School Song
Na alam adaa, iti Nalanda…
Our Nalanda Gurukul, dear to us and beloved,
Our abode of Saraswati, and the learning here unlike any other,
Na alam adaa, iti Nalanda…
With learning free of burden, it shapes a life,
Laying foundations of ideals, a masonry of values,
Na alam adaa, iti Nalanda…
True learning, good learning, our learning of free thought,
Like a bird of the open sky free, and new-made, our learning,
Na alam adaa, iti Nalanda…
With faith, with work and with labour, it waters a culture,
Nurtured from a seed, it makes great spreading trees,
Na alam adaa, iti Nalanda…
The thinking behind our school
A child's future has become so important that the child's present is forgotten which serves neither the child, nor society, nor the nation.
An education given in the guru-shishya tradition, in which the student does not copy the teacher, but does by their own understanding what the teacher did in their own way that is the guru-shishya tradition.
What teaches you to live, and puts your learning to use that is learning.
A unit-based method, without grades.
What will we teach your children?
( from Abraham Lincoln's letter )
We will teach the child lessons in character.
We will teach the child to be a fine friend.
We will set the sweet laughter of childhood playing on the child's lips.
We will make the child think for themselves.
We will keep the child far from envy, and teach them fair play.
We will teach the child to keep faith in their own ideas.
We will teach the child that there is no shame in weeping.
We will teach the child to make the fullest use of their strength and their mind.
We will cultivate in the child the courage to be impatient, and the patience to be brave.
We will teach them to listen to all people, and to sift the truth from what they hear.
We will guide the child according to their own interests.
Dear friend,
Taking the educationist Yashpal's “learning without burden” and adding a new seed of an idea, we have made a school free of pollution. That new seed is: alongside 'learning without burden', an 'education that protects childhood'.
A school of the child's imagining; an education striving to bring the child's imagination to light. The dream of a school without walls an education given under the open sky, laughing, playing, talking. An education in language children understand, with materials children understand; not information poured out of a book but given naturally, in the course of conversation. An education that keeps children roaming in their own world of imagination. It is with something like this at the centre that we try to keep the school alive.
Besides an atmosphere free of pollution, there is no shut-in classroom here, no weight of books, no fuss of school bags. Amid a clean and unspoilt environment, in the company of nature, in the setting of an ancient gurukul, a child expands their awareness naturally and with all the joy of their childhood that is the system of education we imagine. For it, we have devised imaginative educational activities.
A grand school building is not our dream. Mechanical children reciting like parrots are not our creation. We do not wish to shape timid students driven to take their own lives from fear of examinations. A student who takes tenth place on the board and then falls behind in life is not our aim. Nor do we long for queues at our admissions.
We want to raise a “self-reliant” human being out of this school. We want to shape a student who comes through whatever hardships arrive. We want to raise someone industrious enough to build the life they imagine. Not merely a society of the learned a society of citizens of character.
We trust we will have your support in this labour of ours. We firmly believe you will give our thinking momentum. With the hope of even the smallest offering to this work, and with our thanks do get in touch to know more.
The Shree Nalanda Gurukul Vidyalaya family
