Basic Principles of the ANANDA Pedagogy
We at ANANDA believe that Every Child has the right to a happy and productive childhood.
The first principle of the ANANDA pedagogy is to give unconditional love to every child, for this is the only way we will get their co-operation.
Our job is not to “teach” but to create an environment in the school that will encourage children to “learn” how to read and write and how to manage basic arithmetic, on their own. Children are the main actors. We teachers are the props.
We believe that if children are happy, and not bored, it is possible to get them to be the biggest resource in our effort to make them literate. This is why we start with stories and games which all children love, and not with the letters of the alphabet that they cannot relate to.
We also believe that every child has some latent talent, strength or interest in some direction. If we can invoke that talent or interest, they will willingly co-operate with us.
We recognize that one child’s learning curve can be different from another’s. Some may have neurological problems to varying degrees. Some of these children may respond better to special methods of teaching. The SL Unit of ANANDA aims at providing such supplementary support. To the extent possible, our objective is to integrate these children in the general class.
We believe in the importance of peer support.
We desist from comparing one child with another.
We encourage children to compete with themselves and not with other children.
We believe in the power of household support for the betterment of children and aim at training up parents for generating supportive home environments
We have found good response to the ANANDA method of teaching for children from disadvantaged communities. Our ultimate goal is to be able persuade the relevant authorities to replace the current method of teaching in government schools based on rote learning, which has created a nation of ‘Na-layaks’, by our method which is not merely making children more literate at a faster rate but also boosting their self-confidence and self-esteem.