Lalaji Memorial Omega International School and Heartfulness Institute inaugurates Heartful Kids block at Babuji Memorial Ashram Chennai
Lalaji Memorial Omega International School inaugurated its new Value-based Spiritual Education campus Heartful Kids at Babuji Memorial Ashram, Manapakkam, Chennai. The inauguration was presided by Dr. K. R. Maalathi, CEO – Auuro Educational Services and President (TN) – Association for the Early Childhood Education. Heartful Kids is an extension of Lalaji Memorial Omega International School (LMOIS), a flagship school of Heartfulness Institute that provides holistic education to students with Heartfulness guiding principles. Heartful Kids will focus on the education of Kindergarten and Indigo children. While the kindergarten wing will cater to nursery, lower and upper kindergarten beginning from age 2.5 to 5 years of children, the Indigo wing will cater to the education of specially-abled children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and dyslexia from ages 5 to 12 or grades 1-7 needing differential education.
The Heartful Kids school is a “Heartfulness Enabled School”, that is founded on the principles of Heartfulness and teaches meditation and introspection techniques to train and regulate the students’ minds and purify their hearts for inner guidance and wisdom. The goal is to nurture the students towards holistic development – physical development, mental wellness and excellence, social and emotional wellbeing and spiritual connection. The school also provides the right atmosphere for prospective students from national and international curricula including CBSE, CAIE, IBDP, NIOS, MONT, INDIGO and KG.
Speaking on the launch, Dr KR Maalathi said, “The inauguration of Heartful Kids is yet another milestone for Lalaji Memorial Omega International School because of the beauty of the concept. Little children are introduced early on not only to higher order thinking and quality academics, but also allowed to naturally blossom in a loving and compassionate learning environment through heart-based approaches, that can facilitate holistic growth and development. This is especially important in the current times when children are influenced by the digital world, and they must be enabled with strong minds and hearts to uphold human values and make right decisions and choices.”
Shri Kamlesh Patel (Daaji), Guide of Heartfulness said, “Children are like dough that can be moulded the way you want them to be. Parents are fortunate to have the beautiful opportunity to have children and be given the responsibility to mould them in the best way possible. At school we share the responsibility of moulding the children for the best – we are talking not only of success in the material world, but also of the success in the meditative path. The real knowledge is that which helps to understand one’s true nature. This is made possible only through meditation. We want students to pay close attention to their lives and their inner spirit. Inculcating that early on along with strong academic and cultural activities can prepare them into gems of humanity.”
Heartful Kids has adopted the Davis Learning Strategy to normalise the children with special needs. It is the only school in the whole of South Asia to have successfully implemented DLS strategies and is also a certified DLS training centre. LMOIS is the only school from India to have participated in the United Nations Students Leadership Conference for Development continuously for many years now to discuss peace and positive change and come up with innovative approaches for an all-inclusive quality education.
Heartful Kids includes a Value Based Spiritual Education (VBSE) and Life-Skills Activities (LSA) programmes to help them grow as balanced individuals. The philosophy is to absorb all children into their fold and promote their growth at their own pace through a compassionate learning environment.
Spread across a 22-acre sprawling campus, LMOIS was incepted in 2005 and now has over 5,500 children being educated in the lap of nature because the school believes in building an integral relationship between children and nature especially in the foundational years. The environment enables the students to cultivate confidence and self-belief.
Each child is given the space to explore, experience and express. The role of the school is to acknowledge, observe, support and respond with understanding to the needs of each child. In the age of machine learning and AI, this method of education becomes especially relevant to keep the values intact under the purview of Heartfulness’ mission. Besides academics, the school also focuses strongly on cultural activities, parental and community connect. Eventually the child is made independent and open-minded