- New Era High School
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The New Era High School is located in Panchgani, a modern hill station town well-known as an educational centre containing well-established schools, in the state of Maharashtra, India. At present it is private internationalist Bahá'í school, drawing students from all over the world and is under the supervision of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of India.[1]
Contents
History
It was founded in August 1945, and was one of the first Bahá'í education projects in India.[1] In the 1970s and 1980s, the school gradually began to establish a series of programmes to assist poor and underdeveloped villages in the region.[2] It started as a service project for students and evolved into a separate institution known as the New Era Development Institute in 1987.[3] The National Spiritual Assembly of Norway established an institution - Norwegian Agency for International Development Cooperation - and in 1988 it began a working relationship with the Institute, with support for a two-year rural community development program. In 1989, funding was extended to cover a one-year community development facilitators course and short courses on agriculture, rural technology, literacy, and domestic science. N.E.H.S a.k.a New Era High School is one of the top boarding schools in India. It did have a higher secondary school(11th-12th) till 1999, but unfortunately discontinued it from 2000. The shooting of the film "Taare Zameen Par" took place here. There have been some students from some very well known backgrounds, the most prominent of them were Twinkle and Rinke Khanna (daughters of the famous Indian actress Dimple). The current principle Dr. Mehrassa is supervising the school from Canada and Mr. Kalmadi is the acting principle. The school has become really strict from 2006 onwards regarding the policy about boys and girls spending a lot of time together.This has brought down the number of incoming admissions of the school as it is advertised as a co-ed school. It has been one of the best in inter-school sports competitions for a very long time now. They have been regularly making it to the district level in sports such as football, basketball and cricket.
Site/Facilities
The present site was moved into in 1953 and consisted of five buildings.[5] A play field and several added dormitories in 1980's gave the school the room to add over 500 students bringing the total student population to over 1000.[3] In the 1990s the campus went through massive infrastructure growth and renovation - gaining its own power plant, campus fencing, intercom system, phone system for students, parents and staff, three wells, solar heating for the dining hall and a large garden and with the turn of the century comprehensive computerization handles student records, accounts, maintenance, personnel, and other administrative areas as well as facilitating computerized student-parent communication.[6]
Programme
Special attention is given to academic excellence, moral education, specifically noted by the Universal House of Justice[7], values for world citizenship, and social and economic development in rural areas. Subject areas significantly expanded through the 1990s to include advances across the K-12 curriculum with peace and cooperative learning programs, computer training programs and extracurricular sports clubs and educational field trips.[6]
Accreditation and Awards
The school was first registered with the state in 1954 and the first students took their external examinations in 1958. Gloria Faizi, Abu'l-Qásim Faizi's wife, helped bring the school onto a more financial status by providing leadership and attracting investments.[5] The current accreditation includes the standard ten high school exam of the Central Board of Secondary Education[8] though it is increasingly switching to Indian Certificate of Secondary Education.[9]
The Secondary Section in 2007 received top awards for all of Panchgani (with additional high marks in specific subject areas)[10]
- 100% passed result with average score of 73.54%
- Set a new record of highest average 94.6% by Neal Manjeshwar
- Number of students appeared - 102
- 48 students (47%) secured Distinction ( above 75%)
- 43 students (42%) secured First Class (above 60%)
- 11 students (11%) secured Second Class
The Secondary Science program won awards in 2003 (National Level Science Talent Search Examination and Best Participation Award in the N.S.T.S.E.)[11]
The Secondary Computer Science curriculum serves the International General Certificate of Secondary Education.[12]
The Secondary Arts program can support students reaching for the annual Government of Maharashtra Elementary and Intermediate Art Exams.[13]
All topic areas have Vocational Courses[14]
The school is ranked 64th across India by a broad range of criteria.[15]
In 2005/6, New Era High School students Nikita Singh ranked 857th and Begur Prashanath ranked 1824th (over 2000 were ranked) across all Indian students competing for the Amul Shakti Vidyashree award.[16]
Primary Section
Along with standard academic and arts subject areas, and multilingual programs begin[17], a featured area is values education (Including Peace Ed.,Conflict Resolution, Environmental Ed.)
Secondary Section
In addition to the awards winning academic and arts subjects areas, most subject areas develop extension programs - poly-lingual plays, student quiz teams, and community outreach.[18]
The computer system, especially present in the Secondary Section, is Open Source based - highlighting Mandriva 2007 and Fedora Core 7, OpenOffice, GIMP, and many other software among its several computer labs.[12]
School culture
The school developed a residential prefect-oriented system. The prefect body consists of thirty-two students who represent four virtues - Peace, Respect, Harmony and Wisdom. One of the senior students is appointed as Head Girl or Head Boy.[19][20]
Events
The second half of Aamir Khan's film, Taare Zameen Par was shot in the school.[21]
See also
References
- ^ a b Background statement of the school
- ^ History: 1971-1982
- ^ a b History: 1982-1998
- ^ Hansen, Holly; Bahá'í International Community (1999). "Overview of Bahá'í Social and Economic Development". 1992-93 edition of The Bahá'í World, pp. 229-245.. Universal House of Justice. http://info.bahai.org/article-1-8-1-6.html. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
- ^ a b History: 1945-1971
- ^ a b History: 1998-2003
- ^ letter from the Universal House Of Justice, 30 October 1995, to the school
- ^ General Academics
- ^ School Boards Compete for Better Academics
- ^ Secondary: General Information -Highlight of CBSE Results 2007
- ^ Academics: Science
- ^ a b Computers, Information & Communication Technology
- ^ Arts - Aims, Objectives & Special Programmes
- ^ Vocational Courses and Admission criteria
- ^ India's best schools league table
- ^ Amul Shakti Vidyashree Award - Academic Year 2005-6 List of Winners (All India)
- ^ Academics: Second Languages
- ^ India Schools : New Era High School, Panchgani
- ^ Family Learning Programme - Our School Prefects
- ^ Student Associations
- ^ Aamir Khan declined special appearance in 'Om Shanti Om', 07th Oct 2007
- Rowley, Elizabeth Anne. (1980) New Era High School: an ethnographic study of an International Bahá'í school in India. Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Georgia (Athens), 1980.
External links
Categories:- Bahá'í educational institutions
- International schools in India
- Educational institutions established in 1945
- Boarding schools in India
- Schools in Maharashtra
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