information, a lot of co-curricular activities such as gardening and other life skills, would be a part of the syllabus. Classes would take place in an informal way. We want the students to be close to the community, environment and have a social conscience. A single place should not be associated with learning.”
When the school opens in June, the campus will come alive with the amphitheatre, interactive spaces, while the students are expected to develop the patches of land into gardens, even as the informal classrooms will buzz with knowledge.
For details, contact 63834 61167, 90498 67345.