“The child preserves all the glorious values of the society and passes it onto the next generation. Man creates himself (as a child). But adults can help. Please do.”
– Mrs, Meenakshi Sivaramakrishnan
The Indian Montessori Centre would like to humbly offer our respects to Mrs. Meenakshi Sivaramakrishnan who left us on 22nd January 2023. She was associated with the Montessori movement for the last 6 decades ever since her IMTC training in 1964. She later served as Director for 23 years. This edition of the newsletter offers a humble tribute to the exceptional leader who mentored thousands of students who trained at IMC.
Reflections!
Our pledge to you, Guru
-Mrs. Uma Shanker
Dear Reader, we are offering this tribute to celebrate the life of our teacher, mentor, our Guru, Mrs Meenakshi Sivaramakrishnan. She inspired us to take the path of working with children following the Montessori philosophy and serving the child.
Meenakshiji, Meenakshi Ma’am, Meenakshi Akka, and to me Meenakshi Athai….. What’s in a name asked the poet, What’s in a name….a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
She was much more than a guru to all of us…. Each one of us felt that we had a special bond with her.
Meenakshiji was the reason why I came into this world of Montessori education. She supported me and stood by me in many, many ways through all these years. I would like to express my deep gratitude and love today as I remember the various worlds that opened to me because of her encouragement and faith that it could be done.
Meenakshi Ma’am, you along with your friend, Dr. B.V. A. Rao have put Indian Montessori Centre on the map nationally and Internationally. Your total commitment to this task, your courage, your discipline and your sense of adventure have been awe-inspiring.
Today, we pledge to continue our service to the child in the light you have kindled in us to not merely follow the child but to respect and aid the child in his development.
Om Shanthi
Montessori At Home!
–Mrs. Meenakshi Sivaramakrishnan, Take Montessori Home (cover)
“The first step towards independence may be- birth itself. From that time the child is inexorably urged to grow in independence. He makes a maximum effort towards this goal. As an infant, the child needs to find his bearings in this world. Help must be provided for performing his daily activities. The HOME is where this help can come from. Since the fundamental development of the child starts from birth, the first education begins at home and the parents become the first educators. Nothing can replace this environment. Whether we are conscious of it or not we do serve as educators.
Even walking with the child can be an opportunity to help him. Notice that the child is attracted to anything he comes across, and that is the hunger for knowledge. Although it is very difficult for parents to let children go out of their dominion, positive help should be forthcoming in the form of tools to work, the knowledge of how to work with them and the freedom to work with them. All these converge towards the child’s conquest of independence.
–Mrs. Meenakshi Sivaramakrishnan,
excerpts from an article- (Towards Independence)
Glossary of Montessori Terms
Mrs. Meenakshi Sivaramakrishnan very eloquently observes the parallels between Montessori’s philosophy and ancient Indian terms. This glossary reflects a couple of those terms. To read the full article by Mrs. Meenakshi, please click here
Dr. Montessori is the one who wants to introduce the Exercises of Practical life in an educational environment. It was also strange to us when we did the course. Why the school would teach what the child should learn at home? Mr. A.M.Joosten, who is my guru would start the lecture by saying ‘The child already knows about it but we help him to put all his main powers in the same stream. So it becomes Desire, Knowledge, and then Action. It took me some time to digest it. Then I remembered that my ancestors had said ‘ichcha shakthi (the energy for desire), gnanasakti (the energy for knowledge), kriyasakti (the energy for action)’ and in that order. Thereby knowledge became wider and more fulfilling when preceded by desire. We can see the same thought reflected when we talk of the exercises of practical life. Time and again we say that practical life is not only for helping the child learn life skills, but it is the most wonderful opportunity given to the child for entwining the three cables (willpower, knowledge and action) as it were to make a strong cable. Covering all three will be the work that the child does separately and all together.
Spiritual Embryonic period: Montessori called the period from birth to 3 years as ‘the spiritual embryonic period’ and Meenakshiji explained the birth of the spiritual embryo, beautifully, as the awakening of the ego, (the ‘aham’, in Sanskrit) where every human being becomes aware of himself as separate from all others. She said that other philosophies also considered this as the time of the birth of the ego. So, we understand why Montessori calls the child from birth to 3 the unconscious creator and the one from 3 to 6 years as the conscious worker.
Library corner!
- Editor, Periodical “Voice of Innocence” from the Society for Further Propagation of Montessori Movement in India and the Indian Montessori Centre, Bangalore
- Member of the Editorial Board, – “Voice of Innocence”/Voice of IMC
- 1994/2007 Edited the book “Towards Healthy Humanity”
- 1996 Edited the book “Gateways to Montessori” Vol – I & II
- Authored the book “Montessori Muses” Vol. I & II & III
- Authored the book “Montessori Directress”
- Translated the book “Secret of Childhood” by Maria Montessori into Kannada
- Authored the book “Montessori Upakaranangal” in Tamil for IMC Tamilnadu Chapter
- Published the book “A Year with Montessori” by Sri Sankar Datta Pandey
- 2007 Translated the book “Take Montessori Home” into Tamil
- Montessori Directress.
- A bilingual book on Montessori materials Montessori Ubakaranangal
- Translated the book The Child in the family into Kannada
- Lions look at Montessori
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Journey of her Life
Early Life and Education
- Born on 2nd December, 1932 to Rajam and Rama Sundaram
- BA from Banaras Hindu University
- Marriage to Mr Sivaramakrishnan, followed by a happy family life, with children and grandchildren
- AMI diploma ( primary) and AMI Trainers Certificate from Association Montessori Internationale, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Career
- 1966: she became the Directress of the Chintana Montessori Home in Chennai.
