‘The most important thing is love’
Almost everyone on the Montessori staff at St. Bridget’s Convent knows who “Aunty” is. But not all know that her name is Surangani Jayatilaka and this year marks the 43rd year of her dedicated service of teaching. Surangani was already a dynamic personality on the staff when a good number of them were starting out on their teaching careers, and she feels “lucky, that I could devote my whole self to Montessori”.
Surangani Jayatilaka. Pic by Amila Gamage
Instinctively choosing the least comfortable looking seat in the room, Surangani settles down to tell us what life as a Montessori teacher has been like in between training sessions that she conducts. “I still lecture here,” she smiles, despite retiring from her role as a Montessori teacher this March. Pouring out her knowledge shaped by years of experience, her daily routine is now focused on training the teachers of tomorrow.
“The girl of today needs a lot of help,” she says, of the newest recruits at the Montessori Training Centre of St. Bridget’s Convent. Continuing her duties as an educator, only to a different type of student, teaching still occupies a significant part of Surangani’s retired life. Promptly in the school’s Chapel every morning for the 6:15 a.m. mass, her day ends late for a pre-school teacher owing to her lecturing hours. In fact, the training centre is where her own journey began.
Enrolling in 1970, after her mother noticed her patience and natural ability to handle children, “I wasn’t opposed to the idea,” she recalls. It wasn’t an entirely new concept since her father who was in support of this was also a teacher. But, I was worried because Montessori teachers were not in demand at the time, given the very few Nursery schools there were then, she says.
It was popular for those who completed the course to migrate Surangani tells us. “They did really well in the US, but I never wanted to go.” Her desire to stay in the country fuelled the uncertainty following her completion of the course in April 1972.
The anxiety was quelled when Sister Stanislaus who was then the Principal of the Montessori at St. Bridget’s offered her a posting “She wasn’t going to pay me though!” Starting out on a volunteer basis of two days a week until September 1972, it didn’t take long for her to realise that “I wanted to come to school every day” even if it meant not being paid for a few months.
Clearly a favourite among the children as much as among her colleagues, her warm personality is what endears her to her young students. “I still have children and parents who keep in touch,” she smiles. Observing and truly understanding a child has led her to a few interesting cases for her as well- “I had a little boy who used to take the lime juice I bring for myself from home,” she says of a past student who had acquired a taste for her “nearly sugar-less” version of the drink. Exchanging sandwiches is yet another act she remembers faithfully carrying out every interval with a particular student.
Nurturing their young minds with not only the methods of Maria Montessori, “the most important thing is love” says this veteran teacher. Sowing seeds of kindness among her students past and present, her years in the profession have taught her that children are perceptive when one acts in love, “even if you say no.”
This understanding is what “Aunty” as she is fondly known, is dispensing among her teachers in training. “The child of today is more knowing” she feels, which means that if parents and teachers work together, there is no child left out of development’s reach. It’s common to think of Montessori teachers as mere “glorified nannies” she admits, but there is structure and method in how all children are appreciated within the system Surangani has devoted herself to see continued in the years to come.