Update – 22’nd, August, 2024. Just realised that Navadisha Montessori Foundation has changed their name to Supraja Montessori Study Centre and even relocated to a new premises. It is run by the same folks who were running Navadisha.

Read on… 

The post could alternatively be titled “How to obtain the AMI Primary Certification” as it also serves as a superb helpful aid (cheat sheet) in lessening your burden and tasks to obtain one. If you are aspiring to apply to the much hyped (and told that it is difficult-to-obtain), “AMI Primary Montessori Certification” here’s a post that you will definitely want to read. This is a fairly long read but I am sure it will be worth your time and most importantly, could save you, your hard-earned money.

On April 6’th, the graduation ceremony for the 14’th batch of the AMI Course (Primary) at Navadisha Montessori Foundation, Velachery took place. The course itself came to an end on the 11’th of April. From a class of 39 students, a dozen of us didn’t make it to the graduation. I was one of them. Fortunately for me I opted to “audit” the course way back in January this year after it was recommended by the trainers that I “audit” the course (more on that later). One other person had also opted for “auditing” much early on. For the rest it was an excruciatingly bitter struggle till the very end only to either fail or not allowed to take the exams. My heart goes out to these ladies who went all the way till the very end only to face utter disappointment. These include two foreigners who pay “3.3 times” the fee Indian nationals pay. Was it worth it? This post answers it all. Let me remind you that this course is “no fun”. I repeat, “no fun” at all.

The Hype – First of all there is a hype that is created way back from April onward about the fees. The course gets more pricier (by an additional Rs. 10,000 for Indian nationals) if it is paid just a month or less than a month, before the course commences. But that’s not entirely true. I know one classmate who joined the course just two weeks before the course began and she paid the original fee only, without any fine. Several others “could” have also paid in a similar fashion without any late fee. Also, fees are collected within a four month period before the course commences.

The Selection Process – While applying, besides filling in an application form one is also asked to write an essay about oneself. I guess this is to assess one’s English. Two classmates (one whose English was certainly not poor), I came to know later, were asked to do a short assistant’s course prior to joining the course in August. What intrigues me is that if this write up was a test of assessing one’s English skills, why were candidates with “poor” and deficient English asked to take up the course. Two of them did fail eventually. But here’s another surprise. Several others whose English vary from poor to even very poor have even passed the certification. How? Read on…

At the interview I was told the following –

• that there are no marks given for the exams and submissions, and that only feedback is given
• that at the end there is a written exam and an oral exam and that there is only a pass or a fail. Sounds so easy, doesn’t it! Yes, but that is only if you are allowed to appear for the exams and worst of all if you are allowed to pass the exam.
• that one must not interfere while a lecture is going on and only after it is complete, should one ask questions. I was only wondering why such an emphasis on this rule was being made and that too at the time of the interview.

More intriguing, isn’t it? Read on…

So this brings me to the Untold Rule No.1 (untold at the time of your interview) – There are two sets of exams at the end of the course. 1. Theory and 2. Practicals and Viva (Oral). There are two Theory exams and these exams are corrected by your trainers here at the institute. When asked about who was correcting the theory exams I wasn’t given an answer but this IS what happens to your theory papers. They are corrected by your trainers here at the institute. The Practicals and Viva are conducted by an external examiner. Now here’s the worst part that is not told to you. You may or may not be allowed to sit for these exams. At the interview you are only told that attendance is strict and arriving on time very punctual and that if you don’t have 90% attendance and all your albums and materials completed, one is not allowed to sit for the exams but that is not the the only criterion for not allowing one to sit for a particular exam. Considering the way it was going for me I was afraid if I would be allowed to pass the exams but not allowing someone to appear for the exam despite meeting the criteria for attendance and submissions and review exams, came as a very big surprise!

Untold Rule No.2 – Buy a printer. The EPSON L130 (by the way, it only prints) is a great choice. Yes, these are additional costs but there’s no way around them. Do not think you can run to the nearest cyber cafe or friend to get the pages of your albums printed. There are tons of pages to print. By the way, I assume you have a computer or a Laptop, otherwise you’ll never be able to complete this course.

Another valuable tip – Do not buy the books being “sold” there. Some publisher comes there to sell books on the day you sign up and on the innaugural day of the course. These books are exhorbitantly priced. Several of these books are available online for “free”. Do a search and download them. Otherwise the library at the institute has multiple copies that can be borrowed.

