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From the Principal’s Desk
One of the most striking features of AVRS is its location:
ringed on all sides by hills, and most visibly by the Western
Ghats on the west. During the monsoon season, dense moisture
laden clouds pour over the high ranges to the west and offer a
stirring sight indeed. Winds blow from the west with a fury,
occasionally bringing in horizontal sheets of rain.
The campus itself is very aesthetically built, with fine
structures that do not overwhelm but fit in tastefully with the
sloping landscape. Young trees dot the campus. In a few years
time, they will mature and offer shade for passersby and nesting
spaces for birds.
AVRS is a young school – a little more than a year old- and
carries little baggage. As such, it offers a glorious
opportunity for a creative teacher. Starting a school from
scratch is a complex task, and being a teacher in a new school
poses all kinds of challenges; but our teachers do what is
needed with good cheer and happiness.
A strong impression that visitors get when they interact
with children here is that they seem so happy. They are relaxed
and friendly, and feel no hesitation in talking with you. This
is so for even the youngest children. It says a lot about the
sense of security and feeling of being at home that the children
feel.
There are several clear directions in which AVRS needs to
develop in the coming years. I would list the following:
- Strengthening the student’s proficiency in spoken and
written English. Developing a strong program
for teaching of ESL – English as a second language – using
audio-visual inputs.
- Having more laboratory-based teaching in
the sciences and mathematics
- Having more activity centered teaching
in the languages and social studies
- Having more individualized instruction
in performing arts (classical dance and music)
- Addressing the needs of fast learners in
subjects like mathematics;
- Further development of life-skills and ensuring students
are being adequately prepared to meet the complex demands of
living when they leave the school; for example dealing with
prejudice, with violence, with fear and with the forces of
corruption.
A school is really a place of learning, and learning is not
just about academic subjects and preparing for examinations.
Learning is also about oneself and the world, and about living
with dignity in an increasingly corrupt and violent world.
Learning in this wider sense is a delicate and complex task,
requiring a relationship of empathy, trust, sensitivity and
affection between teacher and child.
These are important areas of challenge, and
I have every expectation that AVRS will meet them.
Shailesh Shirali, 2005
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