Maharishi School hires interim Head of School

FAIRFIELD — Maharishi School in Fairfield has a new interim Head of School, who is bringing two decades of experience in education to the position.

The school welcomed Nuwaira Pasha to her new post on July 1. Pasha is taking over the position previously held by Richard Beall, who helped establish Maharishi School in 1981.

Since she was hired in early June, Pasha has been busy reviewing the school’s consciousness-based curriculum, and making plans to restructure the lower school, which comprises grades 1-5. In particular, she wants to see those children incorporate more performing arts into their day, and to strike a balance between creative and core subjects.

“I’d like to increase the number of events for students to develop their presentation skills and communication skills,” Pasha said.

Pasha said she’s looking into forming a parent advisory committee to build relationships between parents and the school.

Pasha’s most recent experience as an educator was as a school principal in Hyderabad, India. According to her website nuwairapashaconsulting.com, enrollment at the school increased under Pasha from 292 students to 825 students in just three years. Her responsibilities at the school included teacher development, marketing, admissions, and getting the school accredited through the International Baccalaureate Organisation, just to name a few. During her tenure at the school, she established early learning centers in Hyderabad and two other cities in India: Belgaum and her hometown of Chennai.

Pasha was born in Chennai and went to school in Bangalore. In 2001, she moved to London where she worked as a Montessori teacher while taking classes toward a diploma in Early Years and Preschool Practice. According to her website, she obtained her Qualified Teacher Status in London and taught the British curriculum for eight years before moving back to India to join Indus Hyderabad in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. She became head of Indus Hyderabad’s primary school and later became its K-12 principal.

Pasha and her husband moved to the United States last year when her husband secured a job as a computer engineer in Cedar Rapids. That’s where the couple still reside, and Pasha said she plans to commute to Fairfield, though she will live in Fairfield two days a week.

While waiting to get her work permit for the U.S., Pasha was doing online consulting for schools in India. After getting her permit, she started looking for job openings in Iowa, and stumbled upon Maharishi School in an online search.

“I thought, ‘Am I reading this correctly? Maharishi School in Iowa?’” Pasha said. “I went to the school’s website. I could see how I aligned with the school’s vision, because it’s very similar to what I used to do.”

Pasha said that the school had an opening for Head of School, so she emailed the school to let them know of her interest and background. Pasha said what followed was the “most rigorous interview process” she has ever been through. She met the board of directors, alumni parents, alumni students, the staff, faculty and current students.

“It was a very thorough process,” she said.

Pasha mentioned that the last school she worked at practiced mindfulness meditation, so she is familiar with meditation being part of the school curriculum.

“I’m a practitioner of meditation myself, and I used to do a lot of guided meditation,” she said. “[Transcendental Meditation] is something new to me, but the idea of meditation is not something I’m unfamiliar with, or even doing a form of it in schools. What I find unique about this school is the dedication to development consciousness in the students, the way they dedicate time at the beginning and end of the day to meditate, with a strong emphasis on life principles.”

From what she’s seen thus far, Pasha loves Fairfield’s strong sense of community, and that all of her interactions with people here have been warm and friendly. She was also surprised to discover that an Iowa town of 10,000 people had so much diversity.

“The diversity in this school has just blown me away,” she said.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com