To improve the education of marginalised children in slum areas, a Bengaluru-based NGO, Freethinking Foundation in collaboration with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike launched its first Montessori School on Wheel initiative, wherein it aims to take learning to their doorsteps.
BBMP has allotted two BMTC buses for the foundation which are customized into a classroom and will ply early morning from 9:30 am to 12pm in BBMP’s South zone.
According to Umesh D S, assistant commissioner of education at BBMP, the initiative was launched last year in September by BBMP and it has impacted over 300 marginalised children between the age group of 2.5 to 6 years. 10 BMTC buses have been converted into a classroom set up and will operate in all the BBMP zones.
The foundation which will be running in South Zone from today aims to remodel the buses and equip them with modern educational resources. Each bus will cater to a minimum of 50 students in batches over a period of time.
To promote multilingualism, lessons will be offered in English, Kannada, and Hindi. The Montessori school on wheels initiative will have 2-3 teachers and the bus will contain a mini library, and audiovisual equipment to create a comprehensive learning environment. The same bus will also train teachers in the Montessori methodology.
The foundation will also offer regular meals and health check-ups as a part of this initiative. It also aims to expand the number of buses to 200 over the next five years and cater to about 10,000 children and 2,000 teachers.
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