Established 18 years ago in Sector 10, Dwarka to offer high-quality primary-secondary education, Venkateshwar International School, Delhi has experienced steady rise in enrolments year-on-year, from 200 to 2,700 students including 1,079 girl children because of favourable word-of-mouth publicity – Autar Nehru
Established in 2001 in the then newly notified suburb of Dwarka, Venkateshwar International School (VIS), Sector 10, has steadily built a reputation in Delhi NCR for providing rigorous, contemporary IT-enabled K-12 education supplemented with a wide array of co-curricular and sports education options. In the EducationWorld India School Rankings 2018-19, VIS is ranked #8 in Delhi and #12 in Delhi NCR in the highly competitive co-ed day schools category.
Affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Venkateshwar International School was promoted in the new millennium by Rajpal Solanki, founder and managing director of Sohn Steel Pvt. Ltd and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, under the aegis of Sri Venkateshwar Education Society, to offer high-quality primary-secondary education to parents flocking to the high-rise housing societies of Dwarka. Since then, student enrolment has risen year-on-year from 200 to 2,700 including 1,079 girls mentored by 150 teachers, mainly because of word-of-mouth publicity.
“Venkateshwar International School is positioned as a progressive school offering internationally benchmarked education rooted in Indian values and traditions. Since inception, our objective has been to focus not only on academic excellence but on social, emotional and ethical development of children as well. Since then over the past 18 years, we have maintained our growth momentum and reputation through continuous improvement on all fronts,” says Mrinalini Kaura, director and founder-principal of Venkateshwar International School.
An alumna of Kurukshetra and Delhi universities who taught at Modern School, Barakhamba Road and served as vice principal of DPS, Noida and Ghaziabad, Kaura had a fortuitous meeting with Rajpal Solanki, when she was flat-hunting in Dwarka. “It was a meeting which changed my life and gave me an opportunity to apply my knowledge and skills of institution development,” recalls Kaura.
True to her word and the driving force of Venkateshwar International School for the past two decades, Kaura has played a major role in developing VIS into a 21st century institution infused with Indian traditions and culture as per the promoter’s brief, while simultaneously introducing international best practices, teacher development programmes and upgrading the school’s infrastructure. “Today we pride ourselves on our contemporary infrastructure, excellent teachers who deliver personalised experiential learning, and our wide range of co-curricular and sports activities. Our alumni are doing well in their chosen professions with many having been admitted into prestigious IITs and top-ranked foreign universities,” says Kaura.
Venkateshwar International School‘s child-centred experiential learning pedagogies, designed to develop students’ critical thinking skills, have resulted in consistently good board exam results. In 2018, of the 200 Venkateshwar International School’s students who wrote the class X CBSE exam, 62 scored 90 percent-plus. Similarly, the average score of the class XII school-leaving students was 84.2 percent, with 72 scoring 90 percent-plus.
The high-quality, comprehensive academic programme is supported by excellent infrastructure. The school’s four acre campus, designed by well-known Delhi-based architect Ashwini Kumar, is dominated by its main four-storey grey stone-glass building, often cited as one of seven architectural landmarks of West Delhi. It houses 70 spacious classrooms, well-equipped science labs, an Atal tinkering lab, maths, computer and language labs, and library housing 26,275 volumes and 35 journal subscriptions. The school’s 270-seat state-of-the-art auditorium is a popular venue for guest lectures, student workshops and co-curricular events.
Sports facilities include a turf football/cricket field, half olympic size swimming pool, one basketball and two tennis courts, skating rink and halls for indoor games, and four professionally run sports academies providing expert mentoring to budding sportspersons. Several of the school’s students have excelled in inter-state and national-level sports tournaments. For instance, class X student Shreyans Mahey was recently selected by the DDCA (Delhi & District Cricket Association) to represent Delhi in the Vijay Merchant Trophy (U-16 category), while class XI student Yuvraj Singh Sangwan is an established tennis player on the AITA (All India Tennis Association) circuit.
Similarly, Venkateshwar International School students have distinguished themselves in co-curricular competitions. Last year, class IX student Harshbir Singh was adjudged national winner of the 3rd Korea India Friendship Quiz 2018; a team of 12 students, which represented VIS at the Global Round 2018 of the World Scholars Cup held in Kuala Lumpur, bagged 29 gold and 30 silver medals with nine qualifying for the final round at Yale University, USA; and students Arzoo Haideri and Radhika won the second prize in the CBSE National Science Exhibition 2018. Community service is another important focus area. Among the many student-led projects which have made an impact are the ‘Bully to buddy’ anti-bullying programme and an initiative by senior students to teach communication and linguistic skills to non-academic staff.
With Venkateshwar International School being recognised as one of the national capital’s Top 10 co-ed day schools within two decades of admitting its first batch, the top management has re-committed itself to continuous improvement of teaching-learning and infrastructure facilities. “We are committed to adopting and integrating new pedagogies and providing continuous professional development programmes to our teachers, to ensure that students receive the best learning experience and are thoroughly prepared to get the most out of their colleges and universities and workplaces in adult life,” says Kaura.
ADMISSION & FEES
Venkateshwar International School, Sector 10, Dwarka is a K-12 co-ed day school affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education.
Admission into the nursery section is as per the Delhi state government rules with the admission notice issued in January every year. Entry into other classes is against vacancies and requires applicants to undergo a written test and personal interview.
Tuition fee (per month): Rs.10,000
For further information, contact VIS, Sector 10, Dwarka, New Delhi 110075; Ph: 011-43180800; e-mail: [email protected]
