Alumni Voices

I must be very happy that I went to a school like Anweshana with such great teachers. The environment was amazing and nestled in the quiet green nature. It was the quiet environment that made me a curious explorer, spending most of my time reading the World Books. I feel that students will naturally find comfort and happiness in such an atmosphere. I am very grateful to Anweshana for giving me a great life for 14 years of my life. Since mine was the first batch of middle school students, there were some disappointments with the crowd and the class strength. I'm sure that problem is solved now and things are even better. I still feel there is too much freedom given to students and at times it can get misused if not monitored properly, but the aunties and akka's were there for all the support. Glad that we could concentrate 100% on learning and no student became fodder for the system. (The world is a messy place. Oppression, suppression, and depression are all very real.) Though moving from Anweshana to a traditional school was very easy to adjust, my grades didn't walk sadly! "Anweshana is like a nut within a shell; you will cherish your experience truly only after the shell is cracked open." But the true result will be shown only if you wait and sow it instead.

I still remember my first day at Anweshana. I accidentally broke a wall-hanging made of beads, and I was so scared I would get into trouble. Instead, Aunty told me that we could fix it together, and when I strung all the beads back onto the thread, she said, "Wow Rose, it's wonderful how patiently you work!" From day one, Anweshana has been changing the way I look at and engage with the world around me. It has made me more empathetic and made me confident that I can find solutions if I approach the problem step by step. Even now, I use visualization and association to understand new concepts that I have to learn, and this also helps me when I have to write or present information to others. The transition from an environment like Anweshana to that of a mainstream school was difficult because of the fixed hours allotted to study specific subjects, and preparation for exams was also something that took me a while to get adjusted to. However, I did not need much help understanding concepts and applying them to solve questions. Most of the adjustments were related to routine. Also, going to a mainstream school made me realise I had never participated in competitive extracurricular activities, and I did not explore things like formal public speaking or essay-writing competitions and such.

I would go to Anweshana since I was one year old to drop and pick my sister (Paavana) up from school; I had also made a few friends back then. I remember playing with Mariappa uncle too! In Anweshana, everything is taught in a very nice and understandable way. The materials we used since we were little kids have been fun and equally useful. It is a different way of learning in Anweshana where we sit on the floor with mats, we don't have any exams, and we would go on some very adventurous trips every year. After I left Anweshana, I went to a school called Poorna Learning Center, which is an open school, so it was not very different from Anweshana, but I still took some time to get used to the new ways of learning (without materials). It was also sad to leave all my best friends, but I made new friends and soon was adjusted to this school as well! :))

As a tiny two-year-old, leaving home to attend school was scary for me. I obviously don't remember the details, but my mom sure teases me about it and tells me how much of a nuisance I was—from throwing tantrums to crying my lungs out, I did it all. But it was only a matter of time before I enjoyed going to school, where each teacher was addressed as 'Aunty' and they were like our friends, and the campus felt like home. Anweshana created a beautiful and accessible environment; it never felt like a burden to attend school. While my sibling and others complained about exams and homework, I only worried about which leaf I could trace in my notebook. As a child who hated mathematics, I was never forced to take it up during class. I was free to learn anything I wanted, not confined to one class or table but left to explore the entire campus and study wherever I wished. I could work, develop, and learn at my own pace without any restrictions or peer pressure. When I joined Vibgyor after Anweshana, it took me a while to accustom myself to the uniforms, timetable, exams, and textbooks, but it also exposed me to various extracurricular activities, competition, and leadership roles that I later cherished and improved in. Although the Montessori method may be different from regular schooling, it lays the best primary foundation since kids are not exposed to exams and syllabus at a young age, which I personally find pointless. Allowing children to explore their interests on their own and develop their skills is what Anweshana is all about.

