Hayde Heritage Academy, Kotdwara

Promoted by Indo-Pak 1965 war hero Brig. Desmond Hayde, HHA has emerged as a model school of the educationally backward Pauri Garhwal region  - Autar Nehru

Promoted in 2011, the CBSE-affiliated Hayde Heritage Academy (HHA) is the first day-cum-boarding co-ed school to be established in the educationally under-served Kotdwara town (pop.116,000) of Pauri Garhwal, in the Himalayan foothills state of Uttarakhand. Spread over ten picturesque acres, the school was promoted by one of India’s celebrated war heroes Brigadier Desmond D. Hayde (1926-2013), commanding officer of Battalion 3 of the Jat Regiment, which displayed exemplary courage in the battle of Dograi (on the outskirts of Lahore) during the Indo-Pak war of 1965. After his retirement from the Indian army in 1978, Hayde and his wife Sheila, daughter of London-qualified Barrister and freedom fighter Mukandi Lal, settled in the latters’ native Kotdwara town. Following the death of Sheila in 2010, Brig. Hayde registered the Mukandi Lal Sheila Hayde (MLSH) Society in her memory. In 2011 the trust promoted HHA.

With a commitment to establish HHA as a model school, Hayde, who was awarded the Mahavir Chakra in 1965, enlisted the help of his protege Col. Kunwar Ajay Singh, also a native of Kotdwara. An alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad, Singh took premature retirement and moved to Kotdwara in 2010 to get the school going. In 2011, HHA admitted its first batch of 63 students. Following the unfortunate death of Brig. Hayde in 2013, Singh enlisted the services of his wife Rupmala Singh, a media and marketing professional who had served with the Anand Bazar Patrika and India Today groups and Pathways group of schools, to realise the mission of Brig. and Sheila Hayde. Under their care and nurturance, HHA has transformed into a fully-fledged K-10 school with an enrolment of 560 students mentored by 32 teachers.

“Brig. and Mrs. Hayde had set their hearts on bringing high quality English-medium school education, particularly to girl children in the educationally backward Garhwal region. Today, HHA embodies their vision and values, while providing a modern education experience which develops the individuality, confidence, discipline and leadership skills of children. From the start, our objective has been to ensure wholesome development of children in a caring yet disciplined environment which will shape our students into leaders ready to confront and overcome life’s many challenges,” says Col. Singh, currently managing director and secretary of the MLSH Society.

Inevitably, establishing a globally benchmarked day-cum-boarding school in the remote hilly terrain of the Garhwal foothills wasn’t smooth sailing. Recalls Rupmala Singh, who quit a promising career in mainstream media in 2013 to take charge as principal of HHA and chairperson of the trust: “It was difficult to set standards and benchmarks comparable with top-ranked schools in Dehradun and Nainital, because of the region’s inability to attract adequately qualified teachers. Therefore, we hired local teachers and trained them intensively. Moreover, we worked in close collaboration with eminent academics in Delhi to develop an innovative, well-defined and integrated curriculum enabling children to learn at their own pace and through experience and collaboration. Five years later, I believe HHA has the infrastructure and facilities, academic rigour, high-quality teachers and extra-curricular and sports education comparable with the best schools nationally.”

The school’s ten-acre campus is sited in the heart of Kotdwara, a picturesque town in the majestic Himalayan foothills, traversed by three rivers and skirted by the Corbett National Park. HHA’s wi-fi enabled campus set within a mango orchard, comprises a two-storey main block with airy, naturally lit classrooms overlooking the mountains; a library stocked with 2,500 books; well-equipped science, maths and computer labs; and music and art studios.

The heritage colonial-style Hayde family home serves as a refurbished girls’ hostel while a new hostel for boys has been added to the main block. The pride of the school is its 500-seat amphitheatre — the first in Pauri Garhwal. In 2015-16, the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment ranked HHA among the Top 30 Green Schools of India.

Unsurprisingly given the army background of HHA’s promoters, sports education is a special focus of the school. Facilities include an athletics track, a common football and hockey ground, cricket practice nets, basketball courts, horse riding arena, swimming pool, tennis, volleyball and handball courts, apart from indoor games rooms. “Our belief is that sports and sportsmanship supplement classroom learning and prepare students for achievement in a competitive society. One of our prime objectives is to prepare students for entry into the armed forces, police and the paramilitary,” says Col. Singh.

With a well-developed academic curriculum, residential infrastructure and extensive sports facilities, the Singh duo has plans to transform HHA into a predominantly boarding school in the next three years. “Construction of the girls and boys’ halls of residence has been completed and we intend to admit 100 boy and 25 girl boarders this year. Next year, our first batch of students will write the CBSE class X exam, following which we will make provision for higher secondary education. We are dedicated to continuous improvement to develop HHA into a model K-12 school comparable with the best in India,” says Rupmala.