DPS Azaad Nagar: Setting benchmarks in Kanpur’s K-12 education landscape

– Punita Kapoor, Principal, Delhi Public School, Azaad Nagar, Kanpur

DPS Azaad Nagar, Kanpur is a nationally reputed day-cum-residential co-educational K-12 school affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi. Founded in 2004 by Alok Misra with the vision to empower students to acquire, articulate and value knowledge so as to enable them to successfully participate and contribute to the global society.

Over the years, DPS Azaad Nagar has routinely excelled in imparting quality education since its inception and has opened up new horizons for students by providing an unmatched exposure through state-of-the-art facilities and resources. In addition, a dedicated focus on sports and co-curricular activities has facilitated holistic development of children. At DPS Azaad Nagar, students are encouraged to be creative and therefore every opportunity available is undertaken to develop their confidence, knowledge, self-esteem and life skills through the use of technology, physical education, creative and performing arts.

DPS Azaad Nagar strongly believes in providing an environment that not only inspires and motivates children but also encourages them to explore limitless possibilities in their quest for knowledge. The institution believes that every child deserves an education that fosters academic excellence and all-round development. The school aims to prepare children to face the complex challenges of the 21^st century with confidence showcasing their strength of character and it believes that learning should take place in a happy, caring and stimulating environment in which staff, children, parents and the local community have significant roles to play. The school’s mission is, hence, to enable the children and staff to fulfill their potential and in doing so, acquire knowledge, skills, concepts and approach which remain relevant throughout their lives.

DPS Azaad Nagar boasts a sprawling 17 acre campus equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure for students from P.G. to Class XII. The school hosts 85 spacious classrooms, modern laboratories equipped with the latest amenities, a voluminous library, several co-curricular activity rooms, audio-visual room, an amphitheatre, an air-conditioned multipurpose hall, evening recreational facilities for boarders; no stone is left unturned to provide a multifaceted exposure to the students. The latest addition to the impressive infrastructure is an ultra-modern Play Zone which provides quality play time and exclusive sports training to the budding sports aces of the primary classes before they step into the senior sports arena and become a part of the prestigious school teams.

The expansive floodlit playground hosts numerous prestigious sporting events throughout the year apart from 27 sports such as mini real golf course, archery, squash, shooting, billiards, tennis, swimming, equestrian training and gymnastics. Likewise, the magnificent open-air amphitheatre serves as a platform to showcase students talents during inter and intra-school competitions, important assemblies and special events such as the Model United Nations (MUN), with students participating with full zeal and enthusiasm.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Over the years, DPS Azaad Nagar has yielded outstanding results in CBSE board exams often achieving top ranks in the city and region. The academic excellence is an outcome of an effective pedagogy, based on the school’s broad and balanced curriculum as the institution constantly strives to motivate and inspire its teachers to infuse creativity in teaching-learning so that the children are always engaged in their lessons.

The application of blended project-based learning, brainstorming, role play, interactive lab experiments along with self and peer evaluation has helped to make learning more engaging and effective with the teachers keeping themselves updated through a plethora of webinars, workshops and various training courses which not only improve the quality of education but also increase self-confidence by further raising their intellectual quotient.

DPS Azaad Nagar provides separate air-conditioned hostels for boys and girls fortified by a comprehensive CCTV surveillance system manned by security experts. The school is well known across the state for its hostel life and special academic and recreational facilities provided to all boarders. This has tremendously benefitted the students of neighbouring areas who did not have access to quality education because of geographical disance from their native places.

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

At DPS Azaad Nagar, every individual is treated equally and with respect. The school is fully committed to meet the needs of every child and utmost care is taken to ensure access to comprehensive academic resources for special children through appropriate channels. Children with special educational needs, whether with learning difficulties or exceptional abilities, are identified, assessed and provided for. Regular monitoring and guidance by the school counsellors, helps in catering to and resolving their issues thereby eventually benefitting the students.

The school is proud of the extremely talented, visually impaired prodigy and a very special alumnus of DPS Azaad Nagar, Arjav Jain, trained in Indian classical music. A team of dedicated teachers helped him acquire normal education and mentored him to realise his dream. He won the prestigious Bal Shree Award and received the trophy from the then HRD Minister of India, Smriti Irani.

With each passing year, the students of DPS Azaad Nagar have made us proud by constantly proving their mettle in the national and international arenas. The higher education pursuits and diverse career choices of our alumni further reinforce the importance of a holistic education. 

