Inspiration
Meet the legend behind Springdales school
The story of Springdales school is a legendary one. How Providence intervened at crucial points to inspire Rajni to open Springdales and expand it to cover 6000 students today in India and the Middle East.
Born Nancy Joyce Margaret Jones to an English mother and Welsh father, Rajni Kumar went on to become one of the most famous education activists in India and has been honoured with the fourth highest civilian award by the Government of India – The Padma Shri in 2011.
A graduate from the London School of Economics, love brought her to India as she fell in love with her co-student Yudhishter Kumar from Punjab and moved to India when she was 23 and took up the Indian name, Rajni. At first the move to India was overwhelming for the youngest of 7 children, but she quickly embraced Indian culture the sari and even adopted an Indian name.
“Right from the start I ‘Indianised’ myself and have never regretted it. What I have received is far more than what I have given,’’ she says.
Teaching happened to Kumar through providence. While living in Kasauli with her husband she realised that the children of the officers and the soldiers posted there needed a school as the British had abandoned the Kasauli cantt. Even though she had absolutely no experience in education, upon the request of the staff station officer she took on the challenge.
After returning to Delhi, Kumar was itching to get back to teaching as she had enjoyed her Kasuali experience. Once again, fate served her an opportunity as due to the Partition, thousands of orphans were arriving at refugee camps in Delhi and they needed education. Kumar applied for and got the job of a Principal at the Salwan Education Trust for girl students where she was managing around 2,000 refugee girls.
She stayed on for 7 years after which she felt that the time was ripe to start her own school that was in-line with her ideology of providing a well-rounded education to children. Her incredibly supportive husband and father-in-law provided her with the house in Patel Nagar and the initial funds to start with and thats how Springdales was born in 1955 in the family’s living room.
Bit by bit, starting from September 1955, kids started taking over the Patel Nagar home. "We started as a neighbourhood school, a kindergarten," she recalls, "There were 24 students, and within a year it was 100. First we gave one floor, then another. Then we took some other homes."
Springdales can safely be called a pioneering institute in many ways . When almost all the schools were examination and textbook-oriented, Kumar adopted an iconoclastic way of actually looking at children’s innate talents and give them a free rein. Free expression was the cornerstone of the Springdales approach and children were encouraged to imagine, create, discover and experiment. Besides, they were encouraged to participate in community initiatives which was much appreciated by the public.
Different forms of learning were introduced – team teaching, peer learning and research. Infact, Springdales was the first school in India to have abolished exams up to class VIII, did away with ranking or streaming systems, introduced foreign languages and set up a holiday home in the hills along with a work experience farm, among other things.
Springdales also had a strong community focus where students participated in adult literary programs and assisted special needs children as part of their community service program. The school also initiated a program called Adopt-a-Gran in association with HelpAge India. This program encouraged students to care for elderly women who are alone or abandoned.
For her selfless contribution to education and children in India, Kumar was made chair at the educational board of the Lady Irwin College, New Delhi, a post she held for 11 years till the early Eighties. At the same time she was also honoured with the position of vice-chairperson of the national Bal Bhavan.
In 1988, even after formally retiring as Principal of the school and Kumar continued her volunteering efforts and offered her services to the National Literacy Mission Programme in the position of the Delhi Schools Literary Project.
Today Springdales has more than 6,000 students with 3 schools in Delhi, 1 in Jaipur and the latest one in Dubai.
“My dream is to produce beautiful young people with enlightened minds and compassionate hearts who will bring about a better world of tomorrow – a world of peace and harmony. I want to see the children in Dubai rising to great heights of excellence and becoming the leaders of tomorrow”, said Rajni at the opening ceremony of Springdales in Dubai.