In order to explain just when and how the idea of starting a school such as this, came into my mind, it will be necessary for me to hark back to my own student days and to recall what I owe to the inspiration of my old teachers and friends, the late Principal S.K. Rudra, C.H.C. Sharp and the late Mr. W.W. Pearson. To the last named, whom I was so fortunate as to have as my tutor when I was at college, I owe more than I fully know or realise for implanting in my mind educational ideas which I have never ceased to cherish. At first, no doubt, unconsciously rather than consciously, but not for long. Finding myself faced, before many years had passed, with the problem of determining upon what lines the education of my own little ones should be planned, a problem which had hitherto been theoretical and academic, at once assumed for me a very practical shape.

My immediate concern being more especially with infant education, it was the Montessori system that first engaged my attention. I studied much of the literature on the subject, and for the benefit of my own little children, was at pains to see that their classroom was furnished with all the requisite equipment, material and apparatus. But it was impossible for me to rest satisfied with that. The need for a well-conceived scheme of education having been brought home to me in my own personal experience as a parent, it was impossible for me not to desire that the advantage of an education which had proved so full of promise for my children, should be extended to as large a circle as possible.

It was now that I become aware of an urge, growing even more insistent, to devote my life to educational work. After making myself thoroughly conversant with various aspects of educational problems, I was able to arrive at certain definite conclusions of my own; while the warm encouragement that I received from a highly respected school teacher of my own boyhood, gave me added confidence in addressing myself to so arduous an undertaking as that of endeavouring to realise in concrete reality the ideal school of my dreams.

For some type of school education, conceived on large and liberal lines, the need was indeed already sufficiently apparent. It had long been felt by man thoughtful persons that if the Indians were to discharge their civic responsibilities created by the changing political conditions, in both the civil and military sphere of national life, the younger generation must be provided with a better system of education, where the physical, mental and spiritual faculties might have the fullest scope for development. Under existing circumstances, such a liberal education was hardly obtainable. The difficulty of finding a really first class school with modern equipment, and teachers qualified on all sides for their task, had long been felt by parents who were keen on a sound education for their children especially those of a tender age. It was this common difficulty which brought together a few parents in the endeavour to solve a common problem; and it was i their joint effort at a solution that the Modern School had its inception.

Inspired with such aims and ideals and urged on with a keen sense of the need of an improved type of education not only for their own children but for all children destined to be, in any sense, leaders in the India of tomorrow, the founders of the school and the promoters of the scheme made a start.

The first step was to appoint a Principal, and here the Society was fortunate in securing the services of Miss Kamala Bose, who ever since her appointment in this capacity, has been working with indefatigable devotion for the well-being and development of the school.

With an eye primarily to the education of their own children, this group o parents were led, after due deliberation, to start a new type of school independent of any existing organisation. But once started, the school was bound to throw open its doors to the public without distinction of caste, colour or creed, and was s( organised as to enable the child to learn through life itself, and to live abundantly and thereby to gain a sense of the wholeness of life. For a school, professing such an aim, no location could be imagined more suitable than Delhi so rich in historical associations, and yet&emdash;as the hub of the country's political life, and a notable centre of its intellectual activity&emdash;so progressive in its outlook. As embodying in its own sphere a 'forward looking mind,' the school may claim, we hope, to be not unworthy of the name bestowed upon it, by those to whom it owed its foundation, 'The Modern School'.

Thus it was that the school came into existence. In August 1920, the Modern School Society was registered under Act XXI of 1860 and the school actually commenced work from the 20th October 1920 with an infant class of about six children on the rolls (the number swelled up to twelve by the end of the year)&emdash;all of them children of persons specially interested in the scheme, in one of the old 19th century bungalows which was in the south-east angle of the city wall and belonged to our family. These children besides receiving instruction in the ordinary subjects of the Primary School education were also taught elementary forms of kindergarten handicrafts. They had certain periods allotted for play. This infant class came to school at 8 a.m. and remained till about 6 in the evening. They had one meal all together at mid-day and refreshments in the afternoon.

It was the intention of the promoters of the school to run it for at least three years as an experimental measure; and if the result proved satisfactory, to put it on to a permanent basis by housing it in a building of its own and by building up an adequate endowment. No outside help was asked for at the outset, the idea being to organise the school and realise in the actual working the ideals aimed at, before issuing any appeal for funds.

For nearly thirteen years, this bungalow, 24 Daryaganj, was the home of the Modern School. From the small beginnings of 1920 it had already developed by 1932 into a good-sized school. In 1932, the number of scholars on the rolls was about one hundred and twenty-five.

