City Montessori School (CMS) is a co-educational English medium private school that offers education from Pre-school up to K-12 (Grade 12) level in Lucknow, India. The school was founded in 1959 by Dr Bharti Gandhi and Dr Jagdish Gandhi. It held the 2010-11 Guinness Book of World Records for the largest school. In 2015, the school's enrollment was reported to be 52,000. CMS is affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations.
In 2014 CMS society was accredited with the United Nations Department of Public Information as affiliated NGO.
Background
The husband and wife duo of Jagdish Gandhi and Bharti Gandhi founded the City Montessori School with just 5 students and a borrowed capital of just Rs 300 or US$5 (approx) in rented premises in 1959. Currently CMS has 18 separate branch campuses spread across the city. In 2002 CMS was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education. The school has also received the 'Hope of Humanity' Award from spiritual leader, His Holiness The Dalai Lama.
Campuses
The campuses of the school are spread all over the city of Lucknow. The campuses include:
- Station Road Campus
- Gomti Nagar Campus I
- Gomti Nagar Campus II
- Mahanagar Campus
- Aliganj Campus I
- Aliganj Campus II
- Rajendra Nagar Campus I
- Rajendra Nagar Campus II
- Rajendra Nagar Campus III
- Rajajipuram Campus I
- Rajajipuram Campus II
- RDSO Campus
- Kanpur Road Campus
- Asharfabad Campus
- Jopling Road Campus
- Anand Nagar Campus
- Chowk Campus
- Indira Nagar Campus
In the news
In 2015, CMS refused admission to 31 students of economically weaker section of the society under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act on the grounds that they were ineligible according to the state's own RTE rules. The school's rationale for not admitting the children were that either they were below 6 years of age (definition of child as per RTE act is a person aged between 6-14 years) or they resided beyond 1 km radius of CMS or they had other private schools nearer to their residence than CMS. Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Sandeep Pandey sat on a hunger strike against CMS and other private school's refusal to admit children of economically weaker backgrounds. A meeting was arranged between the city administration, Sandeep Pandey and the school management but the issue remain unsolved reportedly due to either side's refusal to budge from their stand. CMS challenged the DM's order in the Allahabad High Court. Following an interim order by the Supreme Court on school's appeal, CMS admitted 13 children who were found eligible by the apex court.
The activities of the school have made impact during testing times, like in 1992, when the Babri Masjid was demolished and religious riots had cost hundreds of lives. The school also initiated an Indo-Pak children's pen friend's project to promote friendship between children of India and Pakistan.
Following the beheading of Indian army soldier, Lance Naik Hemraj by the Pakistani forces in 2013, and Indian army responding aggressively to the incident in 2014, tensions were once again high between India & Pakistan. So a Pakistani school's participation in a Cricket tournament conducted by CMS was cancelled.
For the session 2017â€"18, school management increased the children's fees by 12%. In 2013, it increased its fees for all classes by 10% and for Nursery and Kindergarten classes by upto 16% in comparison to previous year's fee. The school's reputation was challenged when one of its teachers was blamed for slapping a child hard. Reportedly, a student of class 10 at the school's Mahanagar branch committed suicide in 2011, after his principal Nalini Sharad, allegedly, threatened to shame him before the whole school. After the student's suicide, upon his parents insistence, the court took cognizance, rejecting the police enquiry and ordered in 2013 that a case should be registered against Sharad. Nalini Sharad was relieved of her services as Principal of CMS on 2013 when she retired. The matter is sub-judice since then.
The school uniform, including socks and belt were changed by the school management after 33 years. On receiving complaints by guardians who reported that the uniform was being sold at higher prices than the fixed price, the school established a helpline for parents to check the prices.
Alumni
- Celina Jaitley - Actress
References
External links
- Official website
- Website of City Montessori School (CMS) founder Dr. Jagdish Gandhi
