Shefali Kosta, founder of Swadha — A Steiner School, shares with Tania Roy the details about the learning centre where children create their own textbooks and enjoy what they do
Walk into Swadha School nestled cosily in an apartment on Paud Road that has lots of greenery and a serene atmosphere to offer and you will be more than impressed. The next thing that will catch your fancy is that there are no textbooks in the school. Amazed? However, founder of Swadha — A Steiner School Shefali Kosta assures that the children learn the alphabet and numbers just as well as others, albeit in a more engaging and interesting way. “We don’t teach through textbooks. We give them direct experiential lessons. We let them play in the mud, touch the leaves, see the blue sky, feel the rain… All this external engaging with the world helps the child internally to build his ‘will’, the will to explore and learn more,” says Kosta who has adopted Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner’s ‘alternative education’. Steiner or Waldorf education, balances artistic, academic and practical work and understands the importance of developing the whole person.
It goes without saying that lessons at Swadha are not limited to classrooms. The teachers take the kids for nature walks and let them make art with what they collect while they walk or climb the hills. The little ones also learn about nature through gardening, know more about fruits and vegetables by cooking and get introduced to characters and human behaviours through story-telling. “We do not read out stories from a book. We narrate the stories and give them the freedom to explore their imagination,” shares Kosta.
For Kosta, who came from Bhopal to Pune to study Sanskrit at Fergusson College and later pursued her Post-Graduation, the city has been her learning ground. “I thoroughly enjoyed my college and university education. I became an ardent audience of arts, music, films and festivals that Pune offers. I also worked in the corporate sector for a decade. However, I wanted to do something more,” shares Kosta and adds that attending Indian toy inventor Arvind Gupta’s seminar did help her eventually set up Swadha in 2012.
“Gupta gave me a lot of references of educationists, schools and websites. I also travelled to South India, especially Bengaluru, and studied Waldorf education where teaching is a way of life and not a job for teachers,” says Kosta who went for a detailed study at the Centre for Steiner Education and Teachers’ Training in Mumbai.
Stressing on the need of nourishing the body and mind of children during their initial years (0 to 7 years), Kosta says, “We try to enrich their senses and nourish their minds by telling them stories, singing songs and giving them real-time experiences. At our school, we follow a ‘weekly rhythm’ based on seasons. On Mondays, children do art. So, if it’s monsoon, the children paint what they like about the rains. On Tuesdays, we go for nature walks, climbing the hills or someplace else. Wednesdays are clay days. Thursdays are for cooking and Fridays hand work. We make sure that every season comes alive in our classrooms.”
At a Steiner school, children are not given instructions, nor are they hurried. When a child throws tantrums, he is creatively disciplined. “We give him an activity he likes or we drape him in a fairy magic cloth and tell him that the fairy will take away all his anger. For some children, touch is important, for some, vigorous activity works and for others, talking helps,” says Kosta.
Admissions at Swadha are open for kindergarten (2.5 to 6 years) and Grade 1 (6 – 7 years). To get details, call on 9822023265, 7620088229 or visit www.swadhaschool.org.