Within a short span of ten years, this CBSE-affiliated K-12 co-educational school has won the plaudits and patronage of Jammu’s quality education-conscious parents – Autar Nehru Spread over a nine-acre modern campus in the northern city of Jammu, the nexgen Heritage School (estb. 2005) is ranked among the country’s Top 100 co-ed day schools and #2 in Jammu & Kashmir in the latest EW India School Rankings 2015. Within a short span of ten years, this CBSE-affiliated K-12 school has won the plaudits and patronage of Jammu’s quality education-conscious parents by providing rigorous academics, high-quality faculty, enabling infrastructure and a rich menu of extra-curricular and sports activities. A recipient of British Council’s International School Award 2014, the co-educational Heritage currently has an enrolment of 2,500 students mentored by 155 teachers. Promoted by Jammu-based first generation entrepreneur Vishal Gupta, founder-director of Jammu Castings Pvt. Ltd and Shree Guru Kripa Alloys Pvt. Ltd (combined annual turnover: Rs.150 crore), Heritage School was promoted with twin objectives — a desire to heal the scars inflicted by the partition of India in 1947 through giving back to the community, and a compelling need to establish a world-class primary-secondary school in Jammu (pop. 612,000). The Gupta family matriarch the late Dhanwanti Devi, who survived the occupation of the border town of Rajouri by Pakistani irregulars and fled to Jammu after it was retaken by the Indian army, overcame overwhelming odds to educate her children. “The inspiration for Heritage School is the pioneering spirit of our grandmother Dhanwanti Devi who endowed the gift of education to her own children as well as many orphans. The Heritage School was promoted to carry forward the flame of her legacy. At the same time, we wanted to set up a world-class school in Jammu so that children didn’t have to go to boarding schools outside the state,” says Vishal who co-promoted the school with his brothers Sunil and Rohit under the aegis of the Dhanwanti Memorial Trust. To fulfill the objective of establishing an internationally benchmarked 21st century school, the Guptas roped in Delhi-based Vijay Gupta & Associates, which boasts several top-ranked education institutions including the Amity Group among its clients, to design the campus, and enlisted the services of well-qualified educationists. “Apart from hiring a professional firm to design a modern campus, we brought in highly experienced educationists as principal and vice-principal and invested them with full academic autonomy. Our mission is to enable the all-round development of children in an enriching learning environment,” says Vishal Gupta. The management’s efforts to recruit qualified and trained faculty have paid rich dividends in academics as well as extra-curricular achievements. The first three batches (2013-15) of students who have graduated thus far have recorded 100 percent results in the CBSE class XII board exams. In the co-curricular arena, Heritage students were ranked third in the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)-India National Quiz Competition, and #1 in the Bournvita Quiz Contest in Jammu city, while several students have gone abroad on school…
