Yadavindra Public School

Yadavindra Public School, is a boarding-cum-day school located in Patiala, Punjab India.

Considered among the top rung of Indian Public Schools, it was founded in 1948, by Late His Highness Maharaja Yadavindra Singh, father of former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.

Following partition, children of many families in Patiala found themselves separated from the school they were studying at, Aitchison College, Lahore. Therefore, Maharaja Yadavindra Singh started the school initially for displaced student and teachers of Aitchison College, Lahore, and thus the two share a common alumni, represented by AYOSA (Aitchison Yadavindrian Old Students Association).

This school is a member of the Indian Public Schools' Conference and is affiliated to the CISCE board. Yadavindra Public School, Mohali is a branch of this school.

YPS offers an all-round education to its students. Apart from its stadium (built for the proposed Commonwealth Games in 1938), this co-educational school has a 25-metre swimming pool for its students, 3 full-sized grounds for hockey and football, one cricket field and horse riding grounds as the school owns several horses. In addition to this, the school offers other sporting facilities in the form of basketball, badminton and tennis courts.

The school's focus, however, remains on Cricket and Hockey. The popularity of Tennis has been fueled by four modern synthetic hard courts and two coaches.

The school has seen an increase in extra curricular activities including music and drama. Over the past few years, the library has expanded its collection, including reference books, journals and magazines.

The school's annual day is celebrated in February and is usually companied by exhibitions and performances by the children. Past principals include Lt Col. Frankton Von Goldstein, Mr H.N. Kashyap, Dr Harish Dhillon, Mr Pramod Sharma and Mr Ajit Singh Jawanda.

History

The genesis of YPS, as a matter of fact, lies in the Aitchison College, Lahore (the only Public School in Pre-Partition Punj This was the college not for all, but only for scions of princes and potentates, lords and aristocrats. His Highness the late Maharajadhiraj Yadavindra Singh of Patiala, from whose name this school derives its significance, was also a student of this college and later a member of its Board of Governors. But he was against restrictions in admission of boys to Aitchson College and had an idea of opening a public school at Patiala which would be open to all, irrespective of caste, creed or colour. However, this idea somehow could not be translated into reality.

Yadvindra Public School Patiala.

August 1946 came, the time which witnessed the most bestial bloodshed of the era. The parents of the boys from Patiala and His Highness' own contemporaries appealed to His Highness to give shape to his old idea of starting a public school in Patiala. The generous, bountiful and benign ruler of Patiala, who had always taken keen interest in the education of the youth of this country, promptly acceded to the request. On 11 October 1946 the late Rai Bahadur Dhani Ram Kapila, one of the old teachers of His Highness and the Headmaster of Aitchison College, was brought to Patiala from Ludhiana under military escort. On 12 October, a six-member committee was appointed to explore the possibilities of founding the public school in Patiala.

On 30 October 1946 the Maharaja of Patiala, members of the Committee and departmental heads visited the Stadium and Exhibition Grounds to select the site for the school and for a temporary building for the boarding house. The Yadavindra Stadium was made available for classrooms and Bhupindra Kothi for boarding house. On 2 February 1947 the school started functioning with a meagre strength of 21 students and 9 teachers, with Rai Bahadur Dhani Ram Kapila as the Principal. The school was an improvement on Aitchison College in that there was no social restriction on the admission of students. Anyone without any prejudice to race, belief or faith could join the school.

In 1950, the school attended the Indian Public School's Conference and was elected a member of the Conference. The same year Rai Bahadur Dhani Ram Kapila had a stroke of partial paralysis which eventually necessitated him to relinquish charge of the school. On 18 September 1950, Lt. Col. Frank Von Goldstein took over and shouldered the responsibility. From a small beginning, YPS continued to grow steadily and now had more boys on roll than officially had room for, with still more clamouring for admission.

In 1954, the school was made co-educational. With the number of students still increasing, more accommodation and playing fields were needed. The existing boarding house facilities were expanded and a third boarding house was opened in 1953. In 1957, His Highness the Maharaja of Patiala placed Lal Bagh at the school's disposal. For playing fields, the areas between the boarding houses and the stadium were levelled.

Management

Headmaster Mr. Stanley Vinod Kumar

Bursar Col. K.D. Dutta (Retd)

Deputy Headmistress Mrs. Nishi Bhatnagar

Dean Mr. Diljit Singh

Staff

The school has a team of about 100 teachers.The school conducts in-service training programmes on teaching methods and educational ideas to help the staff improve their skills. Faculty members of each department meet together frequently and discuss issues related to curriculum, progress of students and share innovative teaching methodology.

External links

• Official site(Patiala Branch)
• Official site (Mohali Branch)
• Old Yadavindrians Association - Official website (Mohali Branch)

• Official group site of Old Yadavindrians Association Mohali Branch