“You are talking to us about seeds and forests – can you do something for our children?” Subbarayappa had asked in 2003, when the team that went to the Mugilupodalarevu village, for tree planting, took shelter outside his home, during a sudden downpour. As if on cue, Duggeppa exhorted, in Kalligutta, 17 km away, “Teach our children, well, teach them about the forests”, clearing his goat shed to make space for a learning corner for the children. Thus began the journey of the Sanctuary Schools. Starting as non formal learning centres, in 5 villages, they transformed themselves into registered primary schools in Mugilupodalarevu and Kalligutta in 2008.
Our vision
The vision of the Sanctuary Schools is to create a culturally responsive, inclusive, contextually relevant learning environment for the tribal communities that affirms their knowledge and ways of life while also building skills for participating meaningfully in today’s society.
The Schools are envisioned as community-owned spaces where each individual can undertake the journey of learning and self-development in an atmosphere of freedom, free from any fear.
Making sense of a formal curriculum to a community that until about thirty years ago was living in the forests, was an enormous challenge. Participatory processes of curriculum design and teacher developnent have meant that all learners can learn and share in an empowered manner. Arts, reading, knowledge of the local ecology, writing, digital skills and mathematics and crafts have all been woven into the curriculum.
The processes in the schools were designed for the teachers and students to learn in an atmosphere of inquiry, where there was no authority of the teacher. This aspect of relationship building between the teachers and students has been emphasized as the core principle of the school and the teachers have been encouraged to understand the students, their lives, their interests and structure learning experiences accordingly. These ideas are also constantly reinforced as teacher development processes.
Biodiversity sketching by students
Subjects are introduced in an integrated manner through exploratory activities that originated in the context around them and experiential learning was prioritized, thus combining the learning of local ecology with other subjects.
Care of environment is integrated into the teaching of the formal school subjects.
Nagamma, a healer teaching the students
Conscious structuring of activities to include forest walks, seed collection and documenting biodiversity that changed the direction of classroom discourse where the students share the knowledge with the teachers. Resource persons from the community were brought in to share their experiences and knowledge, through structured activities
Mixed age group of children making science toys
The schools work in a mixed age grouping with children grouped according to their learning levels.
Child centred approaches like the Montessori method, Kindergarten -which respected the autonomy of the child – were adapted to the school context
Students performing Jada Kolattam
Participatory activities introducing art, pottery, music and craft to allow students and teachers to express themselves in multiple ways. Introduction to skill based work – like stitching, macarame, that was connected with a local women’s enterprise where students and teachers could see the value of meaningful work
Students being assessed
Continuous, formative assessments and individualized learning plans were developed for the students.
Peer learning and sharing have been emphasized between students, between students and teachers and between teachers; peer feedback and evaluation has been an important process of teacher development
Working with waste and recycled materials to produce art
Students collected waste paper from the community and created art work from paper
School being awarded the Green Flag
The Sanctuary Schools were awarded the Green Flag for integrating conservation into school curriculum
Continuous professional development
Teachers go through regular meetings and workshops for their own learning
Art and craft
Children have a structured year long program with art, clay work, embroidery and macarame
Amidst the forest
A school set within the context of the community
Community ownership
Community members and teachers meet regularly for sharing school experiences
English learning
Students beginning to learn English using phonetic methods and audio-visual resources
