Our Two Key Pillars
Freedom
There are no teacher-made-programs. Students are responsible to decide how to spend their time at school. We believe learning is a delight when not forced. We trust kids' natural curiosity and ability to grow by themselves. And support what they want to do.
Self-government
We decide everything about our school in a democratic way. Students make rules to make their school life comfortable, plan field trips, annual schedule of the school and so on. We even decide our annual budget and condition of staff employment together.
What is "Democratic School" ?
Democratic school is a kind of alternative school which is run in a democratic way. We are a member of Democratic School Network in Japan.
Please check this website for more information.
The Network of Democratic-schools in Japan
A direct model of Manje is Grassroots School in FL, America.
which is based on the idea of Summerhill School in the U.K.
We also share ideas with Sudbury Valley School in MA, America. There are now a lot of "Sudbury
Schools" in many countries.
We've been visiting Grassroots School every few years. This movie is from our visit in 2012.
"Manje" means "now" in Zimbabwean language.
We think lively future will come after lively current life, not after a hard time.