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Back to School
“Life is beautiful…school days are even more beautiful….they
are the very life of life”.
Some memories never fade; they linger in your heart forever. School
days are one such memory that are always remembered with nostalgia. They
are certainly the sunny days of youth and exuberance, of innocence and
spontaneity, of fun and frolic. There is never a care in the world. Life
in school is one big party with no responsibility .Then one fine day;
you get up and find it is all over. Reaching adulthood is painful with
all the additional responsibilities one undergoes and endures. The truth
is that school days are probably the best time in one’s life.
Reliving those beautiful days for every parent starts with their children
going to school. It is then school time all over again. The classes and
the books, the sports and the drama, the picking and dropping of children
to school, the very many stories and agonies inside the school all makes
it so exciting and fun. It is back to school all over again for every parent
but living it through their children.
The Early days….
For me, coming to Bangalore from a costal town of Mangalore to start
a new life was itself a new experience. However, the worse was to follow.
Wanting to put my son to a good school, I made some casual enquiry. There,
was a unanimous excellent review of National Public School being the best
and a must for my child. However, I was warned that it is easier to get
a ticket to the moon but not an admission to NPS. Nevertheless, with a
courage found in crazy people, I ventured to enter the portals of the
school for an application form. My good friends congratulated me on getting
the admission form but told me bluntly that my chances of getting a seat
in the school would be a miracle, knowing the intense competition. I had
not applied to any other school and my friends thought, I was quite mad
in putting all my eggs in a single basket. Then, one fine day, the interview
card came. My wife promptly announced to the world, as though she had
just received an Oscar award. Chaos prevailed in my house as quite a few
parents invaded my house to find out how I managed this miracle. There
were other NPS parents who presented us the menu card of the do’s
and don’ts in the interview. We were warned of the Principal and
his likes and dislikes. Quite a few came forward to give special tuitions
to my wife, who incidentally was attending the first interview in her
life.
The D-day arrived and i waited outside the Principal’s office like
an expectant father. Finally, the call came and instead of finding a tough
person, here was a warm human being who took lot of pains to make us feel
comfortable. Mr. Gopalkrishna, the Principal appeared warm, caring and
a humble human being. Much different to everything that I was expecting.
He believed only in academic excellence and his mantra was quality education.
He confessed his problems of having too little seats and too many applicants.
The intervening period…
Both my children studied in National Public School.My son, Siddhartha is
an electronics engineer , planning to go to USA for higher studies and my
daughter, Namratha is just about to finish her tenth. They have become good
human beings, thanks to all the good values instilled into them in school.
I am indebted to the school for providing some great training grounds for
these children to be able to cope with the stress and tension in this competitive
world. . From the year 1988 when my son entered the school and then for
the next two decades, I have gone through the ritual of dropping my children
to school religiously every morning. I never considered it a burden but
in fact always looked forward to it. This ritual continued everyday except
when I was out of town. Those were some beautiful moments in my life that
I cherish. During that short drive to school, I heard various stories of
different teachers, their strengths and weaknesses as perceived by the students.
It was a learning experience for me and I made it a point to utilize some
of their thoughts and ideas, which I felt was adaptable and simple in my
hospital setup. Then there ware stories of their class friends and of their
parents, some hilarious, some quite unfathomable. All these created a bond
with my children, which I cherish. In all the years of my morning school
rounds, I had the opportunity to see every kind of parent, good, bad and
ugly. Some were shabbily dressed, few as nervous as their child, some enthusiastic,
many tensed but the majority undisciplined. As each one focused to drop
their child to school with in the stipulated time, they broke all traffic
rules with impunity. They honked hard, entered in the no entry road, and
were selfish in ensuring their child reaches the gates of the school, while
not having the basic courtesy in allowing other children to cross the road.
The rot continued all these years and I guess it is time; the parents have
to be educated by their own children.
I have some great memories of the school. I have seen my children really
flowering in the great environment. The strict discipline, the various activities
done for all round development meant you had students of excellence. I have
seen some great times for this institution and some terrible times during
the cauvery riots. I saw it rise again, much like a phoenix from its ashes.
Incidentally, my children were good both in academics as well in sports.
In fact, they have created history of sorts by winning the individual
school championship every year in their group from class I to class X. They
were also good in swimming and did represent the School and Karnataka State
in the Nationals. This meant frequent absence from school and I had an errand
to do, going to the school office for permission. In fact, no parents would
have visited the school office for special leave as much as me!
The final days…
With my daughter Namratha studying in the 10th standard, it probably is
the last few days in school for her and for me. I am going to miss all the
fun and joy connected with it .I am going to miss that familiar visit to
the office and meet those pleasant staff. I will miss all the stories of
the teachers like Patrick, Helen, Ganguly, Janet, Gladys and many other
teachers whom I have not named who have made such lasting impressions in
the minds and hearts of thousands of children that have passed through the
gates of the school. The National Public Schools, an initiative of Mr. Gopalkrishna
has today spread to all corners of Bangalore. The many dreams of providing
good education, a passion with Mr. Gopalkrishna have become a huge success
story. We need such leaders who develop the leaders of the future. The hands
that serve humanity are a lot better than the lips that talk of divinity
and I will remain always indebted to this school and its wonderful teachers
and staff. Mention need to be done of the vice principal, Ms Sumitra who
was always approachable, sweet and yet quite firm in her decision. The principal
Ms Santhamma was epitome of discipline. She could be classically described
as soft interiors but tough exterior. She ensured discipline in a very quiet
and unassuming manner. In my many interactions, I found her to be a very
humble person with fondness for children and the determination to see all
her students excel in academics.