The persons interested in starting the school had full confidence in me, and allowed me to carry out my ideas and organise the school according to my plans. My idea was to get small children and train them from their very infancy. I also decided to start from the lower classes only and to add one class each- year as the school progressed, and to let it develop eventually into a high school, to which the two Intermediate classes could finally be attached.

A syllabus of subjects to be taught was drawn up for the school by the Education Sub-Committee composed of the late R.S. Ratan Lal, Mr. C.H.C. Sharp, Rai Bahadur N.K. Sen, Miss K. Bose, Pandit Har Narain Shastri, Maulvi Abdul Rahman and myself.

At the very beginning of the school's existence, it was decided that it should be a Day Boarding School. The intention was to make sure that the children should enjoy to the full the benefits which it was the purpose of the school to impart; that for as many hours of the day as possible they should be living in the healthy physical, mental and moral environment of the school precincts, but without losing touch with their homes. The school was to be not just a place where they were to learn their lessons, but a place where they should also rest, play, have their meals together and enjoy the manifold benefits of happy association with their fellows in all the interests of their common life. It was in fact to be to them a second home. Coming to school early in the morning at 8, they would return home about 6 in the evening. And yet while the school should be essentially a Day Boarding School, some provision, it was felt, should be made for full time boarders.

Children from all over India have been admitted to the school from time to time, and at present most provinces of India and all communities (Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians etc.) are represented amongst the children. It is desired that the atmosphere of the home should prevail in the school. and it is thought that the wholesome influence of the boys and girls on each other would help in creating an all-round individual, who would have a natural and healthy outlook on life. Hence both boys and girls are admitted.

For pupils coming from outside Delhi, arrangements are made to keep them in the school hostel. Every child in the main school has to be a day boarder, they come in the morning after a light breakfast and go home in the evening after games in time for dinner. It is not compulsory for children in the Primary School to stay for the whole day. It is desired to place the children in a progressive environment, where development of character is valued more than formal instruction.

On the lines above indicated, the school has functioned for the greater part of its existence. But while the hostel still functions and flourishes, exigencies of war time economy (rationing, etc.) have necessitated the temporary and partial discontinuance of common meals for the whole school. This modification of the original whole-day school time-table is purely temporary. As soon as possible, the school may revert to the old system. The present multilated time-table is interim and provisional.

But while certain features of the school life have suffered (inevitably) some temporary curtailment, the basic aims and ideals of the school remain unaltered. The whole educational effort continues to be animated with the aims and ideals of earlier years. These have already been comprehensively, if not concisely, defined as follows:

The school is based upon ideals of education wider than those which can be embodied in any formal curriculum of instruction, and attempts to carry them out by free and more diversified methods than can be found in most existing schools. It aims at giving a continuous education to its scholars from infancy to the conclusion of the school age. In the lowest stages, the school is conducted on the Montessori and Froebel systems. It is desired that a child may have full scope for development&emdash;physical, mental, moral and spiritual&emdash;in an atmosphere of freedom, where it has opportunities for self-expression, and is above everything else happy. Throughout, the main object of teaching is to make the students interested in the subjects taught, which in itself ensures progress, as a child who takes delight in its work can assimilate knowledge more easily than one who is working under compulsion. Children are encouraged to do their own work and the bigger boys are appointed to supervise various duties in the school and the Boarding House. Sometimes they clean the rooms to get accustomed to doing things with their own hands. The boys are being trained to be self-reliant, so that as they grow up they could be entrusted with greater responsibility. e benefit of my own little children, was at pains šĶ see that their classroom was furnished with all the requisite equipment, material and apparatus. But it was impossible for me to rest satisfied with that. The need for a well-conceived scheme of education having been brought home to me in my own personal experience as a parent, it was impossible for me not to desire that the advantage of an education which had proved so full of promise for my children, should be extended to as large a circle as possible.