When I hear others complain about exams and the pressure to do well that followed them throughout childhood, I realise how privileged I was to have studied in Anweshana, where I enjoyed a school life that allowed me to bloom at my own pace. Anweshana encouraged me to be independent, make my own decisions, and did not chain me to a table and desk. I grew up hand in hand with nature, and my learning was never limited to a textbook. My experience at Anweshana prepared me for my life ahead in many ways. Anweshana taught me to love nature, to be grounded, and to never limit myself. The school also instilled in me a curious mind, a sense of responsibility, and a habit to delve deeper than what was taught. When faced with the transition to a traditional school, I was scared that I would not be able to cope with other students. I also went through the previous year's textbook to familiarise myself with the school before I left, and the change was seamless. At the same time, a schooling system in which information was spoon-fed and in which learning took place within the confines of a classroom was a different experience that took some time adjusting to. I also had to start learning Computer as a subject when I joined, and I was not able to grasp it well at first as Anweshana did not offer this subject. I was a bit disoriented initially, but thanks to the guidance of my teacher at Vibgyor, I quickly caught up. I had no other difficulties as I was well grounded in the concepts. Thus, when I think about Anweshana, no particular experience stands out, but a whole string of happy memories that I will forever cherish.

My family thanks Anweshana for creating such a beautiful environment, where Montessori reveals its true identity. My journey through Anweshana was wonderful, where I felt Anweshana more like my abode rather than a school, as the atmosphere and environment were more liberating and empowering. Our teachers were the most loving, caring, and very friendly, always motivating and inspiring. The teaching techniques were always with the agenda of learning with freedom. The concepts were explained from the basics to the most intense and complicated ones in the most fascinating, simple, and indelible ways, using materials which helped us to easily grasp what was taught. Learning in this manner was the main reason for our improved concentration and focus. Learning here was not only based on academics and extracurricular activities but was also focused on the valuable, basic, constructive etiquettes of life. We could understand and learn everything without the need to mug up, unlike other regular schools. Subjects like science were fun learning practically by experimenting and exploring. The method of teaching was very different comparatively; since attention was given to every child, there was minimal or no chance for any student to lag behind. Few of the everlasting bits of memories are: dancing and balancing a row of pots at the age of 5, watching fishes and turtles grow in our pond, trip to Mysore at the age of six, learning to stay close to nature, planting lots of trees, making rainwater harvesting projects, watching birds build nests in our environment at a very young age, celebrating all festivals with different customs and traditions, adventurous trips to places like Avalanche, Chitradurga, Mangalore, making mini chocolate houses at Bharati aunty's place, my presentation on homoeopathy in the Mela. Anweshana was basically the best foundation ever built in our lives. I thought moving into a regular school and getting adjusted would be very difficult, but fortunately, it wasn't. In my regular schooling, I always felt that the teaching methods and learning were limited and finite, but in Anweshana, our minds were given the opportunity to bloom, blossom, and grow without any restriction. I was happy to top my exams in all three years of my regular schooling and in my 11th and 12th too. Every student from Anweshana has blossomed to be a beautiful, vibrant flower whose roots strongly adhere to Anweshana.

Since day one, Anweshana never seemed like a necessary part of my routine, rather something I looked forward to. I immediately took a liking to the caring teachers, the comfortable environment, and it soon became my second home. I never had the unfortunate opportunity to understand my friends' complaints about their next exam or an upcoming assignment. Unlike the traditional teacher-centered education, the Montessori education system is focused on inspiring children to navigate their own learning. Teachers guide students and provide help, all the while encouraging them to choose their own tasks. Rather than merely etching concepts into memory, Anweshana instills in students a drive that motivates them to initiate and approach their own learning through an entirely different path. When I realized I had to transition to a conventional school, I was quite nervous and afraid that I would be unable to keep pace with other students. However, I made it a point to not do just that—I prepared myself by contacting friends I knew there, familiarized myself with the curriculum, and borrowed a few textbooks to get a glimpse of my new lifestyle. This allowed me an effortless transition, and I was soon accustomed to it. Though Anweshana refrained from introducing learners to subjects like Computers, I did not have a hard time with this because in Anweshana, I not only learned, but also learned how to learn.