BGS International School, Bengaluru

Housed in two magnificent buildings with a built-up area of 1.7 million sq. ft, BGS International School, Bengaluru is a thoroughly contemporary CBSE affiliated school offers holistic, culturally enriched education driven by universal human values  The dawn of the new millennium has witnessed the establishment of a spate of new, nexgen capital intensive primary-cum-secondary schools on the peripheries of the garden city of Bangalore (pop. 6 million) aka the Silicon Valley of India, for the large number of IT and related corporates and start-ups which have set up shop in the city. With its multiplying number of internationally benchmarked schools and several world class institutions of higher learning, the garden city has arguably emerged as the education capital of India. Inevitably the fastest growth has been in the independent schools sector particularly of those affiliated to national (CBSE and CISCE) and foreign (IGCSE and IB) examination boards which tend to be relatively free of interference from state-level education ministry bureaucrats. Consequently there’s been a spurt in the construction and commissioning of upscale primary-cum-secondary institutions such as the Jain International Residential School, The International School, Bangalore, the Indus International School and the Bangalore International School among others. To this list of mushrooming first world-style schools offering international quality education at third world prices in and around Bangalore add the Bala Gangadharanath Swamiji or BGS International Residential School situated on the Bangalore-Mysore highway after the 26 km milestone, a 40 minute drive from the city. Promoted by the Sri Adi Chunchunagiri Shikshana Trust” a registered society (of whom Sri Sri Sri Bala Gangadharanath Swamiji is the 71st peetadhipathi or head) which comprises five education institutions including engineering, medical, commerce and arts colleges across Karnataka with an aggregate enrollment of over 5,000 students, BGS International was formally inaugurated by prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on January 19, 2000. It admitted its first batch of 50 students on June 15, 1997. Though the school’s name and antecedents are suggestive of an austere religious institution, in reality BGS International housed in two magnificent buildings with a built up area of 1.7 million sq. ft and modelled on Bangalore’s famous Vidhana Soudha, is a thoroughly contemporary capital-intensive CBSE affiliated school. Currently BGS International has 550 students, including 187 boarders of both sexes — instructed by a faculty of 49” on the school’s muster roll. “The highest function of education is to develop integrated individuals capable of dealing with life in its totality,” says Sri Sri Sri Bal Gangadharanath Swamiji. “BGS International School Bengaluru was started with the aim of moulding children into students with active, creative and enthusiastic minds and to build their self-esteem and self-confidence to ensure the all-round development of their personalities. However we also believe that our youth should be taught to pray and meditate. Education without purity of mind is value-less.” Given the lofty and ambitious objectives Swamiji has set for Bangalore’s newest international school, it’s hardly surprising that its management turned to Col (Retd) William Hector Grant, AVSM, a highly experienced education professional,…