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Sunita Gandhi is an ex-student of
City Montessori School (CMS) and studied at CMS Station
Road, Hazratganj and Rajendra Nagar Branches. Later, Dr
Sunita Gandhi studied in England, receiving a doctorate in
Physics from Cambridge University in 1987. She received full
scholarship at Cambridge, including the Overseas Student
Award, the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholarship and
Trinity College Scholarship.
After completing her doctorate,
Sunita pursued post-doctorate research at the Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratories in California. Subsequently, Dr Gandhi
was selected to the prestigious Young Professionals Program
at the World Bank in Washington, DC. There she worked as a
project manager with governments on educational programs in
many countries and continents for 10 years. Her work on
education, women, and participation has been adopted as
among the Bank’s “best practices” and she was honoured
by the World Bank President with the Most Outstanding
Contribution to Development Award.
Value-education
in CMS by Dr
Sunita Gandhi
The
values that CMS has given to me and to now many generations
of children, are the surest foundation for the development
of every child. God has already given much learning
capability and potential to each and every child. It will
matter less what they will learn but it will matter more
that they will assimilate in terms of a values framework. At
CMS, emphasis is on both aspects, and children are inspired
to become both good and smart. Values matter more in life
than one’s ability to remember facts and relate theories
of relativity.
In the early days of the recent US
crisis in education, the catch phrase to sum up the problem
and search for answers was simple: Why can’t Johnny read?
A short time later, students were gunned down a Cafeteria at
Columbine High School, in Colorado and many more since then.
Surveys began to show that the children lied on a regular
basis, cheated without giving it a second thought, and acted
violently toward their peers. Now, the question, and
certainly the answer, isn’t to simple: Why can’t Johnny
function? Without realizing it, we are perhaps moving in
these very same directions in India.
Too many wars are directly
attributable to our substandard classroom practices. The war
on drugs. The war on the streets. The war against poverty.
None will be won until the war in our classrooms is finally
settled. Unfortunately, our schools have done a poor job of
educating our children. They have done an even worse job of
preparing them for life after the classroom.
This is why a school needs to be a
lighthouse of society. It should not follow others in
society, rather it should lead the way. It is not like the
newspaper. When you look at a newspaper, it tells you what
is happening today. When you look at a school, however, it
should tell you what our future will be like. It is
therefore a place where standards must not only be set but
also met. CMS is setting new standards in education and
meeting them. The Four Building Blocks of CMS Education and
its four pillars will help nurture education of a lifetime
instead.
Bright, happy, productive children
are no accident. They are a harvested blessing produced by
daily care and nurture. While parents are the first
gardeners, teachers are the next most important, that is, if
they too assume their rightful role and know its worth. By
nurturing a positive environment, the family and the school
build the ground for later success. They together immunize
the child against all evils of society at large. If both
work together in a positive collaboration, we know the tree
can be plentiful and fruitful one day. CMS staff seem to
look forward to nurturing our most precious trust, our
children, and our world’s future. They take pride in what
they are doing and they are constantly thinking of improving
their response to the children. So do the parents of CMS.
I am very happy to receive this
honorary award as an ex-student of CMS.
Dr
(Mrs)Sunita Gandhi Sigtryggsson,
12 Station Road, LucknowIndia – 226001 UP
Phone: 2638738
Email: sunitag@ims.is |
