Finally the Graduation Day of the 2012-13 batch of AMI affiliated RTI Montessori Course arrived on the 22nd of March, 2013 to much relief and happiness of the students of this batch. There was a lot of enthusiasm and contentment in the air as the students celebrated their success in this hectic and demanding Montessori course. Many of the students’ families and friends had also arrived to participate in the celebrations and the atmosphere brimmed with positivity.
To add icing on the cake, this occasion was graced by the presence of Mrs. Keti Mehta, the president of RTI, Mrs. Acharia, the administrator of RTI, Mrs. Lakshmi Krishna Kumar, a highly knowledgeable Montessori trained trainer from Hyderabad and none other than Mrs. Sheela Chavan, the wife of our honorable Chief Minister, Mr. Prithviraj Chavan.
Mrs. Chavan came as a great source of inspiration for the newly graduated students and gave them a sense of vision to move forward as a directress in the Montessori class. She shared with them her experiences, as also the ‘formula’ that she used with children, which she called ‘TLCFF’, i.e. Tender Loving Care with Fairness and Fondness. This formula pretty much sums up the attitude with which a directress should work with her children and was a great thought for the new directresses to carry with them.
Mrs. Laksmi Krishna Kumar was an eye opener.
She gave the students the message that their training had just begun rather than being over and that their work with the children will teach them much more than what the course taught them. She also encouraged the students to extend their services to even the not so fortunate children so that the Montessori Method could be brought back to those children with whom Dr. Maria Montessori actually began her journey.
A request was also made to Mrs. Chavan to help the Montessori Method gain government recognition so as to increase the awareness of the Method as well as of the course leading to an increase in the number of children getting blossomed through this Method and also in the number of trained Montessori professionals. This again made the new directresses hopeful of getting the much awaited recognition in various schools.
The day didn’t seem to stop the advent of goodwill upon these new directresses as, towards the end of the program, Mrs. Chavan expressed a wish to have a long interactive session with them on some other day where she could help them in their journey by sharing more of her experiences and expertise and a promise was made from both sides to make such a session happen.
With the formal ceremony being over, the students get enough of each other by trying to click as many photographs as possible with their friends as well as their trainers. Promises about keeping in touch and good wishes could be heard from all sides and slowly, the students departed with their families.
All in all, the day turned out to be a very special one, what with the amazing words of wisdom by the guests and the hope for new and promising beginnings.