- 1977 to 1979: she served as a full-time course assistant for the Indian Montessori Training Courses (The first Indian Montessori Training Course was conducted by Dr. Maria Montessori herself when she came to India).
- 1977 to 1987: External Examiner for this course
- 1987: Osmania University invited her to conduct a series of lectures on the Montessori Method to Post-graduate students of Comparative Education
- 1988: She was awarded the Training of Trainer’s certificate by the AMI and she was appointed the Associate Director of the Indian Montessori Training Courses (IMTC)
- 1990: she became the Director of the IMTC
- 1996 to 1998: she was the Director of the Summer Course at the Montessori Training and Research Centre, Hyderabad
- 1998- 2001: she took over as the Director of the Chennai Montessori Training Centre
- 1997 onward: she has been Training Directors at the Indian Montessori Centre, Bangalore, India. She has developed an Online Montessori Training Course to reach a wider audience through the internet
Association with Different Organisations:
- Meenakshi was also the External Examiner for the Pakistan Montessori Foundation at Karachi and Lahore, Shri Jain Mahila Samaj Montessori Training Center at Mumbai, and the International Association for Montessori Progressive at Sri Lanka.
- She was Secretary General of the Indian Montessori Centre.
- Meenakshi was the Member of the Board, Association Montessori Internationale, Amsterdam for three terms.
- Between 1980–89 she was the Honorary Secretary of the Society for Further Propagation of the Montessori Movement in India (FPMM).
- She is an ex officio member of the Affiliated Montessori Society, Hyderabad.
- She has been a member of the Karnataka State Council for Child Welfare (KSCCW). She has been the vice-president of KSCCW since 1996.
- She is also the member of the Indian Council for Child Welfare, New Delhi since 1997.
- Meenakshi is a member on the advisory board of many Montessori houses of Children and Montessori Associations in the country.
Conferences, Seminars and Workshops she has been associated with:
- She has conducted seminars and workshops for Parents, students and the Montessori community at both national and international levels from the 1980s to the 2000s. At the national level she has spoken at Calcutta, Madras, Bangalore and Changanassery. She attended and organised international seminars and workshops at Karachi, Nara, Beijing and Los Angeles.
Last Month's News Update!
MEENAKSHIJI PRAYER MEETING
- 11-02-2023
- HYMAMSHU JYOTHI KALA PEETHA, BANGALORE
Indian Montessori Centre, Bangalore Chapter, organized a Prayer Meeting to celebrate the life and work of Mrs. Meenakshi Sivaramakrishnan. Her family, members of IMC, Montessorians, students and other guests were present at the event.
The event began with a small prayer and eulogy read out by Ms. Sumathi Ravindranath. Ms. Jaimala, as compere, weaved an interesting narrative of speaker introductions and rare anecdotes from Meenakshiji’s life.
The people who shared memories of their times with Meenakshiji included IMC President, Dr. B V A Rao; her close friend Dr. Indumathi Rao; Eminent Montessorian Smt. Radha Nagaraj, Ms. Geeta Nityanand, Ms. Shamala Rao and Ms. Sudha Prasad.
A short documentary Meenakshi- The Lady with a Magic Wand was screened. Over pre-recorded videos, Ms. Uma Shanker, Ms. Sulochana Vaidyanathan from the Tamil Nadu Chapter, Mr. Narayana Rao Mannay ( from BNM institutions) too shared their recollections.
Her favourite Bhajan was played to mark the end of the event.
Bookmarks and Badges were distributed to everyone present and a high tea marked the end of the simple, affectionate farewell to Meenakshiji.
Events for the Next Month (Feb 15- March 15)
- Dear Friends,
As you are all aware, our beloved teacher and mentor, Mrs. Meenakshi Sivaramakrishnan passed away in Bangalore on Sunday 22 January 2023.
We are planning a Shraddhanjali for her here in Chennai on Saturday 25 February to celebrate her life and work.
I would like to share with you that,but for her encouragement and support, we would not have been able to establish CMT-C in Chennai that is now running under IMC’s brand name of Indian Montessori Training Courses – Chennai (IMTC).
She was the Director of CMTC from the year of its inception in 1998 till 2001. Through the 3 years, she travelled tirelessly from Bangalore to Chennai and conducted classes with her unique flair and commitment. She brought with her books, charts and even diplomas,carting them herself as she travelled by train. Her commitment to the cause was complete and she mentored us to ensure that we would try to be as disciplined as she was!
This is an invitation to you to attend the event to pay respects to our guru and express our gratitude as she showed us a path and lit the way for us to understand the Montessori philosophy in order to serve the Child.
It would be nice to remember her through the memories you have of Meenakshi Ma’am.
Thanks and regards,
Uma Shanker and team
Date: Saturday 25 February 2023
Time: 5: 00 p.m.
Venue: CPR Convention Centre, Eldams Road, Chennai 600018
Ms. Latha Rao, Director of IMTC (Karnataka), will be conducting a course on Inclusive Practices in the House of Children. The course will be for 12 sessions, online and starts on 20th January. Register by 16th January via info@indianmontessoricentre.org Classes will be held on Fridays and Saturdays between 4-6pm.
- the different training centers- (Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurgaon, Vietnam),
- HOCs (House of Children),
- IMC Members (click to be a member)
- and IMTC Alumni!
If you are a Montessori guide, school, trainer, or parent, you can also contribute to this newsletter and communicate your ideas to others!
Just write to us via email: newsletter@
To learn more about the Indian Montessori Centre, visit our website. www.indianmontessoricentre.org
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Looking forward to hearing from you as well!
With regards
IMC Newsletter editorial team
