I believe that the depth of change, growth and fulfilment we bring in the lives of people around us is how deep these very things penetrate and happen within us.
I consider it an honor that life has bestowed on me an opportunity to experience this around children.
My journey started 32 years ago, working with differently-abled children and their families. Working closely with them made me realise, that all children had an innate potential and inherent motivation to learn, and had a right to an optimal learning space. This belief led me to work with administrators on policies; teachers on pedagogic practices in rural, special, CBSE, ICSC and Cambridge Schools in the southern states of India. The objective was to ensure a secure, organic and material rich learning space for children. Realising the importance of capacity building in teachers led to focus on teacher training and authoring chapters in a book published by Sage Publishers “Within Walls Without Boundaries” and a book on “Understanding Best Inclusive Practices in Schools” by Seva-in-Action, and a Master Trainer Manual on “Promoting Reading” by IBM and The Promise Foundation. As Trustee and Director of MIRRA Charitable Trust; an initiative “ABIVIDHI”, a collaborative eco-system of schools; NGOs, parents and professionals to make inclusion a reality was initiated in Chennai. Worked with KFI and Chennai Corporation on developing an Universal Curriculum for Primary, to meet the needs of every child in the class, irrespective of differences.
Mallika Ganapathy, Trustee, Mirra Charitable Trust
