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About Montessori - Montessori in India
The following timeline represents the overall story of Montessori in India. It has been extracted from the book ‘Montessori in India: 70 Years’ which was released on January 5, 2009, at the 26th International Montessori Congress.
| 1912 |
Saraladevi Sarabhai, a young mother of a baby girl, on the ship to England reads a book by Maria Montessori and is inspired by the Montessori philosophy. |
| 1914 |
In London, coming across reviews of Maria Montessori’s books in The London Times Literary Supplement, and intensely involved with bringing up her own children, Saraladevi obtains copies of the books immediately. Ambalal Sarabhai, her husband takes her enthusiasm seriously, and firmly supports her interest in the Montessori method. |
| 1921 |
Saraladevi and Ambalal Sarabhai pay a second visit to England and meet E. M. Standing, an Irishman and a Cambridge graduate who had studied the Montessori method in Italy. |
| 1922 |
E. M. Standing comes to India and stays with the Sarabhai family in Ahmedabad. |
| 1929 |
The Indian Montessori Society (Secretaries Gijubhai Badheka and Taraben Modak) publishes a report on the first three years of activity. The report highlights the need for trained teachers and the need for rural education. |
| 1939 |
Maria Montessori arrives in India at the invitation of G. S. Arundale and Rukmini Devi and receives a warm welcome from the Madras community. The 1st AMI course is held in Adayar. Gool Minwalla, Tehmina Wadia and Khurshed Taraporewalla, later to be eminent Montessorians, are in the first batch of students trained in the subcontinent. |
| 1940 |
The 2nd AMI Course is held in Adyar. Leena Sarabhai, the daughter of Saraladevi and Ambalal Sarabhai, with her son aged 1½ , goes to Madras to meet Maria Montessori. Maria Montessori visits the Sarabhais in Ahmedabad and a festive gathering is arranged at their residence. |
| 1941 |
The 3rd AMI Course is held in Adyar. |
| 1942 |
The 4th AMI Course is held in Kodaikanal. Devayani akka receives her diploma. |
| 1943 |
The 5th AMI Course in held in Kodaikanal. |
| 1944 |
The Sarabhais meet Maria Montessori in Kodaikanal. Manorama Sarabhai and Leena Sarabhai send Shesh Namle, Harprasad Bhatt and Tragunateet Pancholi for the first Advanced (6-12) Montessori Course to Kodaikanal. Later in the year Saraladevi invites Dr. Montessori to Ahmedabad and holds the 6th AMI Course (3-6) on the premises of Gujarat Vidyapith. |
| 1945 |
More AMI Courses are planned for two different age groups - the 3-7and the 7-12. AMI Courses are held in Sri Lanka, Pilani and Gwalior. |
| 1946 |
Education For a New World is published. An AMI Course is held in Karachi. |
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| Anyone wishing to succeed in some aim for the good of society must necessarily turn to the child, not only to save him from deviation, but also to learn from him the practical secret of our own life. From this point of view the figure of the child presents itself as powerful and mysterious, an object of meditation, for the child who holds in himself the secret of our nature becomes our master. |
| Dr. Maria Montessori |
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