DPS Sushant Lok, Gurgaon

DPSSL has quickly earned an excellent reputation for delivering high quality schooling combining academic rigour, co-curricular and sports education to its 3,400 students mentored by 208 teachers - Autar Nehru

Spread across 4.67 acres in the heart of the millennial steel-and-glass city of Gurgaon (pop.8.6 lakh), Delhi Public School, Sushant Lok (DPSSL, estb.2005) has quickly earned an excellent reputation for delivering high quality schooling combining academic rigour, co-curricular and sports education to its 3,400 students mentored by 208 teachers and 16 sports coaches. Affiliated with the Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), DPSSL is ranked among Gurgaon’s Top 15 co-ed day schools in the latest EducationWorld India School Rankings 2016. 

A franchisee of the reputed DPS (Delhi Public Schools) chain of 11 owned and 194 franchised primary-secondaries countrywide, DPSSL is promoted by Meenakshi Singh Pathania, a well-known educationist and daughter of high-powered bureaucrat-turned-politician N.K. Singh, former Union revenue secretary during the 1990s economic reforms era, officer on special duty of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (1999-2004) and ex member of Parliament. 

An alumna of Delhi University, in 2010 Meenakshi also promoted the Apple Blossom Early Learning Centre, Sector 45 (ranked among Gurgaon’s Top 10 preschools in the EW India Preschool Rankings 2016). Subsequently, she promoted the CBSE-affiliated Tribhuvan School, Patna (estb.2012) in memory of her grandfather Tribhuvan Prasad Singh, an ICS officer and India’s first finance secretary, and yet another DPS School in Kota, Rajasthan (estb. 2016). Currently, Meenakshi is pro-vice chairperson and director of all three schools with N.K. Singh as patron. 

“The goal of DPS, Sushant Lok is to develop the inherent potential of all students to become self-driven, life-long learners and caring, ethical citizens of the world. Our founders — N.K. Singh and Meenakshi — strongly believe that education rooted in Indian culture and values combined with an international outlook, will mould students into sensitive global citizens,” says Sunita Nagpal, an alumna of Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi with over 20 years of experience in DPS schools who was appointed headmistress of DPSSL in 2010 and promoted to the principal’s office in 2015. Nagpal believes DPSSL has greatly benefited from the aid, advice and counsel provided by N.K. Singh. “He is very involved and facilitates guest lectures and interactions with distinguished personalities,” she says. 

A differentiating feature of DPSSL is the high importance the school’s management accords to developing self-learning and critical thinking skills of students. “In all our schools, pedagogies are designed to discourage rote learning and reward creative thinking. The workbooks developed by DPS Society for primary classes are excellent and develop early self-study and reading skills. This provides an excellent foundation for secondary school where self-learning is critical to academic success,” says Nagpal.

The school’s focus on developing the self-learning and conceptual skills of its students has paid rich dividends. The 11-year-old school, which has graduated six batches thus far, has recorded a 100 percent success rate in the testing CBSE school-leaving exams. In the 2016 class XII exam, its students averaged 84 percent with 32 students recording 90 percent plus. In 2014, DPSSL won the national award of the prestigious CBSE Science Model Competition, and in 2015 was conferred the International School Award of the British Council for 2015-18. 

The school’s pleasingly landscaped campus is designed by well-known Delhi-based architect Roopak Kothari with state-of-the-art academic, co-curricular and sports facilities. With their distinctive red-brick facade, DPSSL’s junior and senior schools offer 137 spacious, well-ventilated Smart classrooms (to facilitate flipped classroom learning), a 400-seats multi-purpose hall, a covered play area and mini-amphitheater. In addition, there are separate computer labs for junior and senior students, well-equipped science labs, two air-conditioned libraries stocked with 23,507 volumes, and a robotics lab. 

Also designed to facilitate special needs and Braille education for visually challenged children, the school also offers facilities for learning Japanese, French and German. “We are an inclusive school with special children given full enablement to develop and excel. Our special education unit is equipped with an occupational therapy facility,” adds Nagpal.

Sports amenities include a multi-purpose ground for field games, a skating rink, basketball court and indoor games rooms. Moreover to develop the multiple intelligences of students, the school is equipped with a dedicated yoga hall, separate rooms for Western and Indian classical vocal and instrumental music, art and crafts rooms.

Despite DPSSL establishing a solid reputation within the DPS fraternity of 205 institutions nationwide and particularly in Delhi NCR in a short span of time, the management is committed to continuous improvement and upgradation. “The secret of our success is that we have adopted, adapted and improved upon the DPS Society’s proven pedagogies and administrative system to create our unique identity. Among our future plans is construction of a girls’ hostel on campus,” says Nagpal.