In schools, it is the responsibility of teachers to dish out experiences the child can live, remember and anchor himself with. And today, the education sector faces the prominent challenge of inculcating experiences that’ll shape the young. The sum of a person’s experience is pre-eminently dominated by their adolescent years, and therefore schools acquire more significance than anything else ever will.
Intelligence, core competencies, natural flair and inclination, when tapped at the right time, can be engineered, accentuated, sharpened and strengthened by experiences. The dynamics of modern life have rendered plain academic pursuit redundant; it can’t quantify it when it comes to real-life situations. A child is capable of surprising anybody and everybody.
The crowded classrooms can make the children suffer from an early age. Therefore, along with designing a better curriculum, it is equally important to foster a positive environment where children can feel safer. A few schools stand out amidst the clamour of education with their genuine efforts and noble approaches.
Mayoor School, Ajmer, was founded with the same noble approach on the 9th of July, 1980, under the auspices of the Mayo College General Council. The school, which started with one hundred and eighty-six boys and girls and a teaching staff comprising seven members, has flourished by leaps and bounds over the forty and more years of its existence.
The number of students has grown to Two Thousand two hundred and Fifty plus, and the teaching community now comprises a Hundred and Ten plus members. Mayoor School, Ajmer, has developed into one of the finest examples of a progressive and comprehensive educational institution to be found anywhere within the shores of the country and beyond.
Nurturing Balanced Individuals
The school upholds the vision statement- ‘To be a progressive school where each child grows into a balanced individual, rooted in the Indian culture, with a global outlook.’
With a mission to design and maintain a safe and functional physical environment that is conducive to the fulfilment of its educational objectives, the school strives to create and nurture a climate that fosters and promotes emotional health and spiritual well-being, marked by love and mutual understanding.
Mayoor School endeavours to transact the most effective curriculum, incorporating the best educational practices from around the world; working on this line, Mayoor has been a registered Cambridge International School (IN920) since 2013 and has successfully ceded out five batches of AS/A Level students with a global mindset. Many of its students have secured excellent scholarships and are studying at various prestigious Universities all around the world.
Beyond the Textbooks
From cutting-edge technology to sporting equipment, Swimming Pool, lush green Waddington Grounds, Basketball Court, Shooting Range, Climbing Wall, State-of the-art Labs with all the safety measures, well stocked Physical and Digital Library, all are well thought of and in place when it comes to the infrastructure of the school.
Mayoor School provides experiential learning to all its students. Robotics and STEM labs are places where the students move beyond just the textbook examples and are given the liberty to redesign and restructure. The students’ inquisitiveness to explore beyond the known and established has helped them achieve accolades at the state and national level exhibitions and competitions.
The students at Mayoor are always encouraged to explore their potential in the world of art. May it be theatre and drama or fine arts with its various mediums or musicMayoorites are given opportunities to recognise and hone their skills with trained mentors in each of the aforesaid fields.
International Linkages
The school also has exchange programmes that embody one of the priority aims of internationalism at Mayoor- ‘To Foster Learning in Partnership.’With the essential cooperation of its international linkages in the United Kingdom and Germany, these exchange programmes have become a regular feature of Life at Mayoor.
With the first Student Exchange Visit between FEG, Stuttgart, Germany and Mayoor School, Ajmer, in 2019, where a group of 18 students and two teachers visited the school, the Exchange Programme has become a yearly feature. It is looked forward to by students and parents alike as the exchange students stay with the host families.
Student-led and student-centred 39 clubs are in place where learning with stimulating activities takes place. Students, under the guidance of a faculty member, run these clubs and organise activities related to their field of interests. Clubs like the MUN Club give them insight into world problems and sensitise them to global challenges and international social and diplomatic relations.
Global Citizen Club works further on the same line and gives the club members a chance to step out of the school boundaries and support and work for the underprivileged, aged and children with special needs.
Fostering the Environment of Independent Learning
Students of all ages are given the opportunity to strengthen their bond with nature and understand and appreciate the interdependence through the various expeditions and tours to various parts of the country. School staff and trained travel and adventure sports experts plan and execute such age-appropriate trips to suitable places.
The creative tension that is ignited by all the activities in and out of the school boundaries sets a stage where the child understands the role of independent learning and the interdependence of the teacher-taught, and this brings out the effervescence of a well-rounded personality of a Mayoorite.
Fighting the Limitations of your Being
Mr Sanjay Khati, Principal of Mayoor School, Ajmer, joined the institution on the 1st of April, 2022. He is the Former Head of the Department of English and Director of Cultural Activities at Mayo College, Ajmer. With more than 25 years of experience of teaching English, Debating and Dramatics in India and abroad, he has also established exchanges with more than ten schools overseas, including the prestigious Eton College, Windsor.
He is a certified Debating Coach from the Worlds Schools Debate Academy, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.
He has written for The Times of India, is the Series Editor of Pearson’s ELT Series and trains for the Trinity College London Examination in Speech and Drama.
He has conceptualised, designed and directed over 40 full-length productions wherein he has flirted with ‘Rhymed Iambic Pentameter’, experimented with ‘Ensemble Acting’ and adapted ‘Commedia dell’arte Classics’ into ‘Verse Plays’; He has also transcribed Old Time Radio Plays into stage-worthy productions.
Richard Bach in ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ says, “How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there’s a reason to live! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance; we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence, and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly! It is not easy to achieve, for we have to create unique experiences which have never been tried, leave alone tested. Do we have the heart to do it?” The principal’s vision is to empower children to create such an experience which empowers the children to fight the limitation of their being and not be overwhelmed by numbers, the number is, but a limit, and perfection doesn’t have any.
