Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, Kolkata

Since it was founded in 1996, the CBSE-affiliated LSA has acquired a national reputation for providing excellent K-12 education

PROMOTED AND FUNDED by the J.K. Group — one of India’s heavyweight industrial houses — under the aegis of the Delhi-based Lakshmipat Singhania Education Foundation in 1996, over the past two decades, the CBSE-affiliated Lakshmipat Singhania Academy (LSA) has acquired a national reputation for providing its 1,066 boys and 808 girl students excellent K-12 education. In the EducationWorld School Rankings 2013, this low-profile school was ranked among the Top 15 co-ed day schools in West Bengal (pop.91 million) and #14 in Kolkata.

“The objective of the promoter-trustees of LSA — and particularly of the late Lakshmipat Singhania — was not only to enable our students to attain academic excellence, but to also develop holistic personalities and utilise new education technologies. Therefore the distinguishing characteristic of LSA is that we encourage innovative and contemporary teaching practices based on teacher-student research, integrated learning, concepts building and micro teaching, which are reinforced through project assignments and co-curricular and extra-curricular activities,” says Meena Kak, principal of LSA.

An organic chemistry and education postgraduate of Christ Church College, Kanpur, Kak began her teaching career at the Pitts Modern School, Jharkhand (1980-97) and served as principal of Hartley’s High School, Kolkata (1997-2004), and Ashok Hall, Kolkata (2004-07) prior to being invited to take charge of LSA in 2007.

Sited on a 1.21-acre campus in trendy south Kolkata, over the past 18 years since it admitted its first batch of 350 class I-V students, LSA has built an impressive academic infrastructure for its 1,874 students mentored by 108 well-qualified faculty, which translates into an enviable 1:16 teacher-pupil ratio. Currently the school’s built-up area dominated by the main Tall Building, houses 56 fully-wired classrooms equipped with electronic smart boards and air-conditioning in higher secondary classes. The school boasts separate libraries for primary and secondary/higher secondary students housing an aggregate 16,000 print volumes, 1,200 multimedia CDs, and 28 journal subscriptions.

Sustained investment in infrastructure development and in-service teacher training has paid off in a big way for LSA. The school has an excellent academic record in the class X and XII CBSE board exams. In 2013, of the 127 students who wrote the class X CBSE exam, 56 were awarded a CGPA (cumulative grade point average) of 9 and above with 95 passing with distinction (80 percent plus). Likewise, in the class XII school-leaving exam, all 118 students who wrote the exam averaged 87 percent with 92 percent passing with distinction. “These are better board results than of any CBSE-affiliated school in West Bengal,” says Kak.

In keeping with LSA’s credo of providing holistic education to its students, co-curricular education is also accorded prime importance.  Indian and Western classical vocal and instrumental music is taught to students in two large practice rooms. Other co-curricular activities include yoga, nature, cinema and photography clubs, and Spanish, French, and robotics classes. Moreover, student and teacher exchange programmes have been signed with the Umbilo Secondary School, Durban, South Africa, and the Carlo-Schmid Gymnasium (secondary school), Germany.

There’s considerable provision by way of sports and games for students. These include tennis, squash, table tennis, throw ball, handball, basketball, archery, karate and cricket.

Almost two decades after its promotion with LSA having innovated and adopted unique teaching-learning systems which have established its reputation as Kolkata’s most-reputed new genre school, introducing new pedagogies and processes remains a prime objective of the school management.

“This year we will introduce CBSE’s i-international programme to give a global dimension to our teaching-learning process. Further, we have drawn up a sports education programme to provide international level training to promising sportspersons. A programme to mainstream special needs students is also in the final stages of preparation. Continuous improvement of students, systems and processes is our constant endeavour,” says Kak.