Yasodhara Pathanjali is a British Sri Lankan and the founder of Independent Collective School (ICS), Sri Lanka’s first formal modern alternative school. Having opened its doors to its first batch of students in January 2024, Independent Collective School (ICS) is committed to providing a nurturing and inclusive environment that fosters curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity. The school aims to empower students to thrive in a fast-changing world while delivering a world-class education underpinned by the Cambridge Curriculum and Assessments.
Yasodhara left the UK in 2016 for Sri Lanka and shifted her focus to creative areas, including paintings, designing, and writing children’s books. In 2018, she created Sri Lanka’s largest hand-painted mural in Colombo. Yasodhara covered the 17-foot wide by 64-foot long wall with a colorful and bright mural that took three months to complete. When asked how much planning went into creating this colorful wall, Yasodhara said she did not plan. She sketched the whole wall and picked the colors as she got to each part of the painting.
Founded by Yasodhara Pathanjali and Ruki De Silva, who together bring over 50 years of experience in education, training, and development, ICS has rapidly become the preferred choice for parents seeking a holistic, well-rounded, and AI-focused education for their children in Colombo.
In a groundbreaking move for Sri Lanka, ICS offers a democratic formal school experience, allowing students to develop real-world skills, hone their talents, and become experts in their areas of interest. The curriculum is designed to help students build a strong CV through internship-powered real-world work experience or entrepreneurial ventures—an education that will serve them for life, from school to the workplace and beyond.
As the first school of its kind in Sri Lanka, Yasodhara, the head of ICS, is passionate about leading a much-needed educational revolution. She is dedicated to creating a learning environment that is truly child-centered and free from any form of systemic oppression—a space where students are genuinely excited to attend, eager to learn, and engaged with real-world challenges in a safe and educational manner.
“It amazes me each day when students come and ask me, ‘Why isn’t there school on the weekend?’ because there is no better approval of the work that my team does than that. To have a school where students are comfortable, happy, and thriving is just magic. We have so many students who are learning years ahead of them, who are doing work that no one ever thought they would, and who are really developing key skills for the future. I feel very privileged to be able to see this on a daily basis,” says Yasodhara.
Independent Collective School is also on track to become the largest Democratic School in South Asia by the end of this year, solidifying its position as one of the leading child-centered schools in the world.
If you want more information, the school’s website is https://theicsschool.com/, and Yasodhara’s is https://yasodharapathanjali.com.
