Waldorf Schools & Homeschooling in India

Since I started this blog last month about exploring homeschooling or related options for my son in Mumbai,India, I on & off come across bits of info about Waldorf Schools in India, Waldorf Homeschooling in India, Waldorf education concepts being followed in India, etc.

So I thought I will do a discovery post like many earlier. By that I mean I put down things I found out about how Waldorf education by Rudolf Steiner (also known as Steiner or Steiner-Waldorf education) is present in India.

I first found out about this when I got a response to my email on the Alt ED India and Pune Homeschoolers mailing list I sent in June 2010 (Read about my first mail here)

This is a response from Ruchi

“…I am based in Mumbai and did a similar process of finding out some years ago. I dunno how strong u feel about home schooling and if u r open to a school that offers alternative education. I finally put my kids in TRIDHA which is at Andheri and am very happy if you r open to it you could look it up on google. It has all the benefits of schooling and unschooling….”

As most of you know by now, that my son is yet to be two (he will be this September), I am going through lot of options (you can read about this in my Homeschooling June 2010 recap article) and saving them for future info. Hence the blog, the links, the emails and such. And not much phone calls and physical interaction with the list members 🙂

Anyways, back to the topic, I checked out TRIDHA recently and hence came across the concept of Waldorf schools and education in India.

On the Alt Ed India FAQ page, Waldorf is also mentioned as a method of Homeschooling. This is what it says –

[….

The Waldorf Method is based on the work of Rudolf Steiner. This method stresses the importance of educating the whole child—body, mind, and spirit. In the early grades, the emphasis is on arts and crafts, music and movement, and nature. As the child gets older, they are taught to develop self-awareness and how to reason things out for themselves. In this method there are no standard textbooks used. Instead the children create their own books. The Waldorf method also discourages the use of television and computers because of the belief that they impair health and creativity.
http://www.rudolfsteinercentre.ca/ – Information on Waldorf Education.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorfhomeschoolers/ – Online community for Waldorf home educators.

…]

Couple of weeks or so back I saw an announcement on the Yahoo Alt ED India Yahoo group from drniravmehta@yahoo.com, which says –

[…

ROOTS FORUM announces a talk on WALDORF EDUCATION by Ms. ABAN BANA ( Trustee Tridha School) for teachers , parents and anyone intersted in education. An education which responds to a child at each stage of growth based on RUDOLF STEINER Philosophy.”
Date: 26th June 2010 Saturday
Time: 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm
Venue : Orient Club , Chowpatty, Grant Road,
For Details Contact 9821728054 or 9833110732

The purpose of this talk is to learn from different schools of thought for the overall development of our children. There would be interesting topics discussed during the session:

Introduction to Waldorf education
Curriculum of the Waldorf school from kindergarten upto class 8
What activities parents can organize at home with their child
Holistic lifestyle as a result of Waldorf education.
This will be followed by question & answer session.

…]

Now recently I saw an email exchange which recommended resources for Waldorf Homeschooling. Here is the extract –

[…

Here’s where we ordered for 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades (of Waldorf schooling)

http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/
http://www.live-education.com/
http://shop.beaconmama.com/main.sc
http://www.waldorfbooks.com/
http://www.millennialchild.com/

A couple of these websites also offer sale of e-books.

…]

All this I saved in my email folder for future reference and started my Google search to know more about Waldorf and how Waldorf is being practiced in India.

This is what I found today –

[….in early childhood through imitation and example. Extensive time is given for guided free play in a classroom environment that is homelike, includes natural materials and provides examples of productive work in which children can take part; such an environment is considered by Waldorf pedagogues to be supportive of the physical, emotional and intellectual growth of the child through assimilative learning.]

Read more about the foundations of Waldorf education at Wikipedia

Closer home, you can check out – Waldorf activities at ANTHROPOSOPHICAL INITIATIVES IN INDIA, established in Mumbai by Aban Bana and Dilnawaz Bana in the year 1994.

You need to check out all the word documents on the above link for a better idea.  One of the document also lists several Waldorf schools in India (MS-Word document) most of which are in Hyderabad but there is also TRIDHA in Mumbai and some in other places.

This is all for now. Hope I get to know more from people on the lists and from people who read this blog, so I can make an attempt at this Waldorf model as & when the time comes.

Update 1
I got an email reply from Hema which says this –
Waldorf or Steiner method of teaching doesn’t encourage formal schooling till the child’s seventh year or correspondingly the first grade.
You have a long way to go and enough time to prepare. Here’s another one to get you started- http://www.waldorfcurriculum.com. Thanks Hema for everything !