This school sets the benchmark. We visited it yesterday in Ahmedabad while in search of inspiration and to get an idea of the kind of quality of education that it’s possible to provide in India.

What we found was indeed inspiring; children in classes of less than 20, led by initiators (the school’s teachers), who lead the children through 6month projects of anything from film making to water harvesting. These projects are led by the children’s interests, not by a curriculum- if a class is particularly musical, one of the projects may be to create a band, but within a project lasting half a year the initiators use their imagination, as well as that of the children, to draw out as many varied learning experiences as possible- the physics of sound, history and culture as reflected in music, design technology, linguistics of musical lyrics etc. There is no rigid curriculum, no fixed timetable and limited formal examination, yet the children end up learning all the useful skills taught in more conventional education, but without having to be dragged kicking and screaming through it; without the need to stifle each child’s individuality by moulding them into a set of hard and fast systems training them to jump hoops and pass exams.

In essence the pedagogy understands the immense complexity and diversity of knowledge and learning that can be found in almost anything, and realises that with resources and great initiators children can learn a great deal from a perspective that interests them. For example a 6 month dress making project can cover measuring, understanding areas of cloth, the technology that goes into fabrics, chemistry of dyes, fashion and culture from a historical perspective, aesthetics and design, how natural fabrics are grown and processed, an understanding of our own bodies and body shape, obesity, annorexia etc….

One  of the greatest testaments to the success of their education is the problem they have when children are ill- they just won’t stay at home! Seeing the school was at once a sobering and inspiring experience, confirming that the education we dream of is possible in India, but also reminding us of what a long way we have to go in order to provide it. It’s taken them 10years to create such a fantastic school, with fexcellent teachers, nigh on unlimited resources and in the midst of a city, with fewer problems of poverty and ignorance. We want to do the same, only in a place with no electricity or running water and no teachers in place with the potential to provide such an education. But for all this, we have an entire village as our playground- we don’t need to buy so many things into a fenced off city school to provide the experiential education- most of the things needed are already there in the environment that surrounds us. This is why if we can find the right people I believe we can provide an education that is more relevant and inspiring than that even provided at MG International School.