Team
Chitra
Chitra has a deep passion for working with children and an interest in exploring the different avenues that education can open up. During her own schooling years, she was unnerved by the usage of fear in education. She is interested in creating a fear-free environment, where children may use both conventional and non-conventional methods to learn in a way that is most conducive to their personality. She began by putting her own children into various alternative schools to experience varied pedagogies.
She has twelve years of teaching experience and has taught under diverse schooling pedagogies including Waldorf Education, Integral Education, IGCSE, and A levels. She did her Masters in Computer Science and Biological Science from BITS Pilani and Masters in Molecular Biology at Drexel University, USA. She has attended teacher training and various workshops on science and the Waldorf curriculum. In addition, she has had training in Integral Education and has been part of curriculum development and teacher mentoring for middle school
She began teaching physics at the high-school level and later branched into teaching math and sciences at both the middle-school and high-school levels. She also has experience in preparing students for the Edexcel and NIOS exams.
Sithara
Sithara is committed to creating a classroom atmosphere that is stimulating and encouraging to children. As a self taught artist and creative person, she fosters creative expression and strives to provide a safe and nurturing environment where each child can experience learning as a process of discovery and become lifelong learners.
She has been a teacher in the field of alternative education for the past fifteen years. She has extensive experience with the Waldorf pedagogy and has engaged with Education Seminars on child development, education theory and practice and kindergarten education. Furthermore, under the Integral education pedagogy she has been part of curriculum development and teacher mentoring for primary school.
Outside of school, Sithara is a baking entrepreneur. Music is another one of her companions whether it be singing or playing the recorder. She is well versed in various forms of creative expression and is always looking for opportunities to experiment and enhance these skills.
Sangeetha
Sangeetha has done her Ph.D in English from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT, Chennai. She has over 20 years of teaching experience both at the college and school level. However, she has found her niche working with children in the age group of 10 and upwards.
She has an abiding interest in education and schooling. She has worked in different school systems from the mainstream to the alternate. From her experience she has come to believe that it is necessary to give a strong spiritual foundation to all forms of formal schooling; that schools should cater not only to the physical and mental growth of the child but also to his/her spirit. It has been her endeavour to nurture the spirit of each child who she comes into contact with in the conviction that if this is allowed to blossom, then all else will as well.
Vandana
Vandana has an MA in sociology and Masters in Computer Applications. She has diverse experience working with young children including teaching kindergarten kids in India as well as volunteering in public schools in US. She enjoys learning as well as teaching meditation and other spiritual modalities. She also like to work on mandala arts, patterns and craft activities with kids.
Her interest in this education system lies in the fact that it works on the physical, mental and vital development of the growing child. This system keep the kid’s core way of thinking intact and it nurtures them to be more self-aware, so that they can make wise decisions on their own. The system gives a lot of space to kids of all ages, allowing them to show their pure love to the school and the facilitators.
Vinita
Vinita is an independent minded and creative professional with diverse background and interests. She is a Chartered Accountant since 1997 and started her career as a tax consultant and soon followed her passion to delve into music and colors. She worked as a hobbyist RJ in New Jersey and has also held her own painting exhibitions. Over the last several years, she volunteered with education focused NGOs and discovered her love for young minds and teaching. She feels at Imara there is an opportunity for her personal development and for lending a hand towards the growth of young and impressionable minds. She has travelled extensively around the world and currently resides in Hyderabad with her husband and daughter.
Wangde
Wangde has his Bachelors degree in Fine Arts from Shantiniketan and Masters in sculpture from Baroda School of Fine Arts. Wangdi has been associated with the alternative education sector for the past seven years.
He finds it inspiring to be in a system of holistic learning that is geared towards the wholesome growth of the child who will go on to take his or her rightful place in the world tomorrow.There is always an opportunity for self-development in such an environment, to learn something new about yourself, about the children at school and about the world outside.
One of the most valuable lessons he has learned is to be natural and simple in one’s interaction with the world and especially with a child. He finds working with students to be an enriching experience and his endeavor has been to lead them to a beautiful discovery of life through art and music.
Sowmya
Sowmya has done the Montessori Elementary Programme from Association Montessori Internationale. She worked for 4 years as an assistant staff member at the Lumbini Montessori House of Children and later with Little Scholars Montessori House of Children.
She feels the conventional method based on rote learning does not help children appreciate the foundational skills required for learning and life development. When she experienced the real benefits of the non-conventional approach with the Montessori Philosophy at work that began with her eldest child’s education, it felt like the most natural way of development. This helped her to move into alternate education.
She is passionate about interacting with young children, and her other interests include music, dance and travel.
Krishna Chaitanya
Chaitanya likes to teach math because he finds it beautiful and is very much moved by its orderliness and power to solve problems. As a school student, he used to struggle with math but found ways to improve, which ended up in his clearing IIT JEE. Now he wants to help others overcome their fears and discomforts and maximize their potential in STEM subjects.
Ananya
Ananya completed her Bachelor’s degree in English literature from SNDT University, Mumbai. She has studied and practised Interior Design before beginning her journey as a teacher. Her background in art influences her creative approach to teaching. Her passion is to work and experiment with different materials like felt, wood, paper, cloth clay and so on.
Ananya has been dedicatedly involved in doing remedial work with children with learning difficulties, through a holistic approach of combining movement, repetition, rhythm and painting since 2015.
She has also done a course in early Childhood, Care, Education and Administration. She has worked as a Kindergarten teacher in Abhaya and Sloka, Waldorf schools in Hyderabad. The Beehive, – Waldorf Inspired Day Care and Activity Centre in Khajaguda, Hyderabad is her brain child.
Ananya has joined the Kindergarten faculty at Imara where her work will allow her to nurture and bring forth the best in children thereby accomplishing her dream of building a beautiful and healthy learning space for children where learning is a process and not a product.
Sriram
Sriram Kakarla has worked with various schools in Hyderabad and Bangalore and is an expert in connecting key learning concepts with activities and gamified learning. He is also a certified Lego Serious Play facilitator and finds joy in engaging children and adults in play and learning through play. Recently, he designed and facilitated learning experiences for 120 students across the world online. These learning experiences involved students learning core curriculum through farming, origami and other methods. Before this, he facilitated math and science learning through grades 1-8 at Sparkling mindz global school in Bangalore. Sriram designed learning games and received an award for best digital learning game at international play conference by headstreams. He also facilitated career development programs at 34 tribal welfare schools in collaboration with UNICEF to reduce the drop-out rate in tribal regions
Devi
Devi has been a teacher in the field of alternate education for the past 6 years. She is skilled at handwork including crochet, knitting and paper crafts and is adept in developing creative, lively and interactive lesson plans. She has an intuitive sense of working with the children and is able to push children to think outside the box with regard to creative expressions and to provide growth and inspiration in the classroom. She is patient, caring and enthusiastic about learning new ways of pedagogy and is committed to the students in their years of learning.