Joy. Imagination. Curiosity. Discovery. These are the experiences that can create a natural love for learning in any child’s life. To realise their full potential, children need the right education, at the right time, for their holistic development – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. However, in today’s world, these are being greatly curbed by visual technology (television, cell phones and laptops at home), and content-heavy curricula in primary schools.
Introducing an alternate approach to education, Swechha School by GITAM brings the globally famous Waldorf philosophy to Vizag. Launched in 2020, and being the first of its kind in the city, this school pioneers child-centred, holistic education. Swechha strives to nurture children to grow into truly free beings, with perseverance, to pursue their own will, and be visionaries for a better world.
With a fresh and meaningful take on education, Swechha Waldorf School has guided parents in Vizag to understand, and provide, learning experiences in the best interests of the children. To preserve an unhurried childhood, the school has a firm age criterion of 3 to 6 years for kindergarten (divided into Nursery, Lower KG and Upper KG). Children are enrolled on Grade 1 at the age of 6 years, as Swechha believes that this is the age that ensures an academic readiness for formal learning.
Curriculum
In early childhood, children learn to master the use of their bodies on their own and in this process, learn through their senses. Children are engaged in playing, cleaning, cooking, and knitting; each helping develop their limbs and senses of touch, life, balance and movement.
The grade school curriculum integrates storytelling, movement, painting, drawing, poetry, and music into lessons in math, science, social sciences, and language. Children develop creative problem-solving through these that expand their imagination and deepen their learning. The higher grades encourage inquiry, debate and dialogue of scientific concepts, community projects, and studies of history. This helps nurture their critical thinking and sense of justice.
School environment
The school building is designed with warm indoors and open outdoors that reflect the vision to create a safe, free and home-like environment for children. The well-ventilated interiors, with their soothing colours, add to the “feel free” feature of the campus. This environment enables love, care and stress-free learning that fosters joy in going to school for children.
Waldorf teacher
As a Waldorf educators, teachers at Swechha strive to be adults worthy of imitation and bring reverence into their actions and gestures. They ensure a safe learning environment for children by observing them without any judgement. Teachers demonstrate a strong sense and drive for self-transformation, willingness to learn, commitment to teaching artistically, and design of a balanced curriculum.
Parent testimonials
“Waldorf is altogether a different system of education. The changes are very much evident in her and the best thing is she is very happy.”
- Raghu Teja, Father of Ishaanvi (Nursery 2022-23)
“I believe that if his roots are strong, he is sorted in life. Swechha is a lot more than just a school. It lets the child grow up the way a child should grow up.”
- Nehal Mittal, Mother of Ishir (Nursery 2022-23)
“We wanted him not to be rushed or burdened with learning something like spelling or ABCD in a particular target or syllabus. So, we opted for Swechha which has a concept of Waldorf. He does not bring back homework. He brings stories. He brings stories. He creates, and imagines. That’s what Swechha gave him.”
- Sushma Yerubandi, Mother of Shivansh (Nursery 2022-23)
Discussion about this post