Sita School
Silvapura, Bangalore District
About
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Sita School is located in Silvapura, North
Bangalore (28km from Bangalore)
It is located on an acre of land
Started in 1975 by Jane Sahi
Focus is on alternative education for kids who
don’t go to mainstream school they dropped-out or
economic consideration
Children are from poor socio-economic
background
Campus (pics 1-8)
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Sita School is structured in a way that
children can enter at any level and are
encouraged to learn at their own pace
without pressure of exams or fear of failure
and disapproval
Children of Sita School
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38 children (18 boys and 20 girls) attend Sita
school
Age group: 4 – 15 years
Syllabus till class 7 are taught to kids
Children give class 7 exams and graduate to
mainstream schools
Children come from surrounding villages of
Silvepura, Fatimapura, Thimalapura and
Hurulichikanahall (not more than 2km from the
school)
Teaching philosophy
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Build on every child’s experience and
knowledge of the environment and
community.
Emphasis on practical work, observation,
experimentation and mindful learning
Method has evolved over time, and has
particularly benefited from high teacher
retention at the school
Method of teaching
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Teaching at Sita School is largely clustered around
themes.
Children are encouraged to plan, explore,
experiment and evaluate topics in a variety of ways
that cut across traditional subject boundaries.
A theme is usually explored for between one to
three months
Topics include: Our Homes, Our Clothes, Our
Village, Buildings Around Us, the Agricultural
Cycle, the Town, Sight, Air, Earth, Ancient India,
Man and Animals and so on
What is taught?
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language study, practical math, social studies and
science
clay work, tailoring, needlework, printing, first aid,
food, health and home remedies, kitchen
gardening
Jane Sahi believes that poetry, drama, stories,
puppetry, painting, making models involve children
in understanding a subject in a way that abstract
learning cannot
Teaching medium is Kannada. English and Hindi
are taught as additional languages.
Learning at Sita School
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Learning happens everywhere at Sita
School
Learning is fun!
Learning tools include flash cards, toys,
enacting plays, story telling, activities such
as drawing, gardening, etc
(pics 9 – 19)
Activities
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Children maintain a kitchen garden, they
grow various things here (till pic 22)
Art is a big part of the curriculum (till pic 30)
English class pics 52 and 53.
Dance drama and play on Dec 25th 2008.
Children’s parents were invited and children
performed. Pictures of preparation and
reharsal for the big (pics 54 – 57)
Calendar
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Calendar making is one of the activities of
the school.
Children were doing story boards as part of
their activities.
Jane and rest of teachers thought making
calendars with the story board.
This became an activity for children.
Sharing and respect…
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Cooperation, sharing and respect for the other is consciously fostered.
Many opportunities are created to share responsibilities in small
groups like making wall charts, murals, even their own books.
Older children help the younger ones with class work and children of
different abilities and ages work together in groups
Groups are:
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Karuna (4-8 year olds),
Sadhana (8-12 year olds),
Vasantha (12-14 year olds),
Sangeetha (13-14 year olds) and
Gulabi (children appearing for the Karnataka State Seventh Standard
Board exams).
Teachers and their training
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Divya, Sarojini, Kamala, Rebecca and Jane
Divya has been teaching at Sita School since
1980. She teaches Kannada, Hindi, Social Studies
and Maths
Sarojini has been teaching since 1989, she
teaches Social Studies
Kamala is teaching at Sita school since 1995, she
teaches Maths and Science
Rebecca is an alumini of the school, she teaches
the younger kids
Graduated students
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A number of its ex-students have become
teachers, gone in for art training, nursing,
joined the seminary, undertaken vocational
training and have worked their way towards
acquiring college degrees.
Benefitting the overall
community
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Jane Sahi has been the main driving force in
introducing art as part of the curriculum in
Chamrajnagar, Karnataka
She has authored English text books which
is used by Maharashtra government
schools.
She has authored several resource books
for teachers on language
2009-2010 Budget
Salaries :
One teacher @ Rs.6000 per month
72,000
Two teachers @ Rs.5000 per month
1,20,000
One teacher @ Rs.4000 per month
48,000
One teacher @ Rs.3500 per month
42,000
Educational Materials: Stationery and Craft
Books and Periodicals
Children’s Welfare :
Food
Health
Excursion and celebration
12,000
3,000
60,000
5,000
5,000
Administration and Establishment
Repairs and Maintenance
15,000
Accounting and Auditing
18,000
Post and Communication
1500
Contribution to SEE
2,500
TOTAL (Rs.)
4,04,000