Sanskriti School is a recognised integrated co-educational school in the diplomatic area of

Chanakyapuri Chanakyapuri (Sanskrit: चाणक्यपुरी; IAST: Cāṅakyapurī ) is a neighbourhood and diplomatic enclave established in the 1950s in New Delhi. It is also a sub-division of the New Delhi district and plays host to the majority ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. It is affiliated to CBSE, and offers education from Nursery to XII. It was founded in 1998 primarily to provide education to children of

All India Services The All India Services (AIS) comprises the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service. A unique feature of the All India Services is that the members of these services are recruited by the centre (Union gover ...

and Allied services officers and Defence Services Personnel on transfer. The school is run by Civil Services Society, an NGO formed by senior civil servants and their wives, with the spouse of the serving

Cabinet Secretary of India The Cabinet Secretary is the top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant of the Government of India. The Cabinet Secretary is the ''ex-officio'' head of the Civil Services Board, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Indian Administrativ ...

as its chairperson.

Overview

The first principal of the school was Mrs.

Gowri Ishwaran Gowri Ishwaran is an Indian educationist, education consultant and advisor to the Shiv Nadar Foundation. She served as the chief executive officer of the Global Education & Leadership Foundation (tGELF) and is currently the vice-chairperson of ...

, who headed the institution until 2008. She was followed by Mrs. Abha Sehgal, who was incumbent from the session of 2008-09 onwards. Her last day at the school was on 11 April 2017. The new principal is Mrs. Richa Agnihotri. The foundation stone for Sanskriti School was laid by Mrs Hemi Surendra Singh, chairperson, Civil Services Society on 30 May 1996. Mrs. Singh was instrumental in getting the land and building allocated while her husband was Cabinet Secretary of India Surendra Singh. She thus continued in the tradition of her philanthropic father Thakur Dan Singh Bist,

Dan Singh Bist Thakur Dan Singh Bisht (1906 – 10 September 1964) was a philanthropist from Kumaon, Uttarakhand, India. At its height, his massive timber depots with attendant offices and bungalows for managers extended across the Himalayas from Lahore to Wa ...

founder of DSB college, Nainital. Sanskriti School was established on 12 August 1998 by the Civil Services Society, formed by the wives of the civil servants belonging to the various branches of

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. Mrs.

took over as the founder principal in 1999. The aim of the Society is to fulfill a need in the city of Delhi for educating the children of officers of the All India and Allied Services and defence personnel moving to Delhi on transfer. Students whose parents are in other services or professions may also apply. The school has also admitted students from marginalised backgrounds since 2004. At present, the School admits 25% students from economically weaker sections of society. School is a public-service–oriented,

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, with Jaya Chandrasekhar, the spouse of

K. M. Chandrasekhar K. M. Chandrasekhar (born 20 February 1948) is a retired Indian civil servant, who was the 29th Cabinet Secretary of the Republic of India from 2007 to 2011 for a four-year term under which he directly reported to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmoha ...

, the previous Cabinet Secretary, as its chairperson. The school was founded by Mrs. Hemi Surendra Singh, the wife of Surendra Singh, a former Cabinet Secretary, Mrs. Livleen Bhagat, wife of a former Director of the

Intelligence Bureau Intelligence Bureau may refer to: * Intelligence Bureau (India) * Intelligence Bureau (Pakistan) * Intelligence agency See also *Intelligence Bureau for the East, a World War I German organisation *Intelligence agency *National Intelligence Servic ...

and Mrs. Ramachandran among others. The school has 60% of seats are for the children of Group A officers, of the who enter service through the Civil Services Examination, this includes Group A officers of

Indian Foreign Service The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is the diplomatic service and a central civil service of the Government of India under the Ministry of External Affairs. The Foreign Secretary is the head of the service. Vinay Mohan Kwatra is the 34th and the ...

(IFS),

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

(IAS),

Indian Revenue Service The Indian Revenue Service (IAST: ), often abbreviated as IRS, is an Indian government agency that is primarily responsible for collecting and administering direct and indirect taxes. As a central civil service under Group A of the executiv ...

(IRS),

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became independent from the British Raj. Along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS ...

(IPS). Besides this 10% for general public, 5% for staff and 25% for children under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category. However the

Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi (IAST: ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966'', with four judges, Chief Justice K. S. Hegde, Justice I. D. Dua, Justice H. R. Khanna and Justice S. ...

started

suo motu In law, ''sua sponte'' (Latin: "of his, her, its or their own accord") or ''suo motu'' ("on its own motion") describes an act of authority taken without formal prompting from another party. The term is usually applied to actions by a judge taken wi ...

case against the school receiving state funding and free land, which in turn converted into a

Public Interest Litigation The chief instrument through which judicial activism has flourished in India is public interest litigation (PIL) or social action litigation (SAL). ''Public interest litigation'' (PIL) refers to litigation undertaken to secure public interest and de ...

(PIL) in 2006. In November 2014, the Delhi High Court bench of Justice

Pradeep Nandrajog Pradeep Nandrajog (born 24 February 1958) is an Indian Judge. He is former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and also former Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court and Judge of Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi ( IAST: ''dillī ...

and Justice Mukta Gupta ruled against the quota system stating, "Reserving seats for a particular branch of the Indian Services disadvantages children of persons engaged in other branches."

Infrastructure

Amphitheater

The Amphitheater is the nerve center of Sanskriti. Built strategically in the very center of the school, all assemblies, special ceremonies, such as prize distributions, investiture ceremony, citation for the graduating batch of Class XII and other such events are held here. As it is built in a semi-circular style, it can seat around 600 people and its circular stage can easily accommodate 50 to 60 children during a performance.

Library

A centrally air-conditioned circular building over three floors houses the junior, middle and senior school librarie

The library is located centrally in the school to facilitate ease of access. The library has a collection of fiction, non – fiction and reference books. The latest collection of subject reference books supplementing the textbooks is available to the students.

Sports

Aquatic events like inter-school and inter-house swimming competitions are held in the pool, that is built to international standards. The pool is open to the staff, students and the parents of the Sanskriti school during various predesignated time slots. The paddle pool in the junior wing of the school is for the little ones to splash about during the hot summer months.

Curriculum

The school follows the curriculum prescribed by the CBSE and uses textbooks published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training, NCERT. Unit Tests and Term Exams are also conducted.

Umang

Sanskriti School also runs a parallel school called Umang, where underprivileged children are provided free education. Children living in Sanjay Basti, a

slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...

behind the school, are the main students who attended Umang. These children are also provided with free food and water.

Sanskriti Model United Nations (SMUN)

Sanskriti School annuals hosts the Sanskriti Model United Nations conference witnessing a footfall of 100-500 delegates from across India and its neighbouring countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka. It was first organised in 2012 and since then eight editions of the conference have taken place. The event is organised and led by students of Class XI and Class XII - The Secretariat - along with the teachers. The Secretariat is further divided into multiple subcommittees, each in-charge of the conference panels, photography, press, logistics, and so on. The Secretariat hosts both the INTRA-SCHOOL SMUN as well as the INTER-SCHOOL SMUN.

Ranking

According to the

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

, Sanskriti School was ranked the best school in Central Delhi in 2009 and second best in 2010. In 2015, it was ranked as the 6th best school in Delhi and the second best in Central Delhi. This school has also got ranked at top 6th position in Delhi at top10pick.in website.

References

External links

Official site
{{coord, 28.5884, 77.1766, type:edu_region:IN-DL, display=title Schools in Delhi Educational institutions established in 1998 1998 establishments in Delhi Co-educational schools in India