The Hindu : Kerala News : In harmony with Nature

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Thursday, Dec 04, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala

In harmony with Nature

A Correspondent

At Prakrithi school, everything starts by planting a tree.

Unique: Children at Prakrithi School.

Nedumbassery: The symmetry and openness offered by the splendid architecture of this building apparently discloses its harmony with Nature. Everything here starts by planting a tree on the campus. But there is nothing out here one could find similar to a mainstream school: no blackboards, no time table, no learning materials and not even qualified teachers. Still, they call it a school.

Inside, the sunlight and the breeze flowing in through the courtyard set the ambience where students and teachers sit cross legged on grass mats and discuss various topics. The classes are only on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. and the subjects may vary from art, farming to pure science. Welcome to ‘Prakrithi School’, located in and run by the Jiva campus of Moozhikkulam Sala.

“Here, we don’t have any professional teachers to take classes. We want our students to learn straight from the expert’s mouth. For example, a farmer is given the opportunity to take classes on agriculture or a postman on the functioning of the postal department and so on. This will help to catch all about the particular topic and to develop faculties for learning,” articulates Prem Kumar, one of the organisers.

Nearly 25 children along with some enthused parents attend the classes here. After planting a sapling, mostly of medicinal plants, a brief session on the relevance of preserving the nature and the importance of ecological balances is taken up. This is followed by a welcome song and after which the class starts where individuals with first hand experience in a particular subject hand down their understandings on it. And, the day ends with a short film show, which the administrators say ‘is an important part of our syllabi’.

The school administrators consider theirs as an effort to achieve an alternative school status but as of now, this is just a supplementary system to the main stream schools. “We have no agendas set here in this school and you can’t insist on the students to spend a fixed time here saying that this is an alternative school,” they observe. The school, just five classes old, also plans to conduct some study tours and practical sessions as part of expanding the knowledge base of its learners.

The administrators said that equipment had already been brought here to arrange astronomy sessions in December. Further, an interaction programme with the members of Sarang, an alternative school in Attappadi, Palakkad, who would be visiting Prakrithi school within a couple of months is also planned.

Finally, on the name Prakrithi, they say, “the name Prakrithi was chosen to express our accord with the role of the Nature in educating each and every human being, and science taught as a support subject for enforcing the theory. Obviously, prime importance here is given to the concepts of Nature and heritage.”

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