The Brigade School @ Millennium, Bangalore

Promoted as perhaps the country’s first captive primary-secondary dispensing high-quality neighbourhood K-12 schooling, TBSM provides a unique model worthy of replication and emulation

Sited within Brigade Millennium, a residential complex housing 711 families in Bangalore’s new town suburb of J.P. Nagar, The Brigade School @ Millennium (TBSM) is perhaps the country’s first captive primary-secondary promoted to provide high- quality neighbourhood K-12 schooling. Promoted by the Brigade Foundation, a not-for-profit trust of the Brigade Group, one of Bangalore’s leading property development companies, TBSM, which also caters to the educational needs of the nearby Brigade Gardenia housing 811 families, admitted its first batch of 715 students in 2004. Since then, this CBSE affiliated co-educational school has earned an excellent reputation for delivering  contemporary, holistic education, to the extent that it is prompting a growing number of parents to purchase apart-ments in the neighbourhood, to merit preferential access to TBSM.

“The primary objective behind the promotion of TBSM was to offer parents living in an 8 km radius the option of a high-quality neighbourhood school. This first-of-its-kind initiative was well-received by parents, and our first batch comprised 715 students. Six years later, I am happy that TBSM has matured into an excellent institution with a reputation for delivering high-quality academic and extra-curricular education. All our students who have written the class X boards passed first class with a majority of them securing distinction, including our last year’s batch of 43 students, and our first batch of class XII students. Moreover the school has won a good reputation for extra-curricular education and all-round development of children. Our mission is to deliver holistic education strongly grounded in Indian culture and values,” says Meera Rao, the founder principal of TBSM. A psychology graduate of Mysore University and NIMHANS, Bangalore, Rao taught in several education institutions including the Government College of Arts & Commerce, Maulana Azad College, and Model High School (all in Aurangabad), before she was appointed principal of TBSM in 2004.

Since then the aggregate enrolment of this school has ballooned to 1,200 students tutored by 80 highly qualified teachers. Spread across 1.08 acres within the Brigade Millennium residential enclave, TBSM offers state-of-the-art academic infrastructure including well-ventilated classrooms, ‘wall encyclopaedias’ that run the length of all hallways, landscaped gardens, well-equipped laboratories for physics, chemistry, biology and life skills, separate language and math labs, a library equipped with over 5,000 volumes, audio-visual room, and two computer labs with 36 workstations offering 24/7 internet access.

The tree-studded quadrangle is the centre of all school activity, with students and teachers gathering everyday for the morning assembly and other cultural events. Moreover some of the enclave’s facilities — including its landscaped three-acre park with a floodlit amphitheatre, mini-stadium, basketball court, and swimming pool — are available to the school. TBSM students also have access to the air-conditioned, 450-seat auditorium at the MLR Convention Centre, located across the road. The menu of extra-curricular activities includes dance, theatre, music, elocution, and art.

Enabling infrastructure apart, the distinguishing features of TBSM are its high-quality teachers and contem-porary curriculum supplemented by constant inputs from the Brigade Foundation’s in-house Knowledge and Information Bank (KNIB). Comprising a team of educationists and curriculum experts constantly researching and reviewing global educational theories and pedagogies, KNIB offers the school’s 80 teachers valuable academic support and training. For instance KNIB has designed TBSM’s Jump Start pre-school curriculum incorporating the best practices of Montessori and traditional pre-school pedagogies.

“We have instituted a rigorous faculty selection process and our 80 highly-qualified teachers are chosen for their ability to deliver hands-on, activity-based and child-centred education. The school management accords high priority to continuous in-service teacher training and professional development, with teachers regularly deputed for external and internal workshops and seminars. In TBSM the student is at the centre of the teaching-learning experience with teachers playing the role of facilitators and mentors. Our goal is to enable students to develop into responsible citizens capable of taking leadership positions in industry and society,” says Rao who informs that future plans include introducing the arts stream in Plus Two, and coaching classes for students aspiring to enter the country’s best colleges and institutions of higher education.

Encouraged by the excellent reputation TBSM has earned in the short span of six years, the Brigade Foundation has prom-oted two similar neighbourhood schools within residential complexes in suburban Banga-lore engineered by its parent company — The Brigade International School near Metropolis (estb.2009) and The Brigade School @ Gateway (to be opened in June 2010). “The Brigade School @ Millennium was our first model school. Remarkably, within a short period of time it has transformed into a world-class institution committed to the four ‘Cs’ of education — character, children, coaches and curriculum. Focus on character development, child-centred learning, excellent teachers and a dynamic curriculum is our mantra for academic excellence. Now with the addition of two new schools, we hope to emulate and consolidate the best practices pioneered by our first school, and work towards continuously improving academic standards in all Brigade schools. All children have unique gifts and aptitudes. Our mission is to help them realise their latent potential and develop into confident and responsible adults capable of making positive contributions to the nation and the world,” says Gita Shankar, chairperson of the Brigade Foundation.

By conceptualising, engineering and actualising a unique model of the neighbourhood school, the Brigade Foundation has done a great service to Indian education and civic planning by largely eliminating stressful commuting, ubiquitous vehicular pollution, and other problems associated with school education. It’s a K-12 education model worthy of replication and emulation.

Summiya Yasmeen (Bangalore)