PATRIZIA Child Care Govindpur
In Indian pre-school classes, frontal teaching is the rule and children are still taught to sit still with a cane. A new concept for India is currently being developed in Govindpur: together with the PATRIZIA Foundation, the Gossner Church is building a kindergarten with a reform pedagogical approach where children can learn in a creative and playful way.
The Gossner Mission has long supported projects of the Gossner Church in India and is committed to the rights of the Adivasi. This group of indigenous people is outside the Hindu caste system and is often marginalized, especially in rural areas.
“Building a kindergarten supports the mental, psychological, physical and social development of the children.”
Wolfram Nieradzik
Member the management board at the Funk Group
A new concept
In 2011, the Gossner Church was able to open its first reform kindergarten in Ranchi thanks to donations. It was named after Martha, the first Adivasi child to be baptized by the missionaries, and the concept is new for India, where there is actually no kindergarten, only a preschool with a lot of discipline and no playful forms. “In the Martha Kindergarten, children are allowed to be children. They have a lot of freedom and can learn in a playful way,” explains Christian Reiser, Director of Gossner Mission Reiser.
The Martha Kindergarten is open to all children. Socially disadvantaged families can also place their children there, even if they are unable to pay fees. Nevertheless, the kindergarten in Ranchi is self-supporting, as the wealthier families pay higher fees according to their income.
The aim of the Gossner Church is to set up a Martha kindergarten in all of its five dioceses, which extend as far as Assam. There is already a second one in Chaibasa. The third Martha kindergarten is to be built in Govindpur.
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What lasts a long time becomes good
Construction had to be interrupted just a few weeks after it began due to the global Covid pandemic. After construction work was slowly resumed under difficult conditions, the second Covid wave hit in spring 2021. The resulting impact was considerable, forcing the construction site to be shut down for many months. During this time, the PATRIZIA Foundation provided support for those affected on site from the Corona Relief Fund. After the coronavirus pandemic subsided and the first consequences of a long shutdown emerged, the first step was to find a new construction company to continue building. The partners are working flat out to complete the project as quickly as possible. The kindergarten was able to start operating on site in provisional rooms as early as spring 2022. Staff, parents and, above all, the children are eagerly awaiting the completion of the necessary premises and a move into a new chapter.
More than a kindergarten
The Gossner Church wants to ensure that children continue to attend school after kindergarten. It already runs a large number of schools in India, from primary to college level, as well as a large training centre for deacons in Govindpur.
The Gossner Church also wants to bring the reform pedagogical approaches from the Martha kindergarten into all its educational institutions.