A modern school needs to do much more than ensuring good marks on a sheet, which is the minimum responsibility of a school. The education must nurture a good human being equipped with broad range of capabilities, says Dr Jagdish Gandhi, Founder-Manager, City Montessori School (CMS), Lucknow, in conversation with Arpit Gupta of Elets News Network (ENN).
City Montessori School (CMS), Lucknow is a renowned name of school education sector in the country. How this journey started and with what mission?
The vision of City Montessori School (CMS) keeps it distinct from other schools of the country. We at CMS take into account the three realities of a human being: material, human, and divine. These realities help students to be balanced human beings in their life ahead. A balanced person achieves great success and can grow up to any extent in life.
At CMS, we also inculcate “Decision Making” among students for choosing global professions or positions. It has been done through sending our students to various schools abroad and to global conferences. We also organise “Chief Justices Conference” in the school where the Chief Justices and Judges from across the globe participate and interact with our students. So, at CMS, we do not focus only on the material education but we also broaden students’ thinking.
Our results in board and other exams are the best in India. Various renowned newspapers have covered us on the lines of – “Lucknow Emerging as a Quality Education Hub” mentioning CMS among the Top 10 schools of the country. Out of the Top 10 schools of India, five are City Montessori Schools. The reason behind this is school’s focus on “Divine Education” and on “Human Education” along with “Material Education”. Our “Human Education” helps children to be a contributing member for the family, society and the world.
At CMS, daily prayer-assemblies are planned to be spiritually nourishing. The integration of all-religion prayers before the commencement of every event is an innovative way to teach children to embrace diversity and create awareness of and reverence for all religions.
Other than that, we have several international activities (28) in which students from across the globe participate. As many as 64 students from our school are going to perform Yoga at the UN and also going to visit the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Along with nurturing global thought process among students, what kind of technological innovations have been adopted by CMS for holistic development of students?
One of the most significant innovations adopted in CMS is the use of white board i.e. every class in CMS is smart class. The CMS has over 4,500 computers to make students tech-savvy.
We are also using technology to handle one of the prime concerns of parents i.e. security. Our all the campuses are under CCTV surveillance to keep an eye on every students and avoid any mishappening. Along with that we also conduct seminars and conferences on road safety.
The curriculum for every school affiliated to a board is same, still CMS performs better than other schools, what are the reasons behind that?
We, rather than forcing students to study, develop an encouraging atmosphere to develop the habit of self-study among them. The encouraging and competitive atmosphere helps them to excel in their studies. For example, we have selected a team of five-six students for participation in an international mathematics competition. The team was selected after conducting various tests and quizzes between the six sections of a class. Such activities make student competitive and motivate them for self study.
We also encourage students by awarding them for their performance in any of the international or national level competition. Recently, we awarded Rs 50,000 each to our three students for getting selected in IBT.
Moreover, three CMS students have secured first position at the All-India ISC (Class XII) merit list this year and been awarded cash prize of Rs 1,00,000 each.
At CMS, daily prayer-assemblies are planned to be spiritually nourishing. The integration of all-religion prayers before the commencement of every event is an innovative way to teach children to embrace diversity and create awareness of and reverence for all religions.
A large number of students get selected in exams like JEE Main, NEET, UPSC and many others from CMS every year, to whom would you like to give credit for this achievement?
City Montessori School is among the schools from where a large number of students get selected for various exams every year. Recently our eight students were selected for Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana, a scholarship programme funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. These are due to the combined efforts of everyone. The school management has a very small role in that but the principals, teachers, students and parents contribute significantly in any such achievement.
Principals motivate teachers; teachers motivate students and counsel their parents by visiting their homes, as a result parents also motivate their wards to excel in any competition. For every teacher, “Home Visit” of at least five students every month is necessary. They have been given additional benefits for this other than the salary. The main objective of these home visits is to tell parents about encouraging students for studies and to encourage parents to avoid scolding and beating.
What are your plans?
Starting from one branch in 1959, the City Montessori School now has 18 campuses and more than 4,500 staff educating over 55,000 students in Lucknow. Currently, we don’t have any expansion plans. We aim to provide a joyful learning environment that empowers primary-school aged children and develops their self-confidence and competency in the core subjects. CMS seeks to create a stimulating learning environment that supports to enhance the learning capabilities of a child.