Very Valuable Tip – Do not draw manually unless you are told to do so. Manual drawing is asked of you for your GK album. For the rest USE your computer for drawing (MS Word, Libre Draw etc.,). I guarantee that you’ll spend so much time drawing and colouring that you will not have time for anything else. In the process I learnt Google Sketchup and I was even chided for that. Imagine!

Extremely valuable tip if you have decided that drawing is the only way – There are many sites online that convert pictures (any image) to black and white sketches for free. You need to play around with these sites to get your sketch just right. After that draw the outline that has already been sketched using a black ball pen. Then shade, colour, paint as required. This will save you a ton of time if you are drawing all the images manually.

Other expenses – Other than this you will need to buy “quality” A4 paper (75-80 GSM for best results), files with pouches on the inner side of the front flap of the file to hold these papers, and plastic clear page protectors (again superior quality). Besides these there are a number of materials you’ll be asked to make. Be absolutely clear of what material is needed to be purchased or else you’ll end up buying a lot of things that will be unsuitable and rejected.

The biggest surprise at the time of paying the fees was the signing of the “no-refund” agreement where you agree to not ask for any refund of the fee if you opt to leave the course midway or before completion. Never did I realize in my wildest dreams that I would have to worry about signing this agreement till I commenced the course.

The icing on the cake was an additional Rs.500 collected at the time of joining as a “refundable” caution deposit. When asked about it I was told that during the rainy season transport is arranged during difficult times. Nothing of this kind was arranged and neither was a refund given to me. In fact the very first day I came late was the day when it rained the most. I had submissions and had to take an auto that went all over the place and reached the institute half an hour late.

The Course – “A concentration Camp”

Surprisingly, one of the trainers even used these words in the class and I was surprised she used them, saying, “Subash is walking up to the front of the class as though he is in a Concentration Camp….”

Intense Work – This is “one HELL of a course” when it comes to intensity of work.  Say “Goodbye” to all your “Quality time”, “T.V time”, “Movie time”, “Party time”……  You’ll be doing so much work (typing on your computer, drawing, sticking, painting, colouring, making materials, preparing for exams…) that you’ll end up doing overtime and sleeping very less. By the time the first album, the GK Album was submitted I was wondering why was such an intensive course designed to become teachers of little children. Even one lady who did Engineering admitted that Engineering was easier than doing this course. Many or most of us were drawing, painting and shading for the first time in decades. In fact one wonders how many trainees passing out of this course can actually remember and put into action the content and training from this enormous information overload. Most chances are that they will not be able to.

Missed classes – The process to recover notes from a class is so elaborate that you had better not miss the lectures. Ladies were even recording classes to help those who missed them. Sadly that came to an end when mobile phones were banned in class.

Tips – If you are taking help, do so, but don’t get caught. Actually several ladies were taking help. Why won’t they? This is what is going to happen if a course were to be so unreasonably intense as this. AMI should take cognizance of this. Why can’t they make it a longer course? I even mentioned to the trainers that this should have been a 1 year or a 1.5 year course and I am sure the comment didn’t go well with them (Warning – saying such things is Blasphemy!). Husbands, brothers, fathers, sisters and maybe even boyfriends were all helping ladies taking this course. One lady even confessed to me that her entire album material and theory was being done by someone else. Another who passed the course had her entire written work (all albums, teaching and observation practice albums, theory albums, plant and animal observation) done by her husband. Even Navadisha’s eagle eyes couldn’t catch them. Just imagine, for years these suckers at Navadisha have been labouring hard correcting the work of their trainees, which was in fact, being done by someone else. I also know one lady who wrote her entire plant and animal observation from memory. Navadisha will never check you on this. They only provide feedback on your work.  These are the alternative measures trainees take due to the overwhelming stress and pressure from the course.

Copying from the internet – Several trainees who couldn’t write text of their own were copying from the Internet but again my advice – “Don’t get caught”. The same goes if you are sharing content with your classmates.

I knew one lady who was caught and warned (yes, via the dreaded meeting, explained later) for “lifting off” something from the Internet. Two of them who were caught under the suspicion of sharing notes were asked to leave the course. The two ladies took legal action. One of them rejoined, the other left citing harassment by the trainers and even got most of her money back.

