The KPM Approach to Children takes its name from its founder, the householder sage Sri Adwayananda (Sri K. Padmanabha Menon). The approach is rooted in basic Indian culture but at the same time addresses a universal human need that is expressed in the following paragraph:
"There is a latent push in any man which is only a search for perfection. Rightly pursued, one finds this in one's awakening experience to one's real nature through the atmosphere between the real teacher and the taught. Education is only an attempt toward this."
Sri Adwayananda (Sri K. Padmanabha Menon) Copyright 1992
The founder envisioned an education based on the fundamental dignity of the individual. He explained that a child lives in innocence until the age of four or five, even as the child expresses what they have observed in others and reflects how they themselves have been treated. The role of the adult is to regard the child and take their expressions seriously, as genuine, and respond to them in the belief that their thoughts and feelings matter. The relationship between teacher and child forms the foundation for the child's development.
Sri Atmananda Memorial School, India The founder applied the above ideas about education, which came to be known as the KPM Approach to Children, in his own family. This inspired the establishment of Sri Atmananda Memorial School in Kerala, India, the model school for the KPM Approach to Children. The school is named after the founder’s father, Sri Atmananda (Sri Krishna Menon, 1883-1959), a sage, family man, lawyer, superintendent of police, writer, poet and teacher. Today, the school in India accommodates around 175 children from kindergarten to twelfth grade. The school is private, non-sectarian, English-medium, and follows a nationally prescribed syllabus. From its inception in 1987, the school grew, grade by grade, until the first class graduated in 2001. The school is run by Atma Vidya Educational Foundation (AVEF), a charitable non-profit organization established in 1985.
Sri Atmananda Memorial School, Austin A second school was established in Austin in 1995 at the request of Pattye Henderson and Cliff Chapman, who had been commissioned by the model school to prepare an independent evaluation. Their son, Mars, attended the model school for the duration of their stay, and they were so impressed with his experience that they asked to open a school in Austin. Sri Atmananda Memorial School, Austin, serving children from kindergarten to twelfth grade, had its first graduating class in 2007. Learn more.
KPM Network With growing interest in the KPM Approach to Children, KPM Institute (Austin, USA) was established in 2002 and KPM Education (Paris, France) in 2003. The KPM Network of organizations works to promote the principles of the KPM Approach to Children in education.
