Waldorf Education in India
“Receive the children in reverence, educate them in love, and send them forth in freedom.”
Dr. Rudolf Steiner
It has been over 100 years since the first Waldorf school was established in Stuttgart, Germany in 1919. At the request of his dear friend, Emil Molt, to open a holistic, humane school for the children of his factory workers, who were reeling under the devastating effects of WW1, Dr. Steiner put forth plans for the school, picked and trained the teachers himself. Thus the first Waldorf School came into being.
Since then, the Waldorf/Steiner School movement has grown from strength to strength and now is well over a 1000 schools across the globe.
India is home to 10 full fledged schools and 25 kindergartens across the country.
The Waldorf approach recognizes human beings as three-folded in nature — consisting of a spirit, soul, and body – and educates that entire being in preparation for a life of meaning and purpose.
At each stage in their educational journey, the Waldorf School meets the children where they are.
Up to age seven, children learn to stand, talk, and think – not by formal instruction, but through imitation. Young children imitate everything in their environment, from the sounds and gestures of people to the behaviours and values of parents and peers. The early childhood or Kindergarten school strives to provide an environment worthy of imitation, where daily and seasonal activities are delivered in a natural environment infused with beauty and kindness.
LOWER AND MIDDLE SCHOOL – IMAGINATION
Around age seven, with the change of teeth, children develop a readiness for more formal learning. As they gradually gain the aptitude for sequential and logical thought, their most vital asset continues to remain the ability to be fully at home in the pictorial world of imagination. Relationships are especially central to this age group. The students in grades 1 through 8 learn how to be confident, how to resolve conflicts and develop respect for the world and all its creatures through an enduring relationship with their classmates and teacher. They don’t have to be instructed about all of this but they learn through experience.
HIGH SCHOOL – TRUTH, DETERMINATION, AND JUDGEMENT – INSPIRATION
Around age 14, the child’s intellect wakes up, as do their abilities to think abstractly. When guided in the right manner, these qualities manifest as a search for truth, a valuable idealism, and a vulnerable sensitivity. Adolescents thrive when they have worthy moral qualities to emulate and an expanded overview of the world where they will create their future. Through years of daily artistic expression and an academically challenging curriculum, Waldorf education culminates in the high school grades with a conscious awakening of all human capacities. This is the essence of true freedom.
ARTS AND SCIENCES
Waldorf education integrates the arts in all academic disciplines at all ages. Engagement with the arts has been correlated to gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Music, dance and theatre, writing, literature, legends and myths are not merely read about but are experienced.
By meeting the students where they are in their journey, and by infusing art, music and movement into the broader curriculum, the Waldorf approach offers a holistic, compassionate education for the 21st century. It embraces the power of human connection in the classroom and inspires students to be life-long learners and develop their potential fully.