Congratulations to the first two graduates of the NHE Early Childhood Diploma Programme – Didi Ananda Ragamaya and Didi Ananda Gaorii !
The NHE Diploma Programme began as a pilot programme in the year 2001. It is a dynamic programme which encourages the student to set up their own learning goals and programme of study to meet their personal needs. The student must ask themselves, ‘What do I want and need to learn to be an effective teacher?’ Throughout the course they encouraged to research, analyse, observe, question, criticise, experiment and reflect. This course of study was designed to give a solid base in the development of the teacher, educational theory and practical skills for teaching.
Didi Ananda Ragamaya has been a wholetime worker in Ananda Marga for the last 13 years. Her first NHE work was as an LFT in Taiwan 1990 helping in the different schools. She ran the New Day School in Portland Oregon for four months in 1994 and then worked with the children of mothers recovering from drug addiction in the Shields Program for Families in South Central Los Angeles, from 1994 – 1999 mostly sharing songs, yoga and stories. She was the director of the Ananda Marga Kindergarten in Jamaica from Jan 1999 – June 2005. Outreach work in Jamaica , during that time included visiting different schools and sharing with the children an alternative style of learning as well as visiting the Bustamante Children’s Hospital Learning Centre and the Mona Rehab Centre for disabled children. Other work has included serving at the Dudley Grant Education Centre at the University of the West Indies (UWI) which offers special sessions for schools from challenged areas. Currently she is coordinating with the CCDC (Caribbean Child Development Centre) located at UWI the possibility of assessing different early childhood centres in Jamaica, thus hopefully influencing the general education system in a neohumanist way. She is also looking at developing “yoga dance” for children, to distribute to the wider education community. |