Some notable accomplishments of our alumni are as follows:

• Tapasya Agarwal: Metropolitan Magistrate – Tees Hazari Court
• Ayushi Agarwal: AIIMS, New Delhi
• Aditya Agarwal: 25^thRank in AIIMS Entrance Exam
• Kabil Bhargava: AIR – 06 in UPSC ESE – 2019
• SiddharthTripathi: AFMC, Pune
• Rahul Wadhwani: Google, Ireland
• Suyash Ahuja: Google, Bangalore
• Yashoraj Tyagi: University of California, Berkeley
• Ish Mohan Gupta Pennsylvania State University, USA
• Pulkit Kapoor: University of Wisconsin Madison, California
• Arushee Tiwari: London Business School
• Urvashi Misra: Gold Medallist – NIFT New Delhi |Polimoda Institute, Florence
• Akash Wadhwani : University of Arts, London
• Abhinav Soni: Doctoral Researcher at German Centre for Neurodegenerative Disease, Dresden
• Manya Agarwal: CERN, Switzerland | University of Hong Kong
• Pranshu Bahal: Data Scientist at AkzoNobel, Netherlands
• Saksham Katiyar: IIM Ahmedabad | IIT Kanpur
• Ujjwal Katiyar: IIM Calcutta | IIT Kanpur
• Ayush Jindal: ISB, Hyderabad
• Soumitra Dey: Major, Indian Army

International Achievements

Urvashi Misra of DPS Azaad Nagar was amongst the 158 students to be selected by the HRD Ministry, India for its student exchange programme to Japan (JENESYS – 2010) on the basis of her exemplary academic and co-curricular record.

DPS Azaad Nagar has always been the first choice of international students because of its global outlook and availability of a plethora of on-campus

Kamran Tanveer is a fitting example of the outstanding exposure provided by the school for participation in various national and international sports events as he won the Bronze Medal in the President’s Carrom League and was also a part of the victorious Indian Team in the 3^rdIndia – Maldives Carrom Test Series in Maldives.

Poonam Gupta — one of our very dedicated teachers — presently serves under the Ministry of External Affairs as an honorary foreign professor of Hindi at Dhaka University, Bangladesh.

Noteworthy Achievements

• NATIONAL CHAMPIONS – All India Inter DPS Cricket Tournament
• NATIONAL CHAMPIONS – All India Inter DPS Multi Sports Meet
• NATIONAL CHAMPIONS – All India Inter DPS Chess Championship
• WINNERS – GREEN PARLIAMENT OF LIVE GREEN UP organized by the Times of India and received the trophy from the then CHIEF MINISTER of Uttar Pradesh, Mr.AkhileshYadav
• 1^stPrize and 2^ndPrize – ALL INDIA ELOCUTION CONTEST held at Indira Gandhi Atomic Research Centre, Kalpakkam.
• 15 Gold, 18 Silver and 4 Bronze Medals in NATIONAL HINDI OLYMPIAD organized by Hindi VikasSansthan, New Delhi
• ZONAL CHAMPIONS – Inter DPS Folk Dance Competition
• ZONAL CHAMPIONS – Inter DPS Cricket Tournament
• ZONAL CHAMPIONS – Inter DPS Football Tournament
• CHAMPIONS – CBSE Cluster IV Table Tennis Tournament.
• GOLD MEDAL – U.P. State Rifle Shooting Championship
• GOLD MEDAL – Sub Junior Category and SILVER MEDAL – Junior Category in Pre U.P. State Shooting Competition
• 1^stPRIZE – NORTH ZONE Inter DPS On The Spot Painting Competition
• GOLD MEDAL – State Level Skating Competition held at Noida
• 1^st RUNNERS UP – NATIONAL Inter DPS Fusion Dance Competition (Host School declared 1^st)
• 1^st RUNNERS UP – NATIONAL Inter DPS Vocal Music Competition
• 1^stRUNNERS UP – CBSE Cluster IV Volleyball Tournament.
• 1^stRUNNERS UP – CBSE Cluster IV Badminton Tournament.
• 1^stRUNNERS UP – ZONAL Inter DPS Athletic Meet
• BRONZE MEDAL – President’s Carrom League and a part of the victorious Indian Team in the 3rd India – MaldivesCarrom Test Series in Maldives.