Mathieson Music School

Mathieson Music School is a charitable school in India that reaches out to vulnerable and disadvantaged children, supporting them emotionally and educationally through to adulthood – as they seek individual stability and social responsibility, in one of the fastest changing countries in the world. The challenge of balancing the traditional values of family and culture, within the fast growing economic power of modern India, is reflected in the environment in which the school is located: poised on the edge between the urban sprawl of the city of Kolkata, and rural West Bengal. The school offers a community and a family, encouraging the children to engage not only with each other and the wider world, but also with a deeper sense of resource in themselves. This enables resilience, and nurtures personal capacity to reflect on and question the larger moral issues challenging modern India, such as the relentless population growth and the rape cases that have now attracted increased media attention. These are issues that threaten to undermine the stability and integrity of India, unless it’s people can retain, or redefine, their traditional and spiritual values. This directs our attention to the importance of empowering the young people to find meaningful responsibility in society, and to supporting their views to be heard.