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The life of Jagdish Gandhi, the Founder of the City Montessori School, Lucknow (winner of the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education and Guinness World Record holder for being world’s largest city-school with over 31,000 students on roll) has been marked with a single-minded dedication to his self-chosen mission in life — (1) meaningful, value-based and quality education to children and (2) promotion of world unity and world peace as enshrined in the ancient Indian tradition of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The Earth is one big family)
Since his early school years, Mr Gandhi felt deeply attracted to the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. He had always dreamed about seeing Mahatma Gandhi in person and was devastated when he first heard the news of Mahatma's assassination on 30th January 1948. Young Jagdish then a student of class VI, was so heart broken that he decided to carry on Mahatma's mission and wrote an application to the Principal, requesting that his name be officially changed in school records from Jagdish Agarwal to Jagdish Gandhi. Since then he has been known by this adopted name.
Another person who left a deep impression on Mr Gandhi was Raja Mahendra Pratap, a great crusader of the World Federation, who inspired young Jagdish to serve whole humanity just as God, the creator looks after the entire humanity. While he was a student of class XI at Mathura, Jagdish received some copies of the monthly journal 'Sansar Sangh' (World Federation) personally from Raja Saheb. Mr Gandhi still attributes his commitment to world unity and world peace to the ideas first planted in his mind by the articles in Sansar Sangh. The third person to deeply influence the thinking of young Jagdish Gandhi was Saint Vinoba Bhave, disciple of Mahatma Gandhi and progenitor of the Sarvodaya (Service to humanity) movement. Later in life, Mr Gandhi personally met Saint Vinoba several times and was so inspired by him that he chose Vinoba's clarion call Jai Jagat (Glory be to the World) as the school motto for CMS.
Following the teaching of Mahatma Gandhi, Mr. Jagdish Gandhi also established a Samaj Sewa Dal (Social Service Group) in his school which undertook a city cleanliness drive when the Sweepers Union went on a month-long strike in Aligarh in January 1952. For ten days, three teams of totalling about 50 of his classmates inspired and led by him went round the city, cleaning the filth. The then district magistrate of Aligarh District awarded a cash prize of Rs 5,000/- to him which was utilized by him in building a room for the Social Service Centre in his school.
During his senior grade in school, Mr Gandhi launched a 'Be Good' campaign among students which evoked warm appreciation from all. He was also chosen for the 'Best Student's Medal' by the Principal. As a student, he sold newspapers and gave private tuitions so that he could continue his studies and attend Lucknow University, from where he graduated. As a university student, Mr Gandhi organised many conferences, seminars and debates with the objective of bringing about a change in the mindset and mental outlook of students. His helpful nature and cooperative spirit saw him get elected first as the Vice President of the University Students Union and as the President the following year in 1958. Even four decades later, old timers still recall that Mr Gandhi won the union elections without spending any money on publicity or the related paraphernalia, a rarity in those days. |
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As a committed social worker dedicated to serving humanity for life, Mr Gandhi, had made up his mind to stay unmarried forever as he thought he would not be able to find a suitable wife equally dedicated to his cause. However, when he saw his future wife Bharti at a religious gathering singing devotional songs, dressed in simple cotton dhoti, he recognised his soul mate. The young couple were married at a simple ceremony, graced by the then Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Mr. V. V. Giri, who later became the President of India. After the ceremony the bride and the groom publicly swore in front of the mammoth gathering, that had assembled for blessing their wedding, to dedicate their lives to serving the society by educating children to become world citizens and to continue striving for world unity and world peace. More than four decades later the couple continue to be true to their initial vow and have been serving the cause of education with undiminished zeal and unflagging enthusiasm.
In pursuance of this objective, Jagdish and Bharti Gandhi together established the City Montessori School (CMS) in 1959 in rented accommodation and with only five students on roll. The first words written on the slates of the first batch of five students were Jai Jagat and the phrase was formally adopted as the school greeting. Today, all CMS staff and students and their parents greet each other with the words "Jai Jagat" which also aptly bring out the school's unique approach to education, with a strong emphasis on peace education and imbibing globalism. The overwhelming support of the parental community has seen CMS grow into the world's largest city-school with over 31,000 pupils, as acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Over the last 48 years, hundreds of thousands of students have passed out from of the portals of CMS, reinforced with virtues and values of World Unity and World Peace, and equipped with a global perspective and international vision to successfully face the challenges of tomorrow.
