Something is humming at Majuli...

Today is pink day.

Tomorrow every child in this amazing school will be wearing blue.

Well, mostly blue.

Every day some child or the other will not have the correct color to wear. Because that T-shirt is not quite dry. (You’ll see that in today’s photograph, too. A few touches of blue on the designated pink day.)

Most of the children in this school are from the indigenous Mising tribe in India’s largest riverine island, Majuli.

Yet they all speak perfect English. (As well as Assamese and Mising.) Ever since Class 1.

What you see above is the morning assembly at this truly forward-thinking school. If you watch closely the assembly is being run by the children. There is not a teacher in sight.

At the time that I took this photograph, the teachers were at their own morning ritual. Preparing for the day. In this instance, a G-Mat style test that would be administered throughout the school.

Seven years ago, this school was built at the request of the Mising tribals. 19 Mising Villages came together. They donated the land. They donated the bamboo and the labor used to build the first classrooms.

Every room in this nature-loving school is round. There are no back-benchers.

The quality of the education is so good that students from more affluent families on the island carpool their wards or drop them off on their personal vehicles promptly at 8 am.

Those families pay a token of Rs 300 per month for each child.

But those who live at the hostel for over 100 children from less privileged backgrounds get their boarding, lodging, and education for free.

Funded by well-wishers like you.

I am here, as part of a team from The Red Curtain International to help run their Theatre-in-Education Program for Class 5.

How many schools in India do you know have classes dedicated to Theatre as a practical subject? Given the same importance as Science or Math.

Classes. During school hours. Not an extra-curricular or an after-hours activity.

The students The Red Curtain is grooming have theatre classes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It is built into the curriculum because the school recognizes that theatre builds confidence and provides life skills.

The curriculum is designed so that the students will put up a full-length Musical to complete their year.

The holistic education does not stop at Theatre. Workshops in diverse areas abound.

Though I have come here to 'teach' theatre, I find I am learning more about brand and community building than I have in the last decade.

While I have waxed eloquently about brituals (brand rituals), here is a school that is practicing it without having heard of the term.

For example, immediately after the Assembly, there are 15 minutes devoted to class culture. Where the students decide the ground rules of the decorum to be followed in class. (Yes, the Class Teacher serves as the mentor but the children decide how issues should be resolved.)

There is a roster to clean the classes and the latrines. Where students and teachers share responsibilities.

How the classes are held is quite amazing.

When I looked in on some of them, I never heard raised voices from the teachers. The school seems to have mastered the art of being firm but gentle.

In the junior classes, it felt more like a parent was guiding the students to make their own discoveries. It was not unusual for a child to be lying down engrossed in the relevant book.

If there was one guiding principle, it was to encourage curiosity.

The school has a children's library that makes it easy for any adult to get lost in wonder.

This year, the Class 10 students have conceived and are implementing East India's first Children's Literary Festival.

Run by the children.

They want to share with other children in Majuli the joy they have discovered through books.

Books that are not their textbooks.

Books that have breathed oxygen into their minds.

That's the epiphany that they want to share through The Ammo Children's Literary Festival.

'Ammo' means seed in Mising.

You can play a role in seeding their future.

Donate now.