I Didn't Want to Build Another School. I Wanted to Rethink Childhood.

By Adinath Naik, Founder, Athletots

When I started thinking seriously about Athletots, I was not thinking about opening another preschool. Pune already has schools. India has thousands of schools. We do not have a shortage of classrooms, books, worksheets, uniforms or examinations.

The question that kept bothering me was different: Are we developing the whole child, or only the part of the child that can sit at a desk?

My background in sport shaped the way I looked at this question. In athletics, development is never one-dimensional. Strength without coordination is incomplete. Speed without control is incomplete. Training without recovery is incomplete. Confidence without experience is fragile. I began to wonder why childhood education was so often organised as if the mind, body, health, emotions and environment were separate subjects.

Young children do not naturally learn in compartments. They move, touch, ask, imitate, build, fall, negotiate, repeat and explore. They use their bodies while they are thinking. They use language while they are playing. They learn about distance by moving through space and about consequences by testing ideas.

The early years matter enormously. The World Health Organization describes early childhood as a period of rapid physical and cognitive development and emphasises health, nutrition, safety, responsive care and opportunities for learning as part of nurturing development.

That helped strengthen a belief I already carried from sport: development needs an environment, not just instruction.

Athletots grew from that belief.

I wanted to build an institution that could ask more complete questions about a child. Can the childthink and reason? Can the child communicate? Can the child move confidently? Can the child workwith others? Can the child understand basic health habits? Can the child explore outdoors? Can the child fail, adapt and try again? Can the child become more independent?

That is a much bigger definition of education.

As the idea developed, Athletots became one institution with two schools. Pioneers became our learning school. Striders became our sports school. They are different systems, but they look at the same child.

Pioneers asks how a child is developing as a learner and person. Striders asks how a child is developing as a mover and athlete. Between them sit four pillars that guide our thinking:

Education with Understanding, Sports Literacy, Health Literacy and Outdoor Education.

But philosophy alone is not enough. A school can say a child is “doing well.” A sports programme can say a child is “improving.” I wanted us to ask: What did we actually observe? What changed? What evidence do we have? What should happen next?

That thinking led to the Athletots Passports and our evidence collection system. The objective is not to rank every child against another child. It is to make each child's own development visible over time.

Athletots is still evolving. I do not believe a serious education system should ever declare that it has finished learning. Research develops. Children change. Society changes. Our methods should be questioned, measured and improved.

I did not want to build another school.

I wanted to ask whether we could build childhood differently.

Athletots is our attempt to answer that question.