Ms Uma Shanker

The Director of the Centre for Montessori Training – Chennai, began her career in the educational field when she completed the Montessori training in Calcutta in ’84. Since then she has been working with and for children.

As the director of the Training programme for the 3-6 age group here in CMT-C, she spends the major portion of the academic year lecturing and sharing with the students her rich experience of working with children.

She keeps close touch with the Montessori Schools here in Chennai and with past students, who share and discuss their work and experiences with children. Whenever she can, she fits in time to visit these schools for observation and opportunities to work with children. This enriches the lectures as they bring alive the Montessori environment.

Apart from this she conducts numerous workshops for the teachers in traditional systems of education. Here she shares her knowledge of the Montessori system and her experience of children, at the primary as well as elementary level to help teachers better their skills and be more understanding of the child and innovative in the classroom.

In the past two years she has taken on two projects which are on-going: - one for an NGO called Sneha in Nagapattinam and another for the School at the SOS village Tambaram - to train and facilitate their teachers to take the Montessori method into their classrooms.

She was instrumental in starting the programme, The Professional Training of Trainers on which she served as co-trainer, thus instigating changes in the government-training for teachers.

She has also had an article published in the Hindu on “Dr. Montessori’s views on the Social Development of the Child.”

Her deep and passionate mission is to better the quality of life for children so that they carry intact into adulthood
Þ the innate, lively, intellectual curiosity that is so characteristic of them so that world remains an exciting laboratory and keeps them ever a learner
Þ sensitivity and gentleness in their interaction with his fellow humans

She wants that they experience true democracy in and out of school and that they see this as the way of life, to create a better world for themselves and for the generations to come.

Her work does not end with teaching and teachers, for the classroom is only a part of the child’s life. There is a whole world beyond it. And it is not sufficient we prepare our children for it – we need to prepare that world to receive their gift of love so that we may all reach the heights of our true nature, experience peace and harmony and true progress and lasting happiness.

Therefore she also organises and conducts parenting workshops, interacts with and advises any group of adults associated with or doing work with children, sharing with them the Montessori philosophy and method on how to create an environment that is best suited to them.

Chitra Mani

Associate Director, CMT-C has been with the institution since its inception and shares all of Uma’s dreams and vision for the children

She has years of experience working with children of different age groups from the primary to the higher secondary stage in as well as outside of the classroom. In helping them cope with the demands of academic work, she realised the limitations the present system of schooling.

In the Montessori philosophy and method she found the perfect system with the vision and direction for the most comprehensive and meaningful learning process which truly caters to the personality and style of each and every child.

She helps students develop a in-depth perception and an understanding of various branches of learning and thus work out a method to present it to the very young children so that it may be relevant and interesting to them. She helps them hone their skills, and develop an eye for detail and perfection in all they do and understand the importance of it in their work with very young children.

Shobhana Vaidyanathan

Managing Trustee and Principal, Maitri, the Montessori House of Children has also been closely associated Centre for Montessori Training - Chennai since it's inception.

Single-minded and energetic she is a stickler for work, and wholeheartedly gives her time and energy to any work she undertakes and expects the same of her associates.

At Maitri, she has achieved remarkable results in integrating children of varied learning abilities.

She gives some of the practical demonstration lectures at CMT-C. She shares with the students her twenty years of varied experience of working with children – at Lumbini, Hyderabad, Abacus and Maitri Chennai. The Students look forward to hearing the latest eperiences of her present work with children in her School.

Come observation time, Maitri heads the students’ list of favourite Schools to visit, for the opportunity to learn first hand working with Shobhana.

Shobhana has gained deep insights into the doubts and difficulties adults face while working with children as coordinator of the pre-primary section in Abacus, as well as through her other experiences at Namma Bhoomi (a project of Concerned for Working Children, Bagalore) and SOS Village School, Tambaram. She has guided them with understanding and sensitivity. Recognising this unique facility in her, quite a few students volunteer every year, to work at Maitri, to benefit from her guidance and experience.

Meenakshi Sivaramakrishan

Professor Emeritus, Ms. Meenakshi Sivaramakrisnan, a senior Montessorian is the director of Indian Montessori Training Centre, Bangalore.

She has been an active member of the Montessori world in India for the past four decades, in various capacities.

A Member of the Board of Association Montessori Internationale, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, she has represented India at the international level.

Her passion for the propagation of the Montessori philosophy and method is clearly evident in all her work. She has taken this philosophy to rural Karnataka and helped organisations set up Montessori environments. Indeed people have been able to see the universal applicability of the Montessori philosophy through Ms Sivaramakrishnan’s work and efforts.

She is a stickler for exactness and precision in thought and action and will look into the detail of all that she takes up in order that the method is not diluted in any form whatsoever. All those who have worked with her, whether in the area of material manufacturing or in preparing for the courses will stand testimony to this.

She has brought Montessorians from all over India and Asia together in the various conferences she has organised in Bangalore & Chennai.

She is equally passionate about motivating people/students to think. Her lectures are intended to provoke questioning to clarify their thoughts in their search for a better understanding of the Child.

An active member of the Ramakrishna and Sarada Mutt, she is able to relate the philosophies together and live her life in the true spirit of her personal beliefs.

Aditi Iyer, an alumnus of CMT-C and the youngest member of the CMT-C team enriches the atmosphere of the Centre with her youthful energy and zest.

She helps the students in the Practice Classes and helps in coordinating the correction of the files. Though a tough taskmaster while monitoring submissions, she nevertheless helps the students with suggestions and words of encouragement to cope with the tough schedule of the course.

She organises activities for the students to practise their presentations as a group. This gives them opportunities to get over their inhibitions and clear their doubts. The students appreciate these sessions and find them lively and dynamic.

Being young and fun loving she enjoys interacting with the students and being a part of their group.