Mr Gandhi firmly believes in the unity of God, unity of Religions and unity of mankind. These values are reflected in the activities, philosophy and achievements of CMS which emphasises character building through spiritual and moral education and which also exemplifies the following four building blocks in a child's development: Universal Values, Global Understanding, Excellence in All Things and Service to the World. The school strives to mould its students to be ideal world citizens committed to the credo "The Earth is but one country and mankind its citizens."
The success of the CMS model is reflected every year, in the annual board results of ICSE and ISC examinations in which almost cent percent CMS students secure high percentage of marks. Nearly 20 to 30 per cent CMS students are selected for the National Talent Search (NTS) Merit Scholarship every year while large number of CMS students are selected every year for Engineering, Medical, NDA and various other professional colleges and institutes in India and abroad. Also, CMS is the only school to have an Innovation Wing where about 25 experienced educationists constantly research, innovate, develop and adopt new teaching methods. They also study alternative methods and innovations in education in India and abroad.
In 1969, Mr Gandhi was elected Member of the State Legislative Assembly from Sikandra Rao Assembly Constituency of District Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. For several years Mr Gandhi used to convene All India Children's Conference annually to highlight the importance of children's issues and to infuse in them the spirit of brotherhood, community living, cooperation and universal values. Thousands of delegates from all over India used to converge in Lucknow for the mammoth conferences. In 1974 Mr Gandhi successfully organised an International Youth Conference on " World Peace Through Education" in London. It was during this conference that Mr Gandhi met some youth from the Baha'i community. After hearing their views he was greatly impressed and influenced by the Baha'i philosophy of the Oneness of God, Oneness of Religions and Oneness of mankind and so great was the impact on his mind that he accepted the Baha'i Faith, gave up politics forever and re-dedicated his life to education of the children as he realised that "Among the greatest of all the great services that can possibly be rendered by a man to Almighty God is the meaningful education of children, building their character and inculcating in their tender hearts the love of God."
Since then, every year CMS has been presenting specially prepared floats at the official Republic Day Parade in Lucknow. Every CMS floats is based on the theme of world unity and world peace. The floats are tools for public education and are used to stimulate public thinking and to motivate people to work for world peace and global understanding. Significantly, on 20 out of 25 occasions, the CMS tableau has won the coveted Governor's Trophy for the Best Float of the Parade.
Under Mr Gandhi’s inspiration, CMS has developed an extensive peace education programme aimed at building the defences of peace in the minds of children, because wars first begin in the minds of men. The tools used to attain this objective include daily prayer assembly, all religion prayers, World Peace Prayer Ceremony (WPPC), Peace Poles and the World Citizen’s Dress, a CMS novelty created to inculcate awareness about oneness of humankind and our common cultural roots.
As part of its efforts to expose children to ideas of World Unity and World Peace, CMS has been promoting participation of its students in international exchange programmes. Mr. Gandhi is also a life-member of the CISV and ISSE. Over the years, hundreds of CMS students have visited numerous foreign countries under the CISV and ISSE exchange programmes. Under the leadership of Mr. Jagdish Gandhi CMS organises more than a dozen international events every year. These include Quanta International, Robotics International, Astronomy International, MACFAIR International, International Students' Quality Control Circles (SQCC), COFAS International, CELESTA International, GEOFEST International, International Mathematics Olympiad, International Exspo (Sports), World Peace Festival and United Nations Day, SAARC Youth Festival, Commonwealth Youth Conference, Children's International Summer Village (CISV) Camp, International School-to-School Experience (ISSE) Exchanges.
Mr Gandhi realizes that global problems affect one and all in this world and their solutions cannot found within narrow nationalistic feelings. World problems need world solutions and hence CMS is striving for empowering International Court of Justice by strengthening the United Nations Organization to prevent wars, resolve international disputes peacefully and legally, counter terrorism, ensure nuclear disarmament, conserve and protect the environment and evolve Enforceable World Law for safeguarding the future of world’s two billion children and generations yet-to-be-born as envisaged in the Article 51 (c) of the constitution of India, that says, the state must foster respect for international law.
To achieve this objective, Mr Gandhi has been organizing annual International Conference of Chief Justices of the World since the year 2001 in which Chief Justices of Supreme Courts, eminent judges, Law Ministers, Foreign Ministers, Ambassadors participate and discuss the issues relating to empowering the International Court of Justice and how we can create a world governed by the rule of law. Every year the participation has gone up and these World Judiciary Summits and the 7th International Conference of Chief Justices of the World saw participation from over 200 foreign delegates from 85 countries.
