‘Appropriate Education Pedagogy’ (AEP),  is child-centred, participatory and activity based, and is being implemented in 54 rural government schools and 8 urban government schools in Karnataka. It is an effort by CWC to revitalise the existing education system and make education both more meaningful and joyful.

The Appropriate Education Programme has three interlinked components. The first consists of a series of interventions in the formal government primary school system. This includes regular interactions with and training programmes for in the government primary schools, and provision of Montessori learning materials and other supportive educational materials to the schools. The teachers are assured that there is nothing drastically different about the Montessori method, which has been around for almost a hundred years and is really very similar to what they have learnt in their B. Ed. course. Montessori materials are adapted to primary education requirements and one set supplied to all the schools. Teachers are given a 10-day training followed by refresher training. They are supported in the field by CWC field coordinators who visit the schools, interact with the teachers and give them academic support. Being part of the larger canvas of CWC (Bhima Sangha and Makkala Panchayat), the teachers are simultaneously supported and monitored. The entire package essentially aims at turning around the attitudes of the teacher, makes her more open and responsive to children, helps her treat them with love and dignity and, above all, give them the space to learn and grow. As these values are very much part of the overall CWC ethos, they are constantly affirmed. The Panchayat Task Force supervises the programme and also provides it with the necessary backing and support.

The second comprises of extension schools set up by CWC (but linked to the formal school like a satellite) to cater to the educational needs of working children who cannot attend full-time schools. The focus is on the creation of materials that children can use for self-learning, obviating the need for total dependence on the teacher. The range of material that is supplied to the extension schools includes information on health, child rights, material on Bhima Sangha, general reading and material that promotes cognitive development. The facilitator is a young person who is trained to work with the children in a spirit of equality and respect. The Gram Panchayats (Village Councils) manage these extension schools and the Department of Education in the Taluk recognises them as part of the formal system. As a result, all children in extension schools are registered in the formal schools and can either enter the formal school or sit for the formal exams.

The third component is the Educational Resource Centre – located in Namma Bhoomi – that not only provides training and educational support for the residential programme, but also serves as a training resource for the district and Karnataka as a whole.