The second issue of our school brochure is under publication as we look forward to begin the next academic year. The founding Principal, who continues his association with the school as its board member, urges me to write for it! What do I write? Words do not seem to come out even after I willed for more than an hour! I pause to understand afresh what a school is and what relationship it has to its brochure.

Is a school its buildings? Is a school its curriculum? Is a school its teachers? Is a school its educational philosophy? Is a school a sum of its teachers and students? What is a school?

It is not yet very clear to me what a school is. Hence, let me try to get to it from some other angle. A school is surely a place where children and grownups come together to learn. A school is surely a place where the staff and students spend most of the wakeful hours being with each other. A school is surely a place where children spend the most precious fifteen years of human existence in! It is surely a place, which influences and determines how richly life will be lived and enjoyed by the children as they grow up. Perhaps, teachers might be able to enable students to unravel and realize the secrets of the world, its nature and the underlying principles!

What is required to enable life to be lived by the children? How completely or incompletely are human beings experiencing one’s existence? Should one learn the art of experiencing the joy of existence? How do we learn? Is a school also charged with such subtler intent or are teachers not required to attempt this in a school? Is a school just to enhance literacy and skills of children? Is the school just to process children to make a living? What is the difference between all–round development and holistic development? Does all–round development lead to holistic development or does a school need different wherewithal to bring about holistic development?

It appears that schools do struggle with these basic questions as they are conceived, delivered, toddle, grow up and age. What the questions will do to the being of the school will surely vary from school to school and from time to time depending on the emphasis given to the essentials and first principles by the educators of the school. The subtlety and seriousness with which a school enjoys the struggle may determine what kind of school will emerge and what kind of a course it will take. Educational processes born out of this enquiry might be “good” for children in all aspects of their childhood, growth and existence – so that they might realize their uniqueness in this infinite universe and perceive their oneness with it.

This brochure makes an attempt to present a simple and inadequate picture of our experiments and attempts in school education. Surely, with the support of likeminded people and serious parents we should be able to dig deeper into the joyful and responsible endeavour of education!

Suddenly and spontaneously, a thin yet clear relationship appears to come out between what our school essentially is and what its brochure intends to convey!