Lalaji Memorial Omega International School, Chennai

Promoted by renowned seer Chariji in 2005, LMOIS has quickly earned a reputation for providing values-based spiritualism combined with international standard K-12 education

Sprawled over an 18-acre campus in Kolapakkam, Chennai, the Lalaji Memorial Omega International School (LMOIS, estb. 2005), promoted by Tamil  Nadu’s renowned spiritual seer Sri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari, has quickly earned a reputation for provi-ding much-needed values-based spiritual education (VBSE) combined with international standard K-12 education. Started as a Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)-affiliated school, it now boasts an aggregate enrolment of 3,300 students instructed by 205 teachers.

Two years later, in 2007, LMOIS was awarded the status of a Cambridge International Centre (CIC) and also affiliated with the UK-based University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE). Currently its constituent class I-XII Cambridge International School offers the CIE primary and lower secondary programmes, International General Certificate of Secondary Education, International Certificate of Education (ICE) and other advanced level examinations to 300 students instructed by 22 highly qualified teachers.

Self-evidently, the distinguishing features of LMOIS are its VBSE and meditation programmes propagated by the school’s founder Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari (‘Chariji’), managing trustee of the Sahaj Marg Spirituality Foundation (SMSF), a non-profit organi-sation established in 2003, which offers instruction in the Sahaj Marg system of meditation to followers worldwide. Currently over 100 schools across India implement SMSF’s VBSE programme.

Closely associated with Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), LMOIS’ VBSE programme is based on the core human values outlined in Unesco’s sourcebook Learning To Be (2002), and has adopted its “nine gems of life’’ — health and nutrition, self-awareness and self management, environmental morality, citizenship, sensitivity and creativity, truth and wisdom, peace and justice, love and compassion and spirituality, towards holistic development of students.

The school is also affiliated to Unesco’s Associated Schools Project Network, a global network of 7,900 educational institutions in 176 countries, which supports education innovations and positive change. In addition, the school offers the International Award for Young People (formerly the Duke of Edinburgh Award), a self-development programme for students.

“Though we provide an enabling environment for students to excel in academics, our greater emphasis is on infusing VBSE in our students to shape them into emotionally balanced, physi-cally strong, morally sound and spiritually enlightened individuals who can assume leadership positions in society,” says S. Ramakrishnan, a retired banker and experienced practitioner of Sahaj Marg meditation who is desig-nated ‘correspondent’ of LMOIS.

To deliver well-rounded education to its students, the LMOIS management stridently encourages co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, which are integrated into the curriculum. The school’s many on-campus clubs include the Gaia (Greek for mother earth) club quiz; art, astronomy, maths, creative lab, ideas factory, robotics and dram-atics clubs. The school has also undertaken several green initiatives to educate children in the judicious use of waste material to reduce the use of conventional energy sources.

“Eco club members have established a waste paper recycling unit, tool room facility for in-house fabrication and repair of school furniture, a bio-gas plant and rainwater harvesting pond — all of which are fully functional. Moreover, students have cultivated an organic vegetable garden and all open pathways and corridors in the campus are lit by LED lamps powered by solar energy,” says Dr. Bhavani Shankar, senior principal of LMOIS. An alumnus of Madras University, Shankar served as a post doctoral research associate at the Medical University of South Carolina for a year before returning to become principal of Chennai’s well-known Chettinad Vidyashram school in 2002, where he served for six years before signing up with LMOIS in 2008.

The wide range of scholastic and co-curricular activities is well supported by excellent infrastructure. The school boasts 95 well-ventilated classrooms with LCD projectors, smart boards and plasma screen; state-of-the-art chem-istry, physics, computer science, mathematics and English learning laboratories for seniors and separate mathematics and computer labs for juniors; and seven exclusive Mont-essori laboratories for kindergarten children. A well-stocked library contains 36,000 books and digital titles, magazines, periodicals and audio visual resources for students and teachers, as also a special education centre for children with learning disabilities. Separate hostels for boys and girls of classes V-XII provide comfortable learning environments for 280 students mentored by a team of dedicated wardens. Sports facilities include a large playground, football field, cricket nets, volleyball and badminton courts, a tennis court, athletic track, and separate playgrounds for primary and kinder-garten students.

Having established a sound reputation for inclusive development of its students in a short span of seven years, the school’s top management intends to stick to its carefully chosen path of a fine balance between academic excellence and VBSE. “We want to be known as an institution which grad-uates students with empathy for vulnerable members of society, and are prepared to do service for the comm-unity. Beset with scams and corruption at the highest levels of government and society, the need for values-based, spiritually driven education in all institutions of learning has never been greater. We want to light a path for other schools to follow,’’ says Bhavani Shankar.

Lead on!

Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)