Little Wonders wonder!
Teaching is a joy for those in charge at
Baug-e-Jamsheed
Imagine a place where your child gets to
experiment with the principles of Physics at the age of two-and-a-half years, practices
yoga, knows her voice will be heard and enjoyed, her curiosity met with patience, and
where adults understand her language. If you are still left wondering where this
“wonderland” is, it is none other than Baug-e-Jamsheed, the steel city’s
leading pre-school!
The winner of the Dr. Jamshed J Irani Education Excellence Award, this school for tiny
tots has given itself a very simple Vision - “learning with fun.” One which it
hopes, will have a far reaching impact. The school has stuck to its belief that the
demands on a child must match his or her level of development to ensure that learning
becomes fun for the child rather than a chore.
When the Tata Steel News team went across with cameras in tow, it found Mrs. Shireen
Dotivala, Administrator of the school extremely intent on preparing a presentation on her
laptop for teachers on the creative teaching methods available to them. As a member of a
group, very appropriately christened PACE - Principals Awareness for Creative Education -
she and fellow principals in the steel city are attempting to encourage teachers and
principals here to make learning a lot more creative and hands-on.
Baug-e-Jamsheed is the first school in the steel city to have won the coveted Award
against stiff competition from the who’s who of Jamshedpur’s schools. “The
excellence process has been very good. It has given all the schools a common platform to
meet and discuss their ideas,” is Mrs. Dotivala’s response to the impact the
Education Excellence Programme has made. “Earlier, our measure of success was merely
to check if the children were happy to come to school. The Excellence programme helped us
to get a lot more focused, develop feedback forms, document our work as well as chart the
progress we have made over a three year time frame. Change was difficult but then we now
have everything, including our worksheets, teachers’ portfolios on the
computer." Ever willing to listen to the children and their parents, the Education
Excellence Programme, Mrs. Dotivala feels has enabled the school to stretch this
willingness to listen and change even further. |
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| Children her true love The confidence that Mrs. Shireen Dotivala
imbues in every parent as they leave their 30-month old child with her teachers and her is
possibly the only reason that allows many parents to turn around and walk away from the
cries of their children. As the Administrator of Baug-e-Jamsheed, Mrs. Dotivala and the
teachers at the school are the very first contact many of our children have with formal
schools. Needless to say, most of us will remain grateful to her for the guidance she has
provided and continues to provide.
Every morning, day after day, she is present at the school doorstep to receive every child
and greet every parent. Initially there is the obvious trepidation but for Mrs. Dotivala
the joy lies in watching these little ones grow and mature, “till October when they
are sitting on our heads,” she laughs.
Her tryst as an educationist began when she graduated from Sacred Heart Convent School in
the Steel City and was asked by the Principal to teach
at her alma mater during the six month gap between school
and college. “I went into the classroom and really enjoyed teaching the Nursery
students.” Therefore, education was the field she decided to opt for. After
completing her B.Sc. (Home Science) in Child Development from Baroda, Mrs. Dotivala came
back to the Steel City and taught for a short while at the Jhingan School before rejoining
Sacred Heart Convent.
“I always wanted to teach the very first batch of students - the Nursery students -
but was initially
Contd.. |
When asked to cite one reason which
makes her school stand out in the milieu, Mrs. Dotivala unhesitatingly says, “it is
the wonderful team of teachers, who are dedicated and willing to work long hours for the
palty amount they receive. “We are just like a family and you will be surprised to
know that not a single teacher has ever left us unless she is leaving the steel
city.” |
