Litera Valley Zee School, Hosur

Within the short span of five years, LVZS has earned a sound reputation for offering well-balanced primary-secondary education paromita sengupta

Spread over 3.47 green acres in the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border town of Hosur (pop. 260,000) — an industrial hub which hosts several automobile and manufacturing blue-chips including Hindustan Motors, Taneja Aerospace, Bata, Nerolac among others, and a mere 20-minute drive from Bangalore’s Electronics City — within the short span of five years Litera Valley Zee School (LVZS) has earned a sound reputation for offering well-balanced primary-secondary education. This CBSE-affiliated K-X co-ed day school, which admitted its first batch of 220 students in 2010, currently has 767 — including 331 girl — students mentored by 70 highly qualified teachers on its muster roll.

Promoted by the Hosur-based Sharada Educational Trust (estb. 2009), LVZS is a franchisee of Zee Learn Ltd — the education arm of the Mumbai-based Essel Group Ltd (annual revenue: Rs.14,928 crore), a conglomerate with interests in media, real estate, infrastructure, etc — which has established over 100 K-12 Litera Valley Zee schools countrywide under the owned and franchise models.

“LVZS’ mission is to provide a world-class learning-by-doing education experience integrating new information technologies such as tablets and interactive white boards in a state-of-the-art learning environment. Our curriculum is contemporary and experiential, with well-trained teachers mentoring students to learn cognitively rather than by rote. Our institutional objective is to nurture future-ready leaders rooted in Indian traditions and values and equipped to take on the work and life pressures of the 21st century,” says Bhuvaneswari Chandrasekar, an alumna of Bharathiar University and go-getting principal of the school.

As per the school’s franchise agreement with Zee Learn, content is provided by the latter. The K-class VIII curriculum — designed by academic experts of Zee Learn — is activity-based, shaped to stimulate the multiple intelligences of students, while in classes IX-X the focus is on developing students’ self-learning and study skills.

To fulfill the institutional objective of delivering holistic education, the LVZS management has liberally invested in contemporary academic and sports facilities. The school’s cluster of white and yellow pillared buildings house the kindergarten, two primary and secondary blocks and the Knowledge Tower. Together, they offer 30 spacious and well-ventilated classrooms fitted with CCTV and Smart boards, state-of-the-art science, math, innovation and robotics laboratories, music and art rooms, an open-air amphitheatre and a food hub with a self-contained kitchen. The academic and administrative blocks are wi-fi enabled, and the junior and senior libraries house 8,000 volumes with 35 journal subscriptions. A fleet of seven buses equipped with custom-made Velcro seat belts and speed tracking systems transport children to and from school.

Unsurprisingly, LVZS’ compact campus offers numerous sports and games options including  throwball,  basketball, volleyball, international standard lawn tennis and badminton courts, a cricket ground and swimming pool, indoor chess, table tennis, carom and yoga rooms. Seven coaches — three of them trained at the National Institute of Sports, Patiala — mentor and prepare students for state and national level sports competitions and tournaments.

Co-curricular and life skills education is also a major focus area with robotics, dance, drama, music, community service, organic farming, and visual and performing arts featuring prominently in the school’s academic calendar. “We are the only school in India to offer robotics education in association with Lego, USA from class I onward. Moreover our annual International Expo which showcases students’ science, maths, robotics, social studies, sports, agriculture, art and craft projects, attracts more than 2,000 students from neighbouring towns and habitats,” says Bhuvaneswari.

Adds R. Chandrasekar, an engineering alumnus of Madras University and prominent businessman who together with wife Bhuvaneswari has invested Rs.8 crore in getting the school up and running: “An education experience which integrates academic rigour with sports, co-curricular and community activities is the prerequisite of developing balanced, productive and socially responsible individuals. I am proud to report that we have succeeded in offering a world-class education experience to all our students in a modern ICT-enabled campus within the framework of a very modest tuition fee of Rs.25,000 per year.”

With its first batch of ten students set to write the CBSE class X board exam in March, and the school steadily increasing its annual intake (installed capacity: 1,400), LVZS is getting ready for construction of its Plus Two section, and a modern indoor stadium. A memorandum of understanding with the US-based NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is also in the works for introducing online space-study workshops for its students.

Schools established under the franchise model are often criticised for being overly commercial and obliged to balance the interests of franchisors and franchisees. By striking the right balance and levying affordable tuition fees ab initio, this high potential school intelligently sited in the heart of an expanding industry and business hub, has established its own identity and good reputation.