Our hopes and dreams were built in this school… the second home.
The days gone by, will very soon become memories. They will remain lingering
in our heart for ever. There is a tinge of regret, now that it is all
over. I would love to go through this journey all over again. Maybe, I
will have to wait for my grand child, to go through this exciting journey
all over again.
The discernable feature of National Public School (NPS) in comparison with
other schools is the minutest attention that is bestowed on each and every
student. The periodical comments / observations by the Class teachers in
the progress reports is not only accurate, to the point, but at times a
revelation to the parents themselves. One wonders whether the parents know
their children or is it that the school teachers know them better? It is
this crucial aspect that infuses confidence in the parents. You are left
with no other choice but to conclude that your child is in the finest of
schools with the best of teachers.
Nothing comes from nothing. The Principal, Vice-Principal and Sri GopalKrishna
have put their heart and soul to make such a wonderful institution. It
is evident in every nook and corner of the school.
I could go on and on without an end, but would conclude by saying “If
I were to go to school again, it will and shall be NPS and NPS alone.”
Dedicated … Professional … Progressive … Empathetic …
Caring. Five words that perhaps best summarize our experiences interacting
with the teachers and management of NPS. The parent teacher meetings have
been positive, open and honest. We have found their feedback and observations
to be balanced and accurate. We have also mentioned that action plans arising
from these discussions are immediately implemented. We are fully satisfied
that the future of our children is in safe hands.
‘VISION AND MISSION’ OF NPS-A GLIMPSE'
The growth of National English School, Rajajinagar from its humble beginning
forty-eight years ago, to a full-fledged Senior Secondary National Public
School was not an ordinary feat. Educating thousands of students in that
period and watching them glitter in life with success, is our beloved
founder principal Dr. K. P. Gopalkrishna a determined farsighted Educationalist
and principal Mrs. Santhamma , his spouse behind this great achievement.
Over the years many people have been associated with the school. However,
I consider myself extremely fortunate for being a part of this reputed
institution, formerly as a student and now as a parent.
VISION AND MISSION
A glimpse of NPS Vision and Mission statements gives a fair idea about
its accomplishments. The vision statement is clear with ‘Quality’
being its watchword, right from its inception. The mission statement seeks
to stimulate the academic environment for promotion of quality in teaching
–learning techniques, encouraging comprehensive evaluation and autonomy
with an innovative framework in curriculum design.
CORE-VALUES
The objective of NPS has been to train young minds in character development,
to enhance, their personality and to have them face tomorrow with the
right attitude towards life and work.
The institution has not just accomplished this objective at certain places
in India, but is continuing to march ahead, the onus of accelerating the
pace of quality education globally. The school has been recognized internationally
for its intellectual vibrancy, dedication to the pursuit of learning,
serving community at large with an excellent infrastructure and state
of art facilities. It has incorporated technology in education, optimizing
the teaching learning process.
METHODOLOGY
The school has adopted a holistic approach in education with equal importance
to scholastic and non-scholastic stream. The method of teaching is child-
centered. Knowledge, appreciation and skill are imparted to the students
through an innovative, creative, flexible and a rigorous curriculum using
the 3H domain.
- HEAD on the Cognitive domain to gain knowledge.
- HEART on the affective domain for appreciation.
- HAND on the psychomotor domain to acquire skill.
The knowledge acquired in student-hood is transformed to skill during adult-hood,
which turns into wisdom in old age, thus preparing an individual for life.
In the non-scholastic stream the school has been providing the right ambience
and opportunities in the form of various activities like literary, cultural
and sports to help students, to enrich their latent talents. The school
recognizes every child as a potential human resource. The feedback namely
the learning out-come is ascertained by the method of continuous comprehensive
evaluation with suitable grades. APPRECIATION
There is a chord in me that rocks to my alma-mater , resounds with passion
for teaching and finds rhythm in working as a teacher in resonance with
it. The strong foundation and value-based education provided by this school
is the greatest wealth for an individual. I proudly state that confidence;
fearlessness, decision-making and leadership abilities are the hallmark
qualities of any NPS product.
SUCCESS
The success of this institution is due to 3D’s.
- DETERMINED PRINCIPAL-a role model.
- DEDICATED TEACHING FACULTY and
- DEVOTED STUDENTS
Success is never ending…………….
I sincerely pray and wish NPS an infinite growth towards success.
“ LONG LIVE NPS”
Our memories of working with the students of National Public School have
been most enjoyable. The keen proactiveness of the students and teachers
to participate in our sessions has been noteworthy. We admit that in some
of the sessions our resource persons have been enriched by the enthusiasm
of some of the fifth standard children having keen aptitude for learning
more.
Enhancing qualitative approaches to teaching was thus accepted and taken
as a challenge amongst our resource persons who are now vying with each
other to have an opportunity to go to NPS to interact with fifth standard
students and more. The quest for attaining Knowledge through prescribed
and Lateral learning is evident by the repository of knowledge attained
by the students by their exposure to a lot of non-textual approaches.
Individual skills have been constantly enabled by excellent teamship
between students participating in our sessions with zeal and commitment
unique to NPS. Contributions by children by way of articles, poems, paintings
have been most unique and appreciated and even published.
Hands on sessions have been accepted well and the skills of the children
to be exposed and learn newer things noteworthy. They have willingly accepted
Newspapers as a media of education and we see a bright future for the
media from students particularly from NPS Rajajinagar albeit possible
gems emerging from NPS Koramangala and Indiranagar. We are conscious that
this has been made possible by the excellent approaches to build the attitude
and approach to education taken up by all the NPS schools right from the
pre-nursery level.
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