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Creative Thinkers Kindergarten Director Shyamalee Mahibalan
By Nathuli Malwana
The Reggio Emilia-inspired kindergarten method was first started in the town of Villa Cella, Italy, by Loris Malaguzzi, a pedagogist. In 1963, he realised that the town was very poor. People had been coming together to build a life after the war. So, Loris Malaguzzi decided there should be an education system that would be centred around the child.
He believed that the child should be the focus and that the child had a lot to offer to the society. This was the beginning of the Reggio Emilia-inspired kindergarten method – that views children as individuals who are curious about the world and have powerful potential. Loris Malaguzzi once said: “Reality, as always happens in children’s hands, reveals once again its infinite potential for transformation.”
Sri Lankan parents now have the opportunity to provide Reggio Emilia-inspired kindergarten education to their kids, thanks to the bold initiative by Shyamalee Mahibalan in partnership with the Creative Thinkers Pre-School Singapore.
Creative Thinkers Pre-School Singapore was founded in 2004 by Sakinah Dollah, a passionate educator with a background in theatre and arts. Creative Thinkers Pre-School in Singapore has infused these elements of arts by creating a creative environment and developing a curriculum that enhances the creative potential and uniqueness of the child.
Shyamalee is a writer cum poet who has a wide range of experience in teaching enrichment arts, music and science to children in local kindergartens, international primary schools, including special needs schools in Singapore.
She was first exposed to Reggio Emilia-inspired teaching methods whilst in Singapore. She noticed that education was taking place in a proper and organised manner, but when she returned to Sri Lanka, she saw that child education was not prioritised.
Shyamalee also says she was inspired by famous German educationist Kurt Hahn’s philosophy. Kurt Hahn believed that humans, as they age, lose certain values such as empathy, respect, kindness etc. His calling in life was to help people around the world realise the truth about themselves, that “each of us has more courage, more strength and more compassion than we would ever have fathomed.”
Kurt had wanted to create an education system where certain good values were forever lifelong. The first school he started was Atlantic College, the first United World College.
Shyamalee has been closely associated with this school for 10 years and she has seen how students who graduated had good qualities and values as well as a good academic qualification; they had been very well-rounded. All this is what had inspired Shyamalee to start up the Reggio Emilia-inspired concept in Sri Lanka for the first time.
The kindergarten will have a well curated student centred pedagogy bringing in the Reggio inspiration, critical thinking and the Singaporean early childhood elements. Creative Thinkers Kindergarten, Colombo will also be an inclusive school with a nurturing and creative environment. The teachers are talented, qualified, experienced and trained in primary and kindergarten systems in Sri Lanka and abroad.
Shyamalee describes Reggio Emilia inspired concept as “wonderful” in that it uses natural things from the environment to educate children and to provoke them to learn and mould a holistic child. Loris Malaguzzi had believed that children have hundreds of languages to express themselves, therefore, while they teach math and science at their kindergarten, they also educate children how to express themselves. The Reggio Emilia-inspired kindergartens in Singapore have a hybrid curriculum, and in terms of math, they are the highest in the world.
Shyamalee has included that in the Lankan venture so the child will learn these Singaporean math and science techniques. By doing this, she has created a mixture of Reggio Emilia and the Singaporean method.
Shyamalee said: “Sri Lankans, in general, are very smart. If we give them the tools, they can achieve amazing things. I noticed that because Sri Lankans abroad are doing very well, so I want to shake up the education here and offer something new.”
In Shyamalee’s kindergarten the teacher is a researcher learning along-side the child. Children are given projects to do while the teacher encourages the child to think. The teacher won’t be telling the child to do things, but will collaborate, stimulate and guide so the child grows with their own thinking and imagination. “Kids should be allowed to do things on their own,” she adds.
Recycled materials are made available for the children’s use in the kindergarten. There’s also the Atelier, with different objects and material for children to work with. This is a unique characteristic that is included internationally in all Reggio Emilia-inspired kindergartens.
At Creative Thinkers Kindergarten, Colombo, they also teach differently-abled children and children with special needs. Shyamalee believes that there should be inclusivity in a school and all kids should be treated the same way. Children are taken into the kindergarten by the time they are 18 months, and by the time they come out of it at the age of six, Shyamalee said: “They are independent, strong, confident and holistic little human beings with good values, qualities and morals.” “I always want to change something. I cannot just sit and watch, doing the same thing, so I just hope that people will embrace change,” Shyamalee added. For information about Creative Thinkers Kindergarten, Colombo please contact Shyamalee Mahibalan on +94 77 793 3174.
Pix by Ruwan Walpola
