A Dedication To My School

CGHS – A Walk Through

I went to a school which adopted creative methods of teaching 85 years ago. Thanks to Dr Sharma and Madame Ellen Sharma for adopting the Madame Montessori ‘Play way method’ of teaching. We had open classrooms 5-8-year-old children assembled in a long room which had colored wooden blocks, abacus sets, colors, sketch books only. We could run out of the room to play in the mud,’ jungle gym’ and get back to class whenever we want to sing along and dance to the tunes of rhymes. Going to school was a pleasurable experience especially to me as I lived just opposite to the school campus. We could enter the campus anytime and enjoy playing on the sliding board which is still maintained well after 50 years or more. 

My Grandmother and Mrs. Sharma were neighborhood friends, my brothers, sisters, my paternal uncles, and aunts completed their elementary education at CGHS. My sister Sathya and me had our complete education at CGHS for 12 years. Our bond with the school is unique and we carry nostalgic memories as we grow older with the school.

As the school pupil leader, I had the privilege to enter into Dr Sharma - Madame Sharma office-home to pick up colored chalk from the resource room to write quotes on our display board. Children were always welcome to the Headmistress room with a calm, loving mild voice of Dr and Mrs. Sharma. I would hesitantly go beside take blessings from our caring founders and run out happily. We were disciplined lovingly by our beloved Headmistress ‘chakku akka’ alias Shakuntala Sharma and we are indebted to her sisters Geetha akka and Rukmini akka for dedicating their lives and carrying the family legacy to carry forward the vision from their parents. 

 Our teachers were always smiling and enthusiastic to adapt themselves to innovative learning techniques as the school strength grew larger. Our school campus has thatched roof and asbestos sheets, but we never felt the heat as it was a ‘cool’ campus full of trees. The school believed that the inherent capacity of a child develops at all stages and it’s the prime duty of teachers to identify it by providing various opportunities and a teacher has to create a lifelong autonomous learner. Many renowned teachers from our broke the conventional mode of teaching and gave wisdom to their students. They inspired and encouraged them to think out-of-the-box. We had activities for all round development: three R’s , sports, art and craft, dancing, singing and leadership skills. Teaching is my passion, I chose to be a teacher because my teachers inspired me to be in the nation building team. Happy Teacher’s day and my Pranams to all my teachers, school management for making me what I’m today.

The school has completed 85 years, and its symbol is Banyan tree indicating the branches are many, spread all over the world. Here we are today getting back to our roots joining hands together as alumni celebrating the Founder's Day year after year contributing towards the welfare activities of the school along with the new generation of staff and students. We are proud to be the 'of the 'aala mara vizhuthugal' meaning strong branches of the Banyan tree spreading the message of unconditional affection as envisioned by the Founders of Children's Garden school.