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Mathakondapalli Model School, called MM School in short, is a CARTE BLANCHE DIGITAL SCHOOL in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. It was established in the year 1999 by a team of few committed social workers headed by Mr. Meru, a child rights activist in education and social development. The team focused on ‘child rights’ and shared the common concerns in the growth and development of children. In a scenario where many children still did not have access to education, the team debated on the quality of the “education” they will receive when they do go to schools.
The team studied the “school education system” from the point of view of child rights and examined the government educational policy papers including the reports of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
Equipped with this knowledge, the team visited several government and private schools and held interactions with government officials, managements, teachers, parents, community leaders, and children to acquire the status of children in schools.
We realised that the issues which face our educational system were complex. This, in turn, fuelled our desire for a solution and change, just like so many others we met. We strongly believed in the need to evolve and demonstrate a fresh model in school education, where the quality dimensions and the rights of children are addressed with priority. The thirst for change and innovation in the system to uphold the rights of children marked the birth of MM School . This is because we did not believe in the “one size fits all” paradigm. We felt personalised child-centric education to be the way forward. CBSE in all these years has set a good standard of education in India.
Some students learn faster than others. Some are visual learners, and some are auditory learners, while still some learn from experience. Therefore, the educational process should be flexible enough to cater to each child’s learning style. We believed that the evaluation of a child’s learning in school should be a continuous process. Hence, we strongly subscribed to the dictum that the skills, attitude, and capability of teachers are crucial in order to accompany children throughout their development and formation for the success of such a personalised education. When we know what the best way to learn is, the whole process of learning becomes far more effective.
We felt the need to customise education to cater to the needs of every student’s development process and focus on the professional skills and growth of the teachers. Our focus was to make learning a blend of skill building with intellectual advancement.
MM School is run by the organisation Rural Institute for Community Education (RICE), a registered society which fulfils all the legal obligations under Income Tax and Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. The society has a ten member general body and a three-member executive committee elected by the general body. MM School is a day cum residential coeducation school, situated within the RICE society owned 76-acres land with all futuristic amenities and assets. Presently, we have 70 staff and 1000 students, both boys and girls, out of which 70 are residents.
The school’s pedagogy is subject integrated and child centric. Theatre pedagogy integrated with arts and crafts is an intrinsic part of MM School . MM School is a Microsoft Aspire School where the entire teaching staff is trained in the digital teaching and learning process as certified Microsoft Innovative Educators (MIE), and Microsoft Innovative Empowered Educators (MIEE).
We have a centre of the NIOS stream attached to the school. We also have a fulltime football academy. The school’s services include the Parents and Children Counselling Centre, Community Health Centre, Educational Research Training and Development Centre. From the year 1990-20, we have a separate online education programme not only for MM School children, but it is open for all. We also have a vocational training unit in agriculture, floriculture, cattle farming, poultry farming, media education and electronics.
We are committed to educate the children of the 21st century. The coronavirus has changed education forever. Our opportunity is to leverage what we’ve learned to rethink learning experiences and make face-to-face connections even better than before.