The Montessori Congress at Chennai in 2009

RUN-UP TO 2009 CONGRESS

City to host forum for Montessori schools

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: More than 100 years after Madame Maria Montessori, an Italian doctor who revolutionised education, set up the first Montessori school in Rome, and over 60 years after she lived and worked in India, the president of the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), Andre Roberfroid, will visit Mumbai for the first time.
Roberfroid, who was earlier Unicef ’s deputy executive director for programme and strategic planning, will visit Mumbai and Chennai next week. He is here to prepare for the Internal Montessori Congress, to be held in Chennai next year. This will be the first time that India will host the Congress. In Mumbai, he will attend a forum organised by
Montessorians in the city. “We have invited experts from all walks of life who do not know about the Montessori system. We will put forth our views, beliefs and method of teaching before them, and discuss the Montessori way of life with them,’’ says Sheroo Desai, headmistress of Activity Infant School, one of the eight Montessori schools in Mumbai. There are 22,000 Montessori schools in the world, 300 of which are in India.
The forum aims to answer these questions—What are the challenges facing our work for children? If there are no restrictions, where do we want our work to be in 10 years? How can we maximise the contribution of stake holders and what steps can we take to harness the efforts of those working for children?