Google Doodle in honour of Maria Montessori

31 August, 2012

She believed in a child's potential and their ability, and this is the philosophy that she tried to drive home. Google Doodle is remembering the lady who bought Montessori schools in our midst.

FOR MOST of us in India we do not know that the word 'Montessori school' is actually after Maria Montessori, who was an Italian physician and educator. She was the one who believed that 'teachers are not masters but are observers and companions.' To honour and remember Montessori on Friday, Google has put up a doodle on her 142 birthday.

The doodle showed various Montessori toys used to teach pre-school students worldwide. Inscribed on them were the Google g. The educator was born on August 31, 1870, in Chiaravalle, Italy, and is, till date, known as noted humanitarian and a devout Catholic. Her method of teaching focuses on a child's potential and also on their independence, a philosophy mostly not used by Indian parents.

Apart from being an educator Maria was also the first women in Italy to get a degree in medicine in the year 1896. The fact that we have so many Montessori school in India is because Maria herself traveled to India from 1939 to 1946, to disseminate her educational system. She went to other parts of the world as well to spread her philosophy of education after opening her first Montessori school in 1907.

She led a fulfilling life, doing what she believed in, and died at a ripe age of 81 years on May 6, 1952. With today's Doodle, Google has paid homage to one of the finest teachers of our times.