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Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Thiruvananthapuram offer LKG and UKG in all the schools under the Chinmaya educational cultural and charitable Trust. The program is designed to develop one hundred and twelve living skills in the three year olds. This is achieved through activities, not textbooks. The activities include clay modeling, drawing, thread work, vegetable printing etc, each one designed to develop specific skills. They go for nature walk once a week, and the discussion that follows develops in them the capability to observe and communicate and a love for nature. They are given opportunity to tell stories of their own; sing songs on given themes and draw pictures to give expression to their imagination. Walls of all KG classes are painted with black board paint up to a height 3.5 feet; the children are free to draw write in this space. Learning takes place through expression in place of suppression in conventional classrooms. Physical activities are given to develop the muscles including those which we usually neglect, like muscles on fingers. These activities also help in activating the portions of the brain controlling them. Activities are so designed that there is a balanced development of all faculties; the child can blossom later in whichever field he has natural interests in.
The programme in UKG is similar to that in the LKG , but there the stress is on communication skill, especially the basic interpersonal communication skills. They will have become familiar with the LKG. The children also develop the list any and speaking through action process of list any to the teacher and replying in the most natural way. Role-plays, with dialogues make them capable of expressing emotions without being over ridden by them. Library corner provides an opportunity to come in to contact with books; start loving the books. By the time they come out of the UKG they are capable of communicating with other individuals as well as to groups;
The teachers who are well trained in the development of living and communication skills achieve all this. Sri. V.V. Joseph of the association of learning disabilities India provided the training. The training has been obtained during the past several months. One very special advantage of the method is that children with problems that can later manifest as learning disabilities can be detected and rectified at an early stage. With this in view, a support group has been formed by training a few teachers ( in the school section) in the counseling of children with disabilities, who can diagnose the problem and suggest solutions . Counseling is given to the children along with the parents and wherever necessary, parents are directed to approach specialists.
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