The Attendance Call – Just imagine, while attendance is being taken every morning, no one is allowed to talk and everyone (the trainees) must constantly keep looking at the person taking the attendance whether their name is called or not. No one is even supposed to glance at their books or take a note. If someone is caught talking or writing or glancing at his or her book, the person taking the attendance stops everything and keeps staring at the trainee doing the talking, writing or glancing at her book. It is a very uncomfortable moment. The entire class goes silent. Classmates sitting adjacent to the person being stared at elbow or pinch the person so that she stops what she is doing and once the stared-at-trainee fixes her glance back on the trainer,  the attendance taking resumes.

Punctuality – Do not be late to class. You are expected to leave a note if you do so. Late attendance is marked.

Pin-Drop silence – During the classroom sessions you can almost hear a pin drop. In a way it helps with the training but observing it to perfection only makes the entire environment so uncomfortable, reeling with tension. While answering do not answer in a chorus. The “one person please”, “so many Radhas (example name)?” is a common and nauseating thing you’ll have to get to used to from the trainers if you answer in chorus.

You’ll be watched – Literally every move you make, every word you say, your behavior, are all monitored. There are even people appointed for this purpose. Anything out of the norm and you’ll be called for the meeting.

and therefore –

Any time is “viva” time – Any time any of the trainers ask you anything related to the course make sure you give a valid reply as though you are being tested for the exam. No funny answers please! Never! They will all go against you.

Follow all rules and orders obediently – There is absolutely no other choice. There are rules for using the toilets, your mobile phone, your locker……. Any rule broken and you’ll be called for a meeting. The trainers rule the roost here and exert a vice like grip.

The Meetings – One of the most dreaded part of the course. Apart from feedback (which are also not easy to take either) any violations are dealt personally in a meeting that involves the director and at least one or more of the trainers. One lady even told me how her thighs were shaking as she sat in front of the trainers.

In the meeting room, get ready for these lines that are repeatedly told to you, “We are there for you, we are there to help you, we know what it is like to go through this course……” To me, every time the director spoke these lines it sounded to me as though they wanted to make sure the course is intense for the trainees because they themselves (the trainers) had been through a course as intense as this. Honestly, it didn’t look like “helping”. With repeated meetings one is only demotivated and discouraged to the point of leaving the course.

Barely just over three months into the course comes the dreaded meeting of all, the one-on-one in late November or early December. This is a meeting that decides if you will continue the course or not. Imagine, it happens just a little over 3 months into the course. If the trainers recommend to you that you “audit” the course, mind you, it’s over. You are asked to sign a document indicating the reasons why. I should have not signed the document because I was still thinking I would prove them wrong. No way! Not when your fate has already been sealed! And that was when I was fully convinced that I may not be allowed to pass even if I did take the exams. Also, arguing or not signing the document will only ensure your doom! It sure did come as a big surprise how some were even not allowed to sit for the exams considering they weren’t recommended to “audit” the course. Auditing means you can sit through theory but can “opt” to not submit any more submissions or give the exams.

Answer all questions in the meetings as though you were in a real “viva” oral exam.

Early morning cleaning and caring for the environment – Even here you are watched. The intriguing thing is that you may end up cleaning and dusting the same things over and over again even when they are clean. But just do them silently, no questions asked.  Mentioning why trainees were cleaning and dusting in the mornings over and over again just for the sake of practice I am sure didn’t go well with the trainers as well.

Directed practical – Here you demonstrate one of the several presentations (there are hundreds of them) to the entire class. It is nerve racking and if you don’t do well, you are noted. Two ladies who didn’t do well here did not make it.

Don’t become the marked person –  This is probably the most important advice I can give. If you do become one (which I believe I became in their eyes) chances are that you’ll never make it successfully through the course. So, how does one become a marked person?

Answer –

• Do not show over enthusiasm for the course. ( I did )
• Do not be funny. Never crack jokes.
• Do not ask too many doubts and questions even if they were smart ones. (one lady was even told not to ask questions if it didn’t make any sense to her, in another session the entire class was called after they were dismissed because someone had asked a question to the trainer after the class was over, you’ll also be told to find answers for yourself for questions that cannot be answered, you’ll also be told initially that some answers will manifest during the later part of the course. I am sure I did ask valid questions.)
• Do not talk about topics outside the course even if it meant something related to the course. (I did this too)
• Do not offer suggestions or improvements to the course.
• Do not get friendly with any of the trainers or trainers in training or the staff.
• Do not get overly friendly with your own classmates or show that closeness in class.
• Do not be talkative in class.

