| K.J.Baby, Kanavu, Cheengode, near ultan Bathery, Wayanad |
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19-year-old Shanti never studied in a formal school. Yet today she is pursuing her higher studies at Brookwood, United Kingdom on a scholarship. Her education consisted of informal learning at Kanavu, the experimental school founded by her father K.J.Baby in 1994 at Cheengode, about 18 km from Sultan Bathery.
Another Kanavu student, Saji, has successfully completed a diploma in film editing while Supran, an adivasi kid is all set to launch his New Year calendar of his own designing. Adding more feathers to its crown, 3 students of Kanavu recently got admission to an ayurvedic course that also includes traditional healing technique.
Started in the gurukula system, ‘Kanavu’ does not have a dogmatic syllabus or class-based divisions. With the support of his wife Shirley, a lecturer in English at Pazhassi Raja College, Pulppalli, Baby started the innovative teaching method by picking up 40 children, mostly adivasis. Ten years down the lane, most of the seniors of this group are pursuing higher education at different levels after getting past various examinations cleared by them as private candidates. 18 students are still pursuing their studies at the gurukulam.
The process of learning at Kanavu includes classical literature, languages, social work, support to people’s struggles, traveling, interaction with various people, exposure to nature, music, martial arts and meditation, besides earning their daily bread.
“Within a few years, Kanavu would be a big group of professionals of its own,” says a proud K.J.Baby.
Courtesy: Jose Kurien, The New Indian Express, December 17, 2004
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