New Era High School

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The New Era High School is located in Panchgani, a modern hill station town well-known as an educational centre containing well-established schools, in the state of Maharashtra, India. At present it is private internationalist Bahá'í school, drawing students from all over the world and is under the supervision of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of India.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

It was founded in August 1945, and was one of the first Bahá'í education projects in India.[1] In the 1970s and 1980s, the school gradually began to establish a series of programmes to assist poor and underdeveloped villages in the region.[2] It started as a service project for students and evolved into a separate institution known as the New Era Development Institute in 1987.[3] The National Spiritual Assembly of Norway established a institution - Norwegian Agency for International Development Cooperation - and in 1988 it began a working relationship with the Institute, with support for a two-year rural community development program. In 1989, funding was extended to cover a one-year community development facilitators course and short courses on agriculture, rural technology, literacy, and domestic science.[4]

[edit] Site/Facilities

The present site was moved into in 1953 and consisted of five buildings.[5] A play field and several added dormitories in 1980's gave the school the room to add over 500 students bringing the total student population to over 1000.[3] In the 1990's the campus went through massive infrastructure growth and renovation - gaining it's own power plant, campus fencing, intercom system, phone system for students, parents and staff, three wells, solar heating for the dining hall and a large garden and with the turn of the century comprehensive computerization handles student records, accounts, maintenance, personnel, and other administrative areas as well as facilitating computerized student-parent communication.[6]

[edit] Programme

Special attention is given to academic excellence, moral education, specifically noted by the Universal House of Justice[7], values for world citizenship, and social and economic development in rural areas. Subject areas significantly expanded through the 1990's to include advances across the K-12 curriculum with peace and cooperative learning programs, computer training programs and extracurricular sports clubs and educational field trips.[6]

[edit] Accreditation and Awards

The school was first registered with the state in 1954 and the first students took their external examinations in 1958. Gloria Faizi, Abu'l-Qásim Faizi's wife, helped bring the school onto a more financial status by providing leadership and attracting investments.[5] The current accreditation includes the standard ten high school exam of the Central Board of Secondary Education[8] though it is increasingly switching to Indian Certificate of Secondary Education.[9]

The Secondary Section in 2007 received top awards for all of Panchgani (with additional high marks in specific subject areas)[10]

  • 100 % passed result with average score of 73.54%
  • Set a new record of highest average 94.6 % by Neal Manjeshwar
  • Number of students appeared - 102
  • 48 students (47%) secured Distinction ( above 75%)
  • 43 students (42%) secured First Class (above 60%)
  • 11 students (11%) secured Second Class

The Secondary Science program won awards in 2003 (National Level Science Talent Search Examination and Best Participation Award in the N.S.T.S.E.)[11]

The Secondary Computer Science curriculum serves the International General Certificate of Secondary Education.[12]

The Secondary Arts program can support students reaching for the annual Government of Maharashtra Elementary and Intermediate Art Exams.[13]

All topic areas have Vocational Courses[14]

The school is ranked 64th across India by a broad range of criteria.[15]

In 2005/6, New Era High School students Nikita Singh ranked 857th and Begur Prashanath ranked 1824th (over 2000 were ranked) across all Indian students competing for the Amul Shakti Vidyashree award.[16]

[edit] Primary Section

Along with standard academic and arts subject areas, and multilingual programs begin[17], a featured area is values education (Including Peace Ed.,Conflict Resolution, Environmental Ed.)

[edit] Secondary Section

In addition to the awards winning academic and arts subjects areas, most subject areas develop extension programs - poly-lingual plays, student quiz teams, and community outreach.[18]

The computer system, especially present in the Secondary Section, is Open Source based - highlighting Mandriva 2007 and Fedora Core 7, OpenOffice, GIMP, and many other softwares among it's several computer labs.[12]

[edit] School culture

The school developed a residential prefect-oriented system. The prefect body consists of thirty-two students who represent four virtues - Peace, Respect, Harmony and Wisdom. One of the senior students is appointed as Head Girl or Head Boy.[19][20]

[edit] Events

Some of Amir Khan's film, Taare Zameen Par was shot in the school.[21]

[edit] See Also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Background statement of the school
  2. ^ History: 1971-1982
  3. ^ a b History: 1982-1998
  4. ^ Hansen, Holly; Bahá'í International Community (1999). Overview of Bahá'í Social and Economic Development. 1992-93 edition of The Bahá'í World, pp. 229-245.. Universal House of Justice. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  5. ^ a b History: 1945-1971
  6. ^ a b History: 1998-2003
  7. ^ letter from the Universal House Of Justice, 30 October 1995, to the school
  8. ^ General Academics
  9. ^ School Boards Compete for Better Academics
  10. ^ Secondary: General Information -Highlight of CBSE Results 2007
  11. ^ Academics: Science
  12. ^ a b Computers, Information & Communication Technology
  13. ^ Arts - Aims, Objectives & Special Programmes
  14. ^ Vocational Courses and Admission criteria
  15. ^ India's best schools league table
  16. ^ Amul Shakti Vidyashree Award - Academic Year 2005-6 List of Winners (All India)
  17. ^ Academics: Second Languages
  18. ^ India Schools : New Era High School, Panchgani
  19. ^ Family Learning Programme - Our School Prefects
  20. ^ Student Associations
  21. ^ Aamir Khan declined special appearance in 'Om Shanti Om', 07th Oct 2007
  • Rowley, Elizabeth Anne. (1980) New Era High School : an ethnographic study of an International Bahá'í school in India. Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Georgia (Athens), 1980.
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