#Mission with a #Vision “An institution is the lengthened shadow of one woman.” True to this famous saying Manovikas ICSE English School owes its inception and growth into a mighty movement to the noble vision of its founder-Director Mrs. Therese Almeida, a great visionary, a crusader with a mission and an educationist with vast experience and expertise. Around 45 years ago she sensed a great need for a quality educational institution. This sparked in her a vision for a school, which would provide good education to children. She wanted to set up a school, “a school with a difference.” where learning in school would be a pleasure and not a distressing and painful experience. Her uncompromising willpower to make things happen and not wait for things to happen were the only investments way back in 1969, the year in which the institution was born. For Mrs. Almeida the difference that she wanted to make was not in the vastness, symmetry or the majesty of the physical matter that makes a school but the quality of the education it imparts. As in every seed there is a potential forest, every child according to her is a potential genius. The aim of education according to her is not only to identify the latent talents in a child, but to bring the best out of him/her and to enable him to use it for the benefit of society. Her humility, cheerfulness and confidence have enabled Manovikas to surmount all the hiccups and brickbats in the making of her dream come true. Her guidance and tremendous faith in the inherent abilities of teachers to transform every child into productive and responsible citizens of our great nation has certainly provided for the solid foundation for the growth of Manovikas into a trend-setter and torchbearer of innovative experiments. “Manovikas was not conceived as just another new school. It was and is programmed to make use on a carefully selective basis, of all the new and proven methods of education. Years of study and experience of so-called experimental schools have gone into the preparatory work that has resulted in the distinctive working plans for the school. With the help of Mr. Pilgaoncar, the Manovikas Trust was formed in 1968 which established Manovikas School in 1969.” “I would say that the rigid textbook oriented method with emphasis on memorizations, reading and recitation makes no allowance for the wide range in abilities among children with the result that the level of teaching geared to the so called average child is found too easy by some children while others find it too difficult. It is not only from the teacher that children learn but also from each other. The teacher must never impose but watch for and recognize the pupil’s individual interests and use this interest and use his natural curiosity as the starting point of his learning. With this in mind I started Manovikas School to cater the individual needs of each child. The school has a low teacher-student ratio. Students are encouraged to have free and frank interaction with their teachers and develop a cordial teacher-student relationship. Corporal punishment is taboo. The school emphasizes personal discipline and responsibility.” Mrs. Almeida as she is fondly known describes herself as a person who is not afraid of challenges. She is confident of facing any difficult situation because she is sure she can overcome it. She also believes for any situation there is always a way out, always a next day. She has overcome a life threatening illness. She seeks inspiration in challenges and challenging situations. She abhors waste in any form—wasted lives, wasted resources, forms of obvious conspicuous consumption. Probably this stems from the way she was raised as a child. She is extremely passionate about whatever task she takes up. She always tries to do something meaningful. She admires people who have managed to achieve a lot in their lives, pursuing a passion with single-minded devotion and achieving something in life….someone like Nelson Mandela. She is a firm believer that if you have a vision, you can achieve it. She believes in trusting in her ability and having confidence in herself. “If you believe in yourself and have the vision, even at my age, wherever I go I leave a positive impact. I like to work with the same passion as I started out in 1968. Being passionate makes me give my best to everything I do in life,” she says. By Remy Rodrigues E Dias, ex-teacher at Manovikas ICSE School.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 06:53:12 +0000
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