Sunshine Coast Hinterland Times

The school on Bridge Creek

Ananda Marga's River School

In 2009 the Ananda Marga River School celebrates15 years as a primary school in Maleny. Located on 26 hillside acres, the River School looks down on the beautiful and winding Bridge Creek.
The school has flourished from 23 children in 1995 to its present size of 200 in kindy, pre-school and primary grades. The school already has bookings for 2013 and families are known to settle in Maleny to secure their child’s place at the school.

One of the River School’s key Margii founders is Prabha Demasson, and in this article she charts  the beginnings of this remarkable neo-humanist adventure in children’s education.
It was in the middle 1980s when Australia’s most prominent Ananda Marga members, Paul Alister, Tim Anderson and Ross Dunn were released from jail after seven years of wrongful imprisonment (see story P8).
About the same time, Prabha who had been working for a Margii school in Sydney, was invited to Maleny to join a group of like minds, including Paul Alister, in eventually setting up a 50 acre Prout cooperative community on Bridge Creek. With their children’s education in mind, the group decided to split the land in half and create a primary school based on the neo-humanist principles of Ananda Marga.

Prabha Demasson is one of the founders and deputy principal of Ananda Marga’ s River School on Bridge Creek Maleny

These principles emphasise a universal outlook with morality, integrity, self-confidence, self-discipline and co-operation, to be achieved through yoga and other concentration techniques.
“There was very good support from the community for our application for the school”, says Prabha, who became deputy principal and bursar of the new school. 
Prabha explains that when she first came into the school in 1995 she set about establishing a good reputation locally, mainly because of the the negative stigma of Ananda Marga from the Hilton bombing. So, they paid all their bills on time, they shopped locally, and maintained quality relationships with people.
“We were also very clear that the school wasn’t for children to become little Margiis at the end of it. It was to give children a valid place to flourish and because everywhere I looked I could see children being suppressed.
 

We have 200 kids now and while there are more children than when we started, we are doing our educational component better. We’re giving them a lot more opportunities, a lot of music, a lot of artistic pursuits.”

The River School teachers are chosen for their personal approach to raising kids. Apart from the principal – Dada – there are no Margii teachers. But they are all strong upholders of the school’s neo- humanist principles and they make an active commitment to do the best they can for each child by helping them to work through their problems and address any issues with parents.
Meditation is central to Ananda Marga practice and is part of the River School curriculum. No-one is forced to do it but there’s a morning circle on Mondays for all the children and they have a quiet time in their classes every day. If children really want to learn to meditate, the school principal – Dada (meaning brother), is fully qualified to teach meditation practices.
“It’s not just sitting up meditating”, explains Prabha, “ it’s about helping children appreciate the need for quiet time. With the little ones we do a lot of visualisation. Even to get children to feel safe and to close their eyes is a huge thing. One of the most interesting aspects of River School lore concerns children’s competitive spirit. 
“There’s a competitive streak in all of us”, says Prabha, “but we get our students to work towards their own benefit, their own development, and everyone celebrating everyone else’s achievement.
“We actually won the state championships for athletics about three years ago, out of 50 schools in the whole of Queensland. It was the first time we’d ever been in it. We won because of our talented kids and were commended for our sportsmanship. They even cheered the other schools and the organisers said they’d never seen anything like it.

Dada, school principal

“Parents are really attracted to what we do here because of the spiritual content and environment. Whether it’s Dada driving the bus, or seeing us meditate before we have a management meeting. This makes a difference to people.
If I can help to give these children a choice to take any spiritual path they want; if we can get a child to sit in meditation/quiet time and get a moment of bliss, just a little glimmer, then I know we have done our job.
“We hope the children will go on to a compassionate environment when they leave here, somewhere there is tolerance. I do believe we give them strength and resilience for them to succeed.”
After 15 years Prabha goes into 2009 with six new teachers and still deeply committed and passionate about the River School’s unique principles. The River School has become both her home and her vocation.
“To have a position where I am paid, I live on this beautiful property. I’m doing something I love. I’m doing service every day. I couldn’t have written the script better myself if I tried.”