Tip – Remember the Chinese kung-fu movies where total subservience is expected from the students to their masters in total silence (answer only when questioned) and in total obedience. Observing that for the duration of the course will be of immense help if you are keen on getting the AMI Certification from Navadisha.

And this is how you also become favoured even if your English is poor.

Once you are marked, bear in mind you’ll get such unimaginable comments such as “you are walking in the corridors too often”, “you are making us call you for meetings often”, “you are restless in class”, “you are impulsive”, “Are you taking notes?”. I was even told twice that my writing starts in one place and then moves to a totally different direction. It gets unimaginably touchy. I even wondered if the trainers had a morbid fear of the AMI organization itself.

Such intensity and strictness obviously rubs off the trainees and I could witness this anxiety and tension in teachers who have passed the course. Instead of practicing what the method teaches, teachers were punishing children (we are taught that there are no awards or punishments in the Montessori system) and some even very harshly. Why can’t teaching little children be an enjoyable experience instead.

Surprise Surprise – Forced to go for the IMF conference. This may or may not happen to every batch but all in my batch including myself (even after I opted to audit) were asked to attend the conference in January this year and that too paying a fee which I guess was Rs.6000. Anyone not going was called for a meeting to give an explanation and in the process coerced to attend the conference. I was asked to but refused to attend the conference.

A serious flaw in the training material – I found atleast one and that too I could detect this flaw with my eyes closed (so much for being told that I wasn’t focused). I couldn’t believe the trainer when she mentioned it in a lecture in class.

So, isn’t there Anything good at Navadisha? – I do have some good things to say too. The Trainers are dedicated, yes, but if only they could have been a lot more easier to work with. I had my favorites too, one I was almost in “awe” of and another for whom I had great sympathy (don’t know if I can say “love”). I did admire some traits in the other trainers too. Sadly that doesn’t and didn’t help. Overall it was only a bitter experience and that too after struggling and working so hard till January 2018 (4.5 months).

Bottom Line – Would I recommend this course at Navadisha? No and Never! In fact after going through the course (I sat through the entire theory), I would not recommend the Montessori method either for both student or teacher. I will admit though, that several of the techniques in the Montessori method do work, and several schooling systems use a part of the Montessori pedagogy but personally I wouldn’t say every Montessori technique is the best you can use for schooling a child. I have debunked the method in another post and you can read all about it here. If you are still interested in the Montessori method look for courses elsewhere and online. There are great courses online though I am not sure how the online courses provide the practical experience.

As for me I came to this course with a RAGE OF A PASSION. I was of the impression that Montessori was the holy grail of alternative schooling methods, particularly for children although that isn’t the case. The opening days passed normally as any course would but then gradually I could sense fear, authority and an unusual strictness which only seemed to grow in intensity over the days. Considering the number of meetings I have had with the trainers, I would joke with my classmates saying the trainers are so fond of me and that is why they call for a meeting with me so often. I took it all patiently and tight-lipped thinking somehow work hard, get the certification and leave but that was not to happen.

Save your valuable time and money! Stay away from this institute and this course.

P.S – This is an unverified piece of information but I was told by more than one source that in the previous Primany batch (2016-17) more than half the students left the course unable to cope with the difficulties of this stringent course. Most of these students were from Singapore. Over the years I wonder how many trainees were asked to leave the course and if they were asked to leave, did they get their money back? People who are asked to audit the course and those who leave (on their own accord) don’t get anything, not even the exam fees.

Latest Update (April 2020) – This doesn’t seem to end. Actually I heard of this news way back in December 2019 but posting only now. As though the current activities weren’t “hell” enough new activity has been introduced to the students. From now on each student has to conduct a talk on “The Montessori Method” somewhere in the city. The student will need to formally invite (yes, make invitations too in the process) 15 guests to a formal venue (not a house, street corner etc.,). It must be in a Hotel or a hall or a place where there are chairs, microphone, other infra etc.,. Then the student needs to give a talk on Montessori and its benefits, advantages etc., for 15 or so minutes and later take answers from the audience. Later the student will need to take proof of this meeting back to the trainers at Navadisha, and these include feedback forms from the audience (yes, you need to make them too), content you spoke at the meeting and photographs from the meeting. Can you imagine this! Nice advertising gimmick for Navadisha and that too at the students’ expenses.