Started as a Hindi-medium UP state board-affiliated school in 1978, Nehru World School, Ghaziabad has transformed into a progressive English-medium K-12 institution offering CBSE and Cambridge International (UK) curriculums to its 1,540 students – Autar Nehru Established in 1978 as a neighbourhood school in Shastri Nagar, a suburb of Ghaziabad in Delhi NCR, the low-profile Nehru World School (NWS), Ghaziabad has traversed a long, eventful distance over the past 40 years — from a Hindi-medium Uttar Pradesh state board-affiliated school to a progressive English-medium K-12 institution offering the CBSE (Delhi) and Cambridge International (UK) curriculums to 1,540 students instructed by 98 teachers. In the latest EducationWorld India School Rankings 2018-19, Nehru World School is ranked among the Top 10 co-educational day schools in Ghaziabad and Top 100 in Delhi NCR. Moreover, Nehru World School has earned an excellent reputation for introducing 21st century teaching-learning innovations such as active learning and maths programmes in association with the world-famous online learning pioneer Khan Academy, USA. NWS’ origins are modest. It was promoted by banker-turned-edupreneur N.K. Choudhary and his teacher wife, Arun Choudhary, under the aegis of Nehru Bal Niketan Managing Committee, in a small rented building four decades ago. In the late 1990s, it shifted to its present 1.5-acre campus and in 1996, switched to English medium teaching-learning after receiving CBSE affiliation. In 2016, it was awarded affiliation by Cambridge International (CAIE), UK. Credit for the 360 degree turnaround of Nehru World School, Ghaziabad from a state board-affiliated into an international school is widely given to Arunabh Singh, who took charge of the school’s administration from his parents in 2006. A graduate of Hindu College, Delhi University with a Masters in education management from King’s College London, Singh has successfully transformed the school into a progressive institution and the first Cambridge International-affiliated school in Ghaziabad (pop.2.3 million). It’s also the first K-12 institution in Ghaziabad to receive the British Council’s International School Award (ISA) in 2011 and conferred the status of an ISA ambassador school. “Right from the start, Nehru World School was built on a strong foundation of values which placed children at the centre of all teaching-learning activity. We have grown organically during the past decade from these strong roots to smoothly integrate modern pedagogies and technology innovations into our curriculum. Much of the inspiration to upgrade Nehru World School came from my postgrad study experience in London where I realised that inquiry-based pedagogy is far more effective than our content-centric rote learning system. Consequently when I returned to India and took charge of Nehru World School, Ghaziabad, we introduced several pedagogy innovations for experiential learning through a mix of hands-on activities and new technologies,” says Singh, a master trainer certified by British Council to conduct student leadership programmes. Among the innovations introduced by the Nehru World School management during the past decade are the country’s first 3D Lab, mobile computer/science labs and its Active Learning Alignment programme to train the school’s 98 teachers to actively engage children in the…
