D.A.V. Montessori Celebrates Annual Day, Graduates First 5th Grade Batch
D.A.V. Montessori School’s first batch of 5th grade students (center) with teachers and Chief Guest Roopal Shah (red outfit).
By Pramod Kulkarni
HOUSTON: How can Hindu parents educate their children with a mainstream curriculum and yet inculcate them with Vedic knowledge and values?
It is a challenge elsewhere in the United States, but not in Houston. Arya Samaj of Greater Houston operates a one-of-a-kind D.A.V. Montessori School, which provides a curriculum combining American education, Indian culture and Vedic values.
D.A.V. Montessori School has a modern campus with excellent educational resources and its own playground.
Founded in 2000, the D.A.V. Montessori School in Houston is named after the social reformer Swami Dayanand Saraswati. In India, D.A.V. is a non-governmental educational organization and overseas with over 800+ schools, 75+ colleges and a university.
Houston’s D.A.V. Montessori school has its dedicated campus behind the Arya Samaj center. Over the past 17 years, the school has been expanded to provide education from preschool to 5th grade for students ranging in age from 2.5 to 10 years. Growth of the school is the result of the continuing guidance of Arya Samaj of Greater Houston leaders. The current management committee coordinator is Dev Mahajan.
Hindi class in session (left). Children get individual attention. With commutes getting difficult in the Houston area a school bus now provides service to and from the energy corridor. Additional routes may be added as per demand.
The preschool children learn from Montessori-certified lead teachers and trained assistant teachers in the area of practical life, sensorial, language, mathematics, science and geography. In addition, children learn Hindi reading, writing and verbal, along with vedic prayer, moral education and yoga.
Kindergarten and 1st grade program combine both learning from the Montessori method and traditional workbooks. The program provides an accelerated curriculum in mathematics, phonics, writing, reading, spelling, science and social studies. The children take national standardized testing and undergo reading assessments.
Speakers at the D.A.V. Montessori School Annual Day included Director Arti Khanna (left), Chief Guest Roopal Shah and School Management Committee Chairman Shekhar Agarwal. Shah, a Houston native and founder of IndiCorps, said Hindu values she imbibed in childhood serve as a guiding force for her community service and for making both business and personal decisions. Agarwal praised the dedication of the D.A.V. School teachers and stressed the value of the school to parents as a non-profit educational institution.
D.A.V. Montessori School’s elementary program covers second to fifth grade. Accelerated Har-Court curriculum covers traditional math, science, language, computer and PE skills as well as Hindi, yoga instruction, and Vedic prayers. D.A.V. students have excelled in IOWA standardized testing.
On Sunday, May 21, the Arya Samaj hosted the D.A.V. school’s Annual Day and graduation function. Of special interest was the graduation of the first class of 5th grade students: Raja Pandya, Keshav Ravi, Jiya Makati and Lakshay Yadav. Raja Pandya could not attend as he has gone to India to attend a BAPS school. In a related development, Namita Pallod, an early DAV school alumni, graduated from the University of Texas in Austin earlier this month.
Arti Khanna, Director of the D.A.V. Montessori School, presided over the Annual Day function. In her introductory remarks, she made an announcement that drew an enthusiastic applause. “I am pleased to inform you that the D.A.V. Montessori School is now under the umbrella of the Texas Alliance of Accredited Private Schools. The accreditation committee was very impressed with our curriculum, teachers and values.”
One of the striking qualities of D.A.V. Montessori School’s children is their ability to speak and perform on stage. All the children receive the opportunity to participate in cultural performances as well as religious practices such as bhajans, aratis and yagnas.
At the Annual Day function, one of the preschool classes performed a delightful rendition of Chicken Little’s “The Sky is Falling” story. A demonstration of the children’s ability to learn Hindi occurred with the performance by elementary school students of a play titled “Lalach” (Greed). entirely in Hindi.
For additional information about the D.A.V. Montessori School, visit www.davmschool.com, email davmontessori@gmail.com or call (281) 759-8286.