The 8th International Conference of Chief Justices of the World (World Judiciary Summit 2007) will take place from 7th to 10th December 2007 at CMS, Lucknow, India and the 4th Global Symposium for civil society organizations on the theme ‘Towards a New World Civilization’ will be held parallel to the World Judiciary Summit on the same dates.
Many legends have grown and developed regarding Mr Gandhi's energy and dedication to his self-chosen mission. Ever since the establishment of CMS, Mr Gandhi has been working 18-20 hours a day, and his office, which works round-the-clock, has never closed for holidays even for a single day for over more than forty eight years! |
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| Awards and Honours |
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1. UNESCO Prize for Peace Education-2002: The Government of India had nominated CMS as its official nominee for the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education-2002 on account of the extensive and highly successful peace education programme of the School. It is heartening to mention UNESCO, an organ of the UNO has, on the recommendation of the prize’s international jury, announced the ‘UNESCO Prize for Peace Education-2002’ for City Montessori School, Lucknow. The award also carries a cash prize of $30,000. |
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2. Key to the city of Georgetown (Kentucky) USA: Mayor Mr. Everette Varney presented the Key of Georgetown, Kentucky to Mr. Jagdish Gandhi at the Fifth International Convention of Student’s Quality Control Circles (ICSQCC-2002) in USA for Mr. Gandhi’s pioneering effort in introducing the concept of Student’s Quality Control Circles in education.
3. The Derozio Award: When India's premier Board for Public Education, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination, New Delhi, decided to commence a national award of Rs. 1,00,000/- (One lakh Rupees) in memory of the great Indian visionary, educationist and poet, Henry Vivian Derozio, Mr Jagdish Gandhi was the unanimous choice of the Jury as the first recipient of the honour. The award was handed to Mr Gandhi by Mr Abdul Halim, Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, at a special function held at St Xavier's College, Calcutta. The citation noted that the award was being given to Mr Gandhi for his "Outstanding Contribution to Education and Human Enrichment". The highly eminent jury for the award consisted of national figures like General Shankar Roychowdhury, former Chief of Army Staff, Dr. (Ms) Kiran Bedi, Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) and India's first woman police officer and Magsaysay prize winner, Prof. S. Gopal, Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University, Fr. A. Hess SJ, XLRI, Jamshedpur, Mr Neil O' Brien, Member, Parliament of India and Chairman of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations and Mr Francis Fanthome, Chief Executive and Secretary of the same Council.
4. U. P. Governor's Award: H.E the Governor of Uttar Pradesh felicitated Jagdish Gandhi on behalf of Lucknow Award Committee for his vast contribution in the field of unity and peace.
5. Rotary Club of Lucknow: Mr Gandhi has been honoured by the Rotary Club of Lucknow for his enormous contribution to furthering the cause of meaningful education of children in Lucknow.
6. Waaris Ali Shah Award for Communal Harmony: This prestigious award instituted by the Fankar Society for Communal Harmony was conferred on Mr. Gandhi by the then Governor of Uttar Pradesh, H.E. Shri Motilal Vora.
7. U. P. Ratan Award: The award was given for 'excellent services in the field of Quality Education and in furtherance of the cause of Humanism, and Peace', by the All Indian Conference of Intellectuals (U.P Chapter) at the hands of Mr. G. V. G. Krishnamurthy, former Chief Election Commissioner of India.
8. Friend of Young Physicists Award: The Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland presented 'Friend of Young Physicists' award to Mr Gandhi for his contribution in promoting interest in physics education among students of High School and Intermediate classes (grades 10 and 12). |
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- ‘As a Light House of Society’ by Changemakers Innovation Award 2005 for being an exemplary and role model school in the world
- ‘A True Visionary in the Field of Education’ by Mayor Everrete Varney while awarding the Key to the City of Georgetown (USA) on behalf of its citizens to Mr Jagdish Gandhi, Founder-Manager of CMS
- ‘Unique way for education and human Enrichment’ by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (ICSE Board) while prenting the first Derozio Award
- ‘Visionary New World Order Campaign’ as a special recognition while honoured with Nuclear–Free Future Award for its mission on behalf of world’s children to make the future nuclear-free
- ‘Pioneer on Quality Education ’ by H.E. Cassam Uteem, President of Mauritius while awarding Quality Pioneer Award at Port Luis, Mauritius
- ‘Global Friend of World’s Children’ title by the World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child by Children’s World, Sweden
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