Montessori in India

To create an official structure for Joosten's work, an organisation was created by the name of Indian Montessori Training Courses (IMTC) in 1949. It was an organisation originally consisting mainly of Joosten and Swamy. This travelling institution moved from city to city until Swamy's retirement in 1990. Ex-students from previous trainings working in the locality were called upon to be assistants. After Swamy's retirement, IMTC ran under the Directorship of Meenakshi Shivaramakrishnan. IMTC is now based in Bangalore. By the next decade, new branches were created at Chennai under the name CMTC. Thereafter many more branches were created including in Gurgaon in 2016, IMTC Gurgaon.

Indian Montessori Center invited Rajendra K. Gupta to conduct a primary Montessori training at Bangalore in 1996. This was the first such course to be conducted in India after Montessori left the country. However, IMC discontinued the course that same year. To preserve the method thereafter, Rajendra K. Gupta set up Indian Institute for Montessori Studies with himself as the Director, Radha Nagaraj as the co-Director, with the help of a few of his students. IIMS continues to be a rarity where the work is carried out by a committee rather than an individual, adding more faculty over the years.

At present, there are four AMI Montessori centres in India: Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

After the popularising of the Primary Montessori Training by IIMS, several schools offering this method at the primary level came up in Bangalore, Tumkur, Chennai and Trichy. This has encouraged other pre-primary based institutions to branch out into this area. Both IMTC and Navadisha Montessori Institute have offered primary Montessori training from time to time.

The City Montessori School (CMS) is located in Delhi, the capital of India. The curriculum is built upon four core concepts: universal values, excellence, global understanding, and service. In the late twentieth century the teachings were reflective of the current conflicts between Hindus and Buddhists in the region. The school hosted a social movement to promote unity between the members of these two religious groups. This movement reflects the school's objective of promoting international-mindedness upon its members. This can be seen through the service programs that are offered at the school. These allow students to take part in their local government. In an essay from 1996, Carolyn Cottom notes that the school's objective is to prepare its students for the complex issues of society that occur at the global level. Students are taken to visit the various places of worship in India. They are also taught about peace education; students learn that 'the Golden Rule' is a concept that is often taught across all world religions. Furthermore, the teacher's role is not only to teach subjects to students but to act as a mentor in the child's spiritual journey. The school works towards aligning the values taught through Montessori education with the ones taught to the child at home. To achieve this goal, the school offers incentives and recognition to parents to display involvement in their child's education.[5][6]

Government regulations in India state that no education institution can be run by an individual. To solve that issue, IMC, a registered society was created in 1990 with S.R Swamy as the first chairman. Later, Meenakshi Sivaramakrishna continued as the Directess while Dr. Ing. B V A Rao a retired Professor from IIT Madras, took over as the chairman of IMC, which had its office in Malleswaram, Bangalore. The Training Course IMTC was also attached to this office. Another center was also begun in South Bangalore. With all these new changes, AMI disaffiliated IMTC in 1999. IMTC came under the umbrella of IMC instead. Now, IMC has several chapters which operate in different states .Even in Kolkata there is IMC. IMC has its Northern India Chapter in Gurgaon. Both the IMC North India Chapter and IMTC Gurgaon are based out of "Our Montessori House"- a montessori house of children based in Gurgaon, following the principals as laid down by Dr Montessori.

Indian Montessori Association was created to support the students of IIMS, since they set up the first set of primary Montessori schools in India after Montessori's time. Details of this association can be seen in the link provided.

The Indian Montessori Foundation is a pan-Indian organisation established to promote Montessori education in India.

In 1929, Montessori established the Association Montessori International (AMI) to carry forward her humanistic social vision. AMI today, is a leading world body carrying forward Montessori's work in the spirit in which it was conceived. Headquartered in Amsterdam in Montessori's final home, AMI directs training programmes all over the world. AMI is affiliated to the United Nations through UNESCO and strives to further the rights of the child in society.

IMF carries out awareness programmes and arranges events to support the AMI Montessori training and local schools.