Utpal Shanghvi Global School, Mumbai

Consistently ranked among India’s Top 50 day schools by EducationWorld, USGS has earned a well-deserved reputation for providing contemporary ICT-enabled preschool to class X academics supplemented with co-curricular and sports education - PAROMITA SENGUPTA

Sited on a compact two-acre campus in Mumbai’s suburb of Juhu within walking distance of Pratiksha, the palatial home of Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, and next door to the state-of-the-art Bhartiya Arogya Nidhi Hospital, the low-profile Utpal Shanghvi Global School (formerly Utpal Shanghvi School) has earned a well-deserved reputation within Mumbai and beyond, for providing contemporary ICT-enabled (preschool-class X) globally benchmarked academics supplemented with co-curricular and sports education. 

Promoted in 1982 by the Juhu Parle Education Society (JPES), this co-ed day school began its innings as a Maharashtra state board-affiliated English-medium class I-X school. In 2005, it sought and received affiliation with the UK-based Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) for its early and primary years, Checkpoint and IGCSE programmes. Consistently ranked among India’s Top 50 co-ed day schools in the annual EducationWorld India School Rankings, in 2016-17 Utpal Shanghvi Global School (USGS) is ranked #14 in Mumbai and #17 in Maharashtra. Currently, USGS has 2,992 students and 190 teachers on its muster rolls.

“The prime objective behind the promotion of USGS was to establish a day school offering English-medium primary-secondary education in the under-served western suburbs of Mumbai, since most English-medium schools were concentrated in south Mumbai. But over the past 11 years after our affiliation with CIE (UK), we have transformed into an international school offering the best curriculums and global teaching practices. Our goal is to develop open-minded and outward looking global citizens grounded in Indian traditions and values,” says Jayesh P. Choksi, president of JPES.

Since then, the USGS management has invested heavily in infrastructure upgradation, professional teacher training and development and in co-curricular and sports education. The school’s wi-fi enabled campus — which is under 24x7 CCTV surveillance — hosts a self-contained four-storeyed building with spacious air conditioned classrooms equipped with Smart boards and projectors, two well-stocked libraries with 25,000 volumes and 18 journal subscriptions, three state-of-the-art computer labs, three science labs, an exclusive floor devoted to early years education, an auditorium and cafeteria. Moreover, USGS hosts its own high-tech recording and audio-visual studio which doubles up as a short film production centre for students. 

“We take pride that since it was started with modest ambitions 35 years ago, USGS has evolved into a world-class institution offering excellent academic and co-curricular education with strong emphasis on values and life skills development. This is why our students have not only fared well in board examinations but also won laurels in sports and extra-curricular activities. In the global IGCSE class X examinations, USGS has produced 18 world toppers and 61 India toppers in various subjects over the past nine years. Moreover in 2008, JPES promoted our affiliated Prabhavati Padamshi Soni International Junior College which offers the CIE higher secondary ‘A’ level curriculum. About 40 percent of our class X school-leavers enter our junior college whose graduates are readily accepted into premier universities such as Cambridge, Purdue, Virginia Tech, UCLA and Penn State universities as well as top-ranked institutions in India,” says Abha Dharam Pal, chief executive of USGS since 2013. An education postgrad of Mumbai University, Pal was conferred a Central government award for best teacher in 2000, and several vocational awards for excellence in education.

Although over the past decade USGS has transformed into an international school following the CIE’s IGCSE and A level curriculums, 502 of the school’s 2,992 students exclusively follow the K-X curriculums of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education. However, Dharam Pal believes that the two curriculums reinforce each other. “Except for curriculum delivery, all other services are common. Indeed all our students and teachers have benefited immensely from cross-learning and sharing between CIE and state board children with the latter routinely topping the state board exams,” says Dharam Pal. 

With the great majority of students following the rigorous global syllabus/curriculums of CIE, continuous upgradation of teaching skills is a major thrust area with teachers mandated to attend workshops and online training programmes, expenses for which are borne entirely by the management. 

Inevitably, to deliver on its commitment to provide well-balanced holistic education, sports education is an integral part of the school’s curriculum and is delivered by ten professional coaches. USGS boasts a playground with facilities for football, cricket, skating, handball, and throw-ball, athletics, martial arts, table tennis and gymnastics. The school also encourages badminton, chess, golf and fencing.

Co-curricular education is also a prime focus area of the school with reading, film making, creative writing, nature and science club activities and soft skills training strongly encouraged. “Over the past three and a half decades, USGS has established a national reputation as a top-ranked school offering excellent globally benchmarked education. We believe we are now sufficiently experienced to replicate the USGS model. Over the next three years, we plan to promote a new K-10 school in Mumbai, even as we continue to invest in professional development of teachers and upgrade infrastructure facilities at USGS,” says Dharam Pal.