The Mrs. YGP School

Promoted less than two years ago to embody Dr. YGP’s vision of a global approach to early childhood education, Chennai’s newest primary has precipitated a stampede for admissions

Promoted less than two years ago  (June 2006) in honour of Chennai’s doyenne of education, Dr. Y.G. Parthasarathy, promoter-director of this southern port city’s Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan group of schools, under the aegis of Calibre Educational Foundation co-founded by the husband-wife team of Madhuvanthi and Arun Kumar, the Mrs. YGP School was established to commemorate her on her 80th birthday (December 1, 2005). This pace-setting primary (K-V) school, whose foundation stone was formally laid by former president APJ Abdul Kalam on December 1, 2005, embodies Dr. YGP’s vision of a global approach to primary education, and fulfils Madhuvanthi’s dream to name a school after her grandmother.

Unsurprisingly, Chennai’s newest primary has precipitated a stampede for admissions within the city’s informed middle class, which values good foundational education. In the short span of two years, aggregate enrollment at the Mrs. YGP School, which admitted its first batch of 215 pre-KG to class III students in June 2006, has grown to 440 students (upto class V), supported by a faculty of 30 teachers even as the pre-school has been shifted to contiguous premises in the upmarket Mylapore suburb of Chennai.

The distinguishing characteristic of this avant garde primary is a partnership it has signed with the Edward Richardson Primary School, Tetford, Lincolnshire (UK), under which it will import curriculum and pedagogies, exchange notes and opinions through video conferencing, and initiate cultural,  student and faculty exchange programmes between the schools. As a member of the Global School Partnership (GSP) programme of the British Council, the Mrs. YGP School is eligible for council subsidies for student and faculty exchange trips with its partner school in the UK.

“The Mrs. YGP School is a departure from existing primary schools because our emphasis is on providing globally benchmarked education. We believe that we should provide children strong foundational education through activity-oriented pedagogy and learning labs, to help them discover the joy of learning. Therefore there is great emphasis on play and group activities. Moreover even as we promote Indian values and culture, we also expose students to foreign cultures to broaden their horizons and develop well-rounded personalities,” says Madhuvanthi Arun.

A visual communications graduate of Madras University, and education postgrad of Lucknow University, Arun has established a reputation for staging cultural workshops for teachers on the effective use of drama, dance and mime in early education. She has travelled extensively in the US and UK to study different education systems and pedag-ogies, and has implemented some of their best practices in the Mrs. YGP School.

To translate its objectives into pedagogy, the school has created a novel learning environment by substituting traditional classrooms with learning stations equipped with computers and subject-related activity kits. Every 40 minutes, students move from one learning station to another, which are appropriately titled — numeracy, literacy, EVS (environment studies), ICT (instructional communication technology), art and craft — and painted in distinctive colours. The pedagogies employed are interactive and designed to enhance students’ skill sets. For instance in the literacy lab, to encourage peer learning and cooperation, students are divided into four batches and during a story telling session, each batch simultaneously listens, narrates, reads and writes the story in turn.

“Moving students from one learning station to another breaks the monotony of classroom seating, and makes learning environments active and stimulating. Our experience is that activity-oriented teaching arouses natural curiosity and improves learning outcomes,” says head teacher Bharati Naimpalli who has been deputed to the Mrs. YGP School from PSBB, where she served for over 30 years.

Yet perhaps the USP of this new genre primary is its investment in 21st century ICT infrastructure, which enables teachers to reinforce abstract concepts taught in class through multi-media. Moreover, pupils are taught to personalise computer usage right from the kindergarten level, and the school website (www.calibreeducational foundation.com) keeps parents updated on school activities and current notices. Every child is provided with an e-mail address and homework can  be accessed by students and parents from home.

“We have almost eliminated textbooks and notebooks, and provide worksheets for all subjects. The kindergarten section has specially designed colour-cum-workbooks for children, and though classes I-V have textbooks for English, math and EVS, children use only one specially designed notebook divided into different subjects,” says Arun.

Although somewhat constrained for space, the school management has provided the requisite infrastructure. The school is equipped with a separate computer lab with 30 computers; a library with 3,000 volumes; a small indoor gym; colourfully painted art and craft and music rooms; and a small playground. Sports and games are accorded due importance, and class III-IV students are transported to the sprawling grounds of the Mylapore Children’s Club twice a week to play cricket, football and other games. Inevitably co-curricular activities are an integral part of the curriculum and training is available in Indian classical and western music, Indian and western dance, general and literary quizzes, elocution and creative writing.

Having completed the groundwork for providing internationally benchmarked and culturally enriched  education, the Mrs. YGP School management is looking further ahead to expand into upper primary (upto class VIII) next year, and finally into a full-fledged higher secondary school in new and more spacious premises. “Our mission is to nurture the inherent intelligences of our children to enable them to excel in their chosen fields after school. We want our students to enjoy their time in school and grow into happy, confident individuals with freedom of mind and spirit,” says Arun.

Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)