Alternative Schooling in India

Front Cover
Sarojini Vittachi, Neeraja Raghavan, Kiran Raj
SAGE Publications, Dec 18, 2007 - Education - 268 pages
This book brings into focus the innovative methods of learning in many Indian schools. It sheds light on schools that make the learning process fun for the teacher as well as the taught, in contrast to the whirl of examination-oriented learning in mainstream schools.

The researched data on alternative schools in the country offer the reader an array of institutions all over the country, where efforts are being made to move away from traditional and mainstream learning. It includes exclusive articles by leading practitioners in the field, who offer an insight into the ground reality when a certain philosophy is applied to a school, and also experiential accounts of how such alternative practices mould the learner, teacher and impact the parent as well.

The book also consists of a directory of alternative schools in India, including many schools that are tucked away in remote corners of the country. Interestingly, the common thread binding these ‘alternative schools’ is concern for the welfare of the child by teachers who see their work as much more than a job.

From inside the book

Contents

Foreword by Krishna Kumar
7
Introduction
13
Can Innovations
45
Copyright

13 other sections not shown

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About the author (2007)

Sarojini Vittachi was born in India, studied at the London School of Economics, and undertook research in the 1960s on poverty groups in the East End of London and in Oldham, an old industrial revolution town in the Midlands. On her return to India she worked on rural development and travelled widely to rural and tribal areas. She worked for UNICEF for over two decades, was posted to many countries, working on development programmes, and retired as the Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa covering 22 countries. She then did an assignment in Gaza as a part of the peace initiative between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Her experience has suggested that education, particularly of girls, is a critical key to improvements in the health and wellbeing of the family. She now lives in Bangalore and is part of an advocacy group on girls’ education.

Neeraja Raghavan completed her doctorate in chemistry from Princeton University, USA and returned to India, to divide her time thereafter between industrial R&D and pursuing her passion, teaching children. Having been a freelance writer for several years now, she has written over seventy articles in leading newspapers and magazines. Editor of a CD on Understanding Religions, she is also an author of three books Curiouser & Curiouser (Full Circle 2004), I Wonder Why (CBT, 2004), and I Wonder How (CBT, 2007). Member of the NCERT Syllabus Review Committee and Textbook Development Committee 2006, she is currently settled in Bangalore where she works as an educational consultant and freelance writer. Her interests include music, reading and writing.

Kiran Raj is a commerce graduate with a passion for writing, teaching and children. Her varied work experience includes a few years in the corporate sector, the NGO sector (where she did some content writing for websites and educational programmes) as well as in schools in India (where she taught and developed new teaching aids and modules). She is currently engaged as a technical writer, and she works out of Bangalore where she is settled.

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