There are 28 Waldorf kindergartens in India. Some are well-established and a few are very new developing initiatives. India is a large country and all these kindergartens are spread all over the country. The first two Waldorf schools started almost simultaneously in Hyderabad and Mumbai in the late 1990’s. Slowly the movement spread and grew especially after the new educational policy by the government.
All kindergartens take care of children from age 3 to 6, and most of the Waldorf kindergartens also have playgroups for children from 2 to 3. Many Waldorf kindergartens also have a day care facility as a demand of the time.
Waldorf kindergartens earlier used to be initiated by educationists and parents who were introduced to Steiner education. Now After The Country association of IASWECE is formed the situation is different. Kindergartens start with basic training and with more awareness. Early childhood education laws are almost non-existent in India, so there is a lot of freedom and parents have a choice to opt for Waldorf kindergarten. We hope Waldorf education gets recognized by the Indian government.
All the Waldorf kindergartens run on the fees paid by the parents and personal investment and donations.
Training and working together. Sadhana , our Kindergarten association came into existence in 2014 The training for early childhood educators has been well organised. We are following the guidelines for training given by IASWECE. The five days training in April and National kindergarten conference in December, these two programs have been helping consistently to the new initiatives and teachers and to deepen their understanding since 2015. Both the events are well attended by all the member kindergartens. Besides these there are also two part-time teacher training courses in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai and one in Bangalore. They are for around 180 hours. Foundation courses are completely focussed on basic kindergarten teacher training for those who wish to work with the Waldorf impulse. We are hopeful and working towards the challenge to have a full-time course.
Ms Clara Arts has been instrumental in laying the strong foundation and helping us work towards the futuristic goals through the country association Sadhana.
We also have training of the trainers program every year through Sadhana. Initially we had five trainers and now the group is of 12 experienced teachers who wish to work as a trainer in future.
Whenever there is a group other than Mumbai and Bangalore who require and request for early childhood teachers training, we have gone in their city and helda foundation course.
A good reach out programs for non Waldorf schools are also held to help the kindergartens who wish to apply Waldorf impulse in their set up. A large number of teachers attend these workshops.
We are immensely grateful to IASWECE for their constant support to the movement for National kindergarten conference every year. So far our key note speakers and mentors are ms Clara Aerts and ms Silvia Jensen .Usually the mentors come for three consecutive years to grace the conference and deepen our understanding of Anthroposophy.
Trainers from other countries are also sometimes invited by individual school to offer specific training and mentoring or sometimes this is open for all. In some new initiatives mentors stay for six months or more and impart training and look after the new initiative until it can function on its own.
Our challenges:
1) Reaching out to parents and spreading awareness. Orientation is much needed. Some parents attend a workshop or seminar on Waldorf education somewhere and then search for kindergartens.
2) Waldorf kindergartens have increased in number in many urban cities.
3) 50 percent of parents agree with the fact that reading and writing need not be achieved in a hurry.
4) Parents have a concern for the continuity in this philosophy as there are very few Waldorf Grade schools.
5) It is still difficult to find a kindergarten teacher since the country is vast.
6)The schools have tried their best to adapt the curriculum for India by bringing in culture and local songs and customs wherever applicable.
7) Retaining trained teachers with the same school is difficult. Teachers get trained , work for two or three years, and then leave the school for various reasons.
8) There are more Waldorf kindergartens in big cities as people feel the need for this stress free and safe , warm environment for their little children but finding a suitable place which is desired to make such an aesthetically pleasing place is becoming increasingly difficult.
As India is a vast country the work on all the above challenges is in progress.It is really heartening to see the small initiatives and the individuals standing tall besides all difficulties but truly motivated for the little children in their care.
Looking back. The Waldorf movement in India is approximately 25 years old. In the beginning , the kindergarten teachers got on-the-job training by Miriam Haenen and Tina Brusma. Both mentors visited India for training for six years. Eventually , more international trainers started coming to India and Indian teachers also started to attend conferences and seminars both in and outside of the country.
Sucheta Garud is a former Waldorf kindergarten teacher. She is a member of the Board of Sadhana and an IASWECE Council member. Website of Sadhana: www.www.siwka.org