An own building for „Prerana“ in Hyderabad

Every day starts with some expectation and ends with an experience. That sums up in a nutshell our journey from brick to building.

Life is not about shaking hands in good times, it is about holding them in critical situations. Though we acknowledge that change is the only permanent thing in life, man by nature resists change. So, when our school which is 9 years old, considered moving out of the leased school building into its own building, the most challenging aspect was convincing and leading people into accepting such a change.

We understand that the base of our school has been the location advantage wherein our teacher and student fraternity largely came from places close by. So the geographical shift meant social, behavioral, psychological changes which went far beyond the notional and conceptual change.

But good things first, our state of Andhra Pradesh is widely acknowledged as the IT Hub of the country and more so our city Hyderabad. So keeping in mind the changing professional scenario, we decided to identify a place that was the heart of the IT land in Hyderabad.

Developing countries believe in using every inch of space available. Lush green lands are turned into concrete jungles; mighty rocks which stood the test of time are reduced to dust to create millions of square feet of livable space. We strongly believed that Waldorf Education can bring freshness to children and help them experience the joys of growing up and be close to the elements of nature. For effective learning takes place only in a joyous mind.

A living, breathing institution such as ours, had to almost overnight shift location due to logistic and administrative reasons. What for many others would have been a problem, was to us of the Waldorf School a challenge, a determination to be inspired by the fire within rather than be cowed down by the circumstances without. The transformation of the dream into reality was not an easy process; brick by brick, layer after layer everything had to be created in a time span, that structural engineers would agree was a miracle.

A mother cherishes her child’s first smile, first step, first word. An artist cherishes his first stroke, form and shape. That is the beauty of creation. So also was ours with school, where our children are an integral part of every concept, design and move of construction. They were able to live their dream, see brick and mortar infused with life, take a new form and emerge as a memorable second home. Concrete buildings don’t make institutions. Committed individuals are ready to walk that extra mile and understand the needs of the situation are rare – this was what made the difference as it was the team’s attitude that determined the altitude of our achievement.

Valuable time and energy that should have been spent in formulating policies went into overcoming financial hurdles. It is a credit to the indomitable will that we did not allow anything however major to bog us down. Work of this magnitude will have minor irritants like fussy parents, bureaucratic red tapism, construction site labor problems and inclement weather. We faced all these and much more with courage.

The present educational system in India is all about disciplining and teaching children to behave in a manner to fit into the supposedly orderly world of adults, where every child is expected to be equally good in all spheres of life, irrespective of his or her abilities, inclinations and talents. Joys of learning are snubbed under the garb of promoting excellence and rewarding merit. In such circumstances, Waldorf Education came as a whiff fresh air, in making far greater allowances for the unique privileges of childhood.

Indira Varma

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Contact

Perana Waldorf School
Mount Banjara High School
Road No. 14
Banjara Hills, Hyderabad
India

Tel.: +91 40 2354 5930
prerana_mbanjara@yahoo.com