Oli branches out

How can we integrate curiosity about the world with deep inner connection, individual boldness with respect for others and freedom with responsibility? These are some of the questions that the team of teachers and facilitators at Oli school are asking themselves. Housed in one of Roger Anger’s early buildings in Aspiration, Oli is an outreach school to which 120 young people from the neighboring villages of Kuilapalayam, Lakshmipuram, Edayanachavady, Kalapet, Bommaiyapalayam, and Mudaliarchavadi, come each day.

Oli took seed as a small project in 2010 when Ana Garcia, a Montessori teacher from Mexico, was invited by Andre and his team to implement the method at the New Creation boarding house. Ana trained Sangeeta from Kuilapalayam who was working in the crèche, in the Montessori approach and together they began to use the method with the 12 children at the boarding house. Very quickly, their work began to attract more and more families from the neighbouring villages and in a couple of years the project had evolved into an independent kindergarten for children between the ages of 2 and 6.

In the following years, this tiny seed grew deep roots and spread its branches wide. 12 more teachers were trained by Ana for different age groups and in the different areas of the Montessori method. Gradually more children were admitted into the school. In 2014, the kindergarten, now 100 children strong, shifted to the Last School campus.

The day at Oli School begins with a meditation and morning circle at 8.45. From 9 to 10.30, they have free choice of work where the children can choose which area of the Montessori space they want to engage in – practical life, sensorial, language, mathematics or culture.

The Montessori system offers children a large variety of multi-sensorial tools and activities through which they can develop life skills, gain an understanding of the world and internalize concepts. Learning how to button a shirt or cut with a knife, putting together a puzzle that is the map of India or piling cubes on the basis of size and weight are some examples. At Oli, this hands-on approach to learning and integration flows out of the classroom and into the kitchen where the children help in the preparation and serving of snacks for the entire school.

Over the years, the team at Oli school has also embraced elements from other educational approaches and offerings available in Auroville. One of these is a free play corner where children looking for something less structured can spend the morning. Blocks offer them another opportunity for exploration. Oli has a dedicated space for Play of Painting where students spend 3 afternoons a week. And recently a platform has been added for ATB or psychomotricity body work. In addition, the children go swimming and for regular visits to Matrimandir.

According to Sangeetha and Marie Claire, at the centre of all these activities, a deeper, more fundamental level of learning is offered by Oli. By giving young people the freedom to choose their activity without any imposition, they learn to self-connect, listen to and honour their own needs, and to exercise choice. They also learn to respect the materials they use and consider others.

The balance between connecting with the inner being and relating to the outer world is at the heart of Oli School’s vision for the “society of the future”. How can children become independent, confident members of society while nurturing their inner awareness? How can they participate in the world while “keeping the psychic being very aware and very present”? What would such an education look like? Who do the adults and teachers need to be so that they can nurture these capacities with sensitivity and care?

It was these questions that first brought Oli School and Marie Claire together. A former nursery school teacher in France, Marie Claire had undergone training with Dr. Laskow in Holoenergetics. Holoenergetics is a healing practice originally meant for people in the health sector that includes a technique to ground, align with Source and centre in the heart, using breath and visualization. While in France, Marie Claire had used this breathing technique in her class and found it very helpful for facilitating growth and harmony. But it was when Oli School invited her to train the whole school in Holoenergetics that she saw how its immense power could serve education.

Sangeetha speaks of Holoenergetics as a simple, yet practical and efficient alignment practice for the teachers at the school. “We are all ladies from the village and we come from difficult circumstances. When we’re working with children we need to be centered, very grounded. And here we’re working with very small ones. The teachers need to be especially clear and focused. This tool helps us to ground ourselves every morning. It refreshes and regenerates us and supports the teachers to connect with the children at a deeper level”.

Marie Claire believes it supports the school on a subtle, energetic plane. “I can feel the power of this simple tool. I see the teachers growing in energy, growing in confidence. They are more present, settled and loving.” The technique, practiced with the children 3 times a day, has become part of the daily fabric of the school and a resource for powerfully and intentionally energizing the collective body of the school. Once aligned and centred in the heart, for example, a teacher can use intentionality to build a bridge, heart to heart, with a child and let the Divine Love flow to help the child if he or she is feeling low.”

‘Building bridges’ describes well the impact that Oli School has in the region. The quality of care, connection and learning experienced by the students at Oli is appreciated by the community. For this reason, people from several villages in the surrounding bioregion bring their children here, and students from different communities and castes interact with each other building trust and goodwill. The school is also a bridge that connects the villages and Auroville. As Sangeeta says, “We are very proud that we, ladies from the village, are able to learn all the tools that we get from people like Marie Claire and Ana to enrich our children”. Even in the short span of its existence, Oli is recognized for the quality of students that graduate from here. They are bold, confident, eager to learn, prepared to face the world while remaining connected to themselves.

Oli’s deep commitment to their students is reflected in the continued training and learning that its team of teachers undertakes. In addition to the monthly workshops they had with Anna, some teachers are currently undergoing professional training online in the USA and in Pondicherry. The Oli staff periodically connects with other Auroville schools and teachers to share knowledge, experiences and perspectives.

To sustain a project such as this several other people give of their time and resources. Palani, Guy and Marie Claire, the Executives of Oli, work hard on fundraising, maintenance and development and accounts. Oli’s biggest challenge, however, continues to be funding. They rely completely on individual donations, and while these are accepted with gratitude, they would be supported best by a regular grant.                        

Oli schoolcan be contacted at [email protected]