Teachable moments from Modern School

Book review of The Modern School (1920-2020)

In the current mood of despair about education in India being put on the back burner, it is heartening to read Rakesh Batbayal’s book The Modern School (1920-2020), which inspires and provokes us to think about the primacy of education in imagining India’s nation building project. It is a story full of memories and nostalgia, one of extraordinary commitment, dedication and relentless hard work that helped establish a proud and enduring institution.

The exceptional quality of the book is in the narration of the history of Modern School and its inextricable link to the history of Delhi and vice-versa. We are taken through a graphic account of the devastation of Delhi after the 1857 rebellion, the fervour of the nationalist movement, the impact of Partition and the pressure of refugees who came into Delhi, India’s independence and the celebratory atmosphere, the sixties and seventies that posed new challenges in terms of political instability, the radicalism of youth and unemployment, the liberalisation of the economy and the emergence of social classes aspiring to participate in the process of globalisation and so on. The book chronicles how Modern School evolved and responded to the spirit of the times.

In this journey, we are witness to the visionary leadership of the school’s founder Raghubir Singh and its extraordinary principals and staff across a century and how they worked hard to maintain the core values of freedom and autonomy of teachers, the happiness and responsibility of children, creativity and innovation, national spirit and democracy.  This book covers a Who’s Who of the elite — educationists, artists, musicians, sportspersons, national and international leaders and patrons of education — which was associated with Modern School either directly or indirectly, and demonstrates how Modern School embraced, absorbed and interacted with the best minds, enriching its students and teachers.

It delves into the profound debates and theories on the goals and purpose of education, defining a “school culture”; the link between art, culture, sports and academics, drawing on Tagore’s Visva Bharati, Gandhi’s Nayi Taleem, Montessori and Frobel’s pedagogy, John Dewey and Paulo Freire’s ideas on critical thinking. In a way, the book shows how abstract theories of goals and purpose of education, principles and values in the classroom, interaction between teachers and students, the importance of scientific temper and, indeed, in the architecture of the school and its spaces are given meanings through concrete practices.

The Modern School (1920-2020) 

Author: Rakesh Batyabal

Publisher: Westland

Pages: 434; Price: Rs 899

It takes us through Modern School’s brilliant blend of academics and art, culture, sports, music and the several debates around the intertwined connections among them which, given today’s competitive and market pressures, are at risk of being diluted.  Likewise, there is an impassioned discussion on secondary school education — which even today is such a contentious issue that it remains unresolved — and on catching up with changing technology and its introduction in the school curriculum. The book presents a discussion on how Modern School copes with pressures of coaching centres, parental aspirations who measure education only though their children’s performance in examinations, the impact of globalisation and readying for the International Baccalaureate, and growth of profit-making private schools in contrast to the Modern School’s model of philanthropy.

 This volume is unputdownable and makes delightful reading with its anecdotes of principals, teachers, students, the alumni and their successes. It explains clearly the core philosophy of the role of the school, its principal as the leader, the importance of teacher autonomy, students’ responsibility and discipline, language policy and mother tongue, the school as a family open to ideas and to “social and cultural liberation’  and the architecture of school and spaces. Once again, each of these debates have been located in the context of history of Delhi with deep insights capturing the rapidly changing  zeitgeist.

No comprehensive history of a school and education policy is complete without confronting the issue of inequality in society.  The author’s experience during his visits to some of the remotest schools in the country shows how inadequate the provisioning of education is, though poor parents and the community seek education.  This inequality in education compels the discussion on whether Modern School with students from privileged backgrounds makes the school elitist. The book weighs how the students and teachers over a century consciously imbibed ideas of freedom and equality, whose exemplary alumni have stood for such values and influenced thought and action on humanistic principles, thus proving that Modern School and its culture was not elitist. This is also demonstrated by the fact that Modern School adapted to the increasing diversity of its students with teachers being unmindful of this change and the students of all social classes being so confident.

In a way, the book argues that more than the privileged background of its students, which was accidental and not by design, the sturdy foundational principles and school culture defines the character of a school. Its analysis of the history of education through the prism of a century-old Modern School — a grand institution currently grappling with rapid changes in India’s socio-cultural ecology —makes this a must-read book.