Paromita Sengupta
MSDGS is a unique sports focused holistic education partnership between experienced educators and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s iconic and most successful cricket captain in all formats of this sophisticated game
Chandrasekhar (centre left) with Dhoni: sports-focused holistic education
Sited on a 16-acre verdant campus in the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border town of Hosur, an industrial hub which hosts the manufacturing facilities of blue-chip companies including Hindustan Motors, Tata Electronics, Kansai Nerolac among others, and a 20-minute drive from Bengaluru’s Electronics City, the new age M.S. Dhoni Global School (MSDGS-H, estb.2022) is a unique sports focused holistic education partnership between experienced educators and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s iconic and most successful former cricket captain in all formats — test, ODIs and T20s — of this game described by historian Ramachandra Guha as “the world’s most sophisticated game”. Currently, the K-12 MSDGS-H, affiliated with the Delhi-based CBSE examination board, has 2,348 children mentored by 152 highly qualified teachers on its muster rolls.
Promoted under the aegis of the Hosur-based Shree Sharada Educational Trust (estb.2009) registered by Chairman R. Chandrasekhar, for 12 years the school had a collaboration agreement with Mumbai-based Zee Learn Ltd. In 2022, the Sharada Trust management concluded the collaboration with Zee Learn and signed up a strategic alliance partnership with M.S. Dhoni. The trust also owns and manages another affiliated K-12 school in HSR extension, Bengaluru (Bangalore) which has an enrolment of 785 children mentored by 62 teachers.
“At MSDGS-H, we firmly believe that holistic education — with focus on sports and physical fitness, appreciating nature and developing curious minds — is essential for children’s optimal development. Apart from our attention to sports education, we are a Microsoft showcase school wholly committed to providing contemporary digitally-enabled education for the nurturance of global leaders equipped to manage challenges of the future. With a teacher-pupil ratio of 1:15, we pride ourselves on bestowing individual attention upon all students,” says Chandrasekhar, an engineering graduate of Madras University, a nationally awarded decathloner, and chairman of MSDGS-H.
Promoted as a “futuristic educational institute”, MSDGS-H’s “seven foundational pillars” are maths, sports, interpersonal/intra-personal intelligences, science, technology, social pedagogy and arts. In January, the school inaugurated a Hybrid Learning Node classroom which connects it with its Bangalore affiliate and schools countrywide to enable collaborative learning. In 2022, the school was conferred the Grand Jury Award of EducationWorld for ‘Best school using STEM technology’.
“The school’s USP is our 360-degree curriculum which optimally integrates academics, sports, co-curricular activities and life skills education. It includes 120 minutes of physical activity daily, specially designed to keep children fit. We also accord high importance to the welfare and professional development of our teachers. All of them are certified Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts. All this adds up to our institutional objective which is to develop future-ready leaders in academics, sports, sciences and technology,” says Bhuvaneswari C, chairperson of the Sharada Trust and senior principal of MSDGS-H, a physics and business management alumna of PSG College, Coimbatore with 14 years of teaching and admin experience.
The school’s impressive academic infrastructure includes an academic building that houses 95 spacious and well-ventilated Smart classrooms in Da Vinci-styled studios themed with colourful imprints of botany and other natural elements, eight laboratories (Atal Tinkering, physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, language, robotics, innovative), an open-air amphitheatre and a spacious well-stocked library for junior and senior students with an aggregate 10,000 print volumes and 30 journal subscriptions.
To live up to its name and association with India’s most successful cricket captain and exemplary fitness enthusiast, the school’s infrastructure includes an 11-acre sports complex comprising a 25m world-class swimming pool, a seven-acre grass turf cricket ground, separate football ground, and two synthetic basketball and tennis courts. “Our strategic alliance partnership with the M.S. Dhoni Sports Academy connects us with the best sports training and development academies in India and abroad. We believe that if children are provided excellent sports and co-curricular education, they are very likely to succeed academically,” says Vineeth Chandrasekar, a highly qualified alum of the Vellore Institute of Technology and University of Texas at Dallas, who returned to India to mastermind the rejuvenation of the Sharada Trust schools and launch the strategic alliance with Dhoni.
In keeping with its commitment to providing children balanced, holistic education, the school management also offers a wide range of co-curricular education options — Indian and Western music, art, dance, dramatics, clay sculpting, special leadership and language enhancement among other programs. Moreover, MSDGS-H is a member school of American author Stephen R. Covey’s Leader in Me program designed to build strong character and leadership skills. The school management’s belief in the stimulus provided by high quality sports and co-curricular education has paid off in a big way. In 2022-23, of the 80 students who wrote the CBSE class X exams, 30 averaged 90 percent plus with topper Mythili A, averaging 98 percent. Of the 28 students who wrote the CBSE class XII exams, seven averaged 90 percent plus with topper Harini K, averaging 95.8 percent.
Encouraged by rising public demand for its excellent sports-intensive K-12 education, MSDGS has drawn up ambitious expansion plans. “We have finished a blueprint to increase the capacity of our Hosur and Bangalore schools by adding classrooms covering an area of 70,000 sq. ft which are currently under construction. Moreover, we believe it is time to replicate our successful model of education. Towards this end, we have invested substantially in a new greenfield school in the Whitefield suburb of Bengaluru and another K-12 school in Chennai which are expected to become operational from the academic year 2025-26,” says R. Chandrasekhar.
ADMISSION & FEES
M.S. Dhoni Global School, Hosur is a CBSE-affiliated K-12 co-ed day school. Applications for kindergarten-class XI admissions are invited between October-March. An interview followed by a written test is mandatory for applicants seeking admission from class I onwards.
Tuition fee (annual): Rs.45,000-65,000. Classes XI-XII: Rs.1.25 lakh.
For further information, contact (Ph): 9159 88 555; e-mail: info@msdgshosur.com