Ms. Mallika Ganapathy
Ms Mallika believes that the depth of change, growth and fulfillment we bring in the lives of people around us is how deep these very things penetrate and happen within us. She considers it an honour that life has bestowed on her an opportunity to experience this around children. Her journey as an educator started 32 years ago, working with differently-abled children and their families. Working closely with them, she realized that all children have an innate potential and inherent motivation to learn, and have a right to an optimal learning space. This belief led her to work with administrators and teachers in rural, special, CBSE, ICSE and Cambridge Schools in the southern states of India, on policies and pedagogic practices. The objective was to ensure a secure, organic and material rich learning space for children. Realizing the importance of capacity building in teachers led her 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 launched in Chennai. She worked with KFI and Chennai Corporation, and developed a Universal Curriculum for Primary, to meet the needs of every child in the class, irrespective of differences. She believes that when children are self-directed and learn through exploration and curiosity, they live what they have learnt and offer it freely with sensitivity and compassion to others.
Mr. Muthukumaran Selvam
Mr. Muthukumaran Selvam is a dynamic educator with a passionate approach in imparting knowledge to children of all ages. He seeks to design a structured, yet creative learning environment by equipping teachers with child-centric teaching and learning methods. He is the Academic Manager of Chettinad – Niyogaa, the Education and Service division of the Chettinad Group.
He is a Mechanical Engineer with a University rank from Anna University, Chennai. He has published many scientific papers including one in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers digital library. He has over 11 years of experience in training and teaching.
He has over 7 years of experience in teaching Cambridge Physics curriculum for Senior grades. He has secured distinction in Cambridge international certification in teaching and learning. He has designed a curriculum for gifted children from the age of 6 to 14. He has worked as a Science curriculum developer for a Waldorf inspired IGCSE school. He is currently the Programme Leader for Cambridge Teacher training course CICTL.
He believes that the right education at the right time is the only solution for all the existing crises in the world.
He supports teachers with curriculum planning based on Waldorf methodologies. He focuses on designing age appropriate curriculum by integrating the curricular objectives with nature and forest based education. He trains and mentors teachers of all grades to ensure that they develop a child-centric, active learning environment where experiential and phenomenological learning can be facilitated.