The school is based upon ideals of education wider than those which can be embodied in any formal curriculum of instruction, and attempts to carry them out by free and more diversified methods than can be found in most existing schools. It aims at giving a continuous education to its scholars from infancy to the conclusion of the school age. In the lowest stages, the school is conducted on the Montessori and Froebel systems. It is desired that a child may have full scope for development&emdash;physical, mental, moral and spiritual&emdash;in an atmosphere of freedom, where it has opportunities for self-expression, and is above everything else happy. Throughout, the main object of teaching is to make the students interested in the subjects taught, which in itself ensures progress, as a child who takes delight in its work can assimilate knowledge more easily than one who is working under compulsion. Children are encouraged to do their own work and the bigger boys are appointed to supervise various duties in the school and the Boarding House. Sometimes they clean the rooms to get accustomed to doing things with their own hands. The boys are being trained to be self-reliant, so that as they grow up they could be entrusted with greater responsibility. e benefit of my own little children, was at pains šĶ see that their classroom was furnished with all the requisite equipment, material and apparatus. But it was impossible for me to rest satisfied with that. The need for a well-conceived scheme of education having been brought home to me in my own personal experience as a parent, it was impossible for me not to desire that the advantage of an education which had proved so full of promise for my children, should be extended to as large a circle as possible.

It is in accordance with these ideals of freedom and diversity that the school, while it has drawn freely upon its own experience, has also imbibed systems and methods that have been successfully developed in western countries. There has been a conscious attempt to follow the newer and more modern methods of education, especially in individual attention to each pupil and allowing as much free play as possible to the natural bent of each. In a word the basis of the system is similar to that known as the Ecole Nouvelle on the continent, the system represented by the New Education Fellowship in England or progressive education in the United States. he main object of teaching is to make the students interested in the subjects taught, which in itself ensures progress, as a child who takes delight in its work can assimilate knowledge more easily than one who is working under compulsion. Children are encouraged to do their own work and the bigger boys are appointed to supervise various duties in the school and the Boarding House. Sometimes they clean the rooms to get accustomed to doing things with their own hands. The boys are being trained to be self-reliant, so that as they grow up they could be entrusted with greater responsibility. e benefit of my own little children, was at pains šĶ see that their classroom was furnished with all the requisite equipment, material and apparatus. But it was impossible for me to rest satisfied with that. The need for a well-conceived scheme of education having been brought home to me in my own personal experience as a parent, it was impossible for me not to desire that the advantage of an education which had proved so full of promise for my children, should be extended to as large a circle as possible.

It is in accordance with these ideals of freedom and diversity that the school, while it has drawn freely upon its own experience, has also imbibed systems and methods that have been successfully developed in western countries. There has been a conscious attempt to follow the newer and more modern methods of education, especially in individual attention to each pupil and allowing as much free play as possible to the natural bent of each. In a word the basis of the system is similar to that known as the Ecole Nouvelle on the continent, the system represented by the New Education Fellowship in England or progressive education in the United States. he main object of teaching is to make the students interested in the subjects taught, which in itself ensures progress, as a child who takes delight in its work can assimilate knowledge more easily than one who is working under compulsion. Children are encouraged to do their own work and the bigger boys are appointed to supervise various duties in the school and the Boarding House. Sometimes they clean the rooms to get accustomed to doing things with their own hands. The boys are being trained to be self-reliant, so that as they grow up they could be entrusted with greater responsibility. e benefit of my own little children, was at pains šĶ see that their classroom was furnished with all the requisite equipment, material and apparatus. But it was impossible for me to rest satisfied with that. The need for a well-conceived scheme of education having been brought home to me in my own personal experience as a parent, it was impossible for me not to desire that the advantage of an education which had proved so full of promise for my children, should be extended to as large a circle as possible.

From this it follows that the Modern School is in no sense a public school. Setting a high value on home influences, and paying individual attention to the particular requirements of individual pupils, whom it declines to coerce with procrustean rigour into conformity with a standardised system, admirable in many ways but lacking in elasticity, the Modern School parts company with the common run of Public School, while pursuing with no less singleness of purpose its aim of turning little children into good citizens and honourable gentlemen.ystem represented by the New Education Fellowship in England or progressive education in the United States. he main object of teaching is to make the students interested in the subjects taught, which in itself ensures progress, as a child who takes delight in its work can assimilate knowledge more easily than one who is working under compulsion. Children are encouraged to do their own work and the bigger boys are appointed to supervise various duties in the school and the Boarding House. Sometimes they clean the rooms to get accustomed to doing things with their own hands. The boys are being trained to be self-reliant, so that as they grow up they could be entrusted with greater responsibility. e benefit of my own little children, was at pains šĶ see that their classroom was furnished with all the requisite equipment, material and apparatus. But it was impossible for me to rest satisfied with that. The need for a well-conceived scheme of education having been brought home to me in my own personal experience as a parent, it was impossible for me not to desire that the advantage of an education which had proved so full of promise for my children, should be extended to as large a circle as possible.