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The Doon School

Coordinates: 30°20′0.23″N 78°1′49.73″E / 30.3333972°N 78.0304806°E / 30.3333972; 78.0304806
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The Doon School
File:Doon Main Building.jpg
Location
Map
The Mall
Dehradun
248001
India
India
(Map)
Information
School typeIndependent School
Boarding School
HMC
G20
MottoKnowledge our Light
Religious affiliation(s)Secular
FoundedSeptember 10, 1935
FounderSatish Ranjan Das
Sister schoolWelham Girls School
School districtDehradun District
Chairman of GovernorsAnaljit Singh
HeadmasterPeter McLaughlin
Founder PrincipalArthur E. Foot
Faculty67
GenderBoys
Age13 to 18
Number of pupils480
Campus69 acres (280,000 m²)
Houses5
Colour(s)Blue and White

 

 
Publication
  • The Doon School Weekly
  • The Circle
  • Echo
AffiliationIB
ICSE
Former pupilsDoscos
Telephone91-135-2526400
Websitewww.doonschool.com

The Doon School is an independent boarding school located in Dehradun in the state of Uttarakhand in India. Established in 1935, it was founded by Satish Ranjan Das. Its first headmaster was Arthur E. Foot, a former science master at Eton College.

The school has 480 students, graduating classes number about 80, and the total number of alumni who have graduated, since the school was founded, is estimated at 5,000.

There are 67 teachers, of which 15 are women, with a teacher:student ratio of 1:8. The school offers 120 scholarships, including partial and full financial support, and approximately 25% of the students benefit from financial aid. Doon is a boys-only school; the only girls who have studied there have been the daughters of schoolmasters. Since 2008 the school has begun to teach the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme following the trend set by other public schools.

The goal of the school is to provide young Indians with a liberal education, and to instill in them a respect for the ideals of secularism, discipline and equality.

History

File:Doon School Logo.jpg
Lamp of Knowledge is the official Doon School logo

Doon was founded by Satish Ranjan Das, an eminent lawyer from Calcutta[1][2] who in 1927 became a member of Lord Irwin's Executive Council on the condition that he would use the prestige of this position to raise funds for a new type of school in India. He traveled widely in India with a goal of collecting Rupees 40 lakhs, but at the time of his death had raised only Rs. 10 lakhs in cash, and another Rs. 10 lakhs in promises. With the money, Das formed the Indian Public Schools Society (which "owns" the school in a technical sense although the school operates independently)[clarification needed] with the object of founding new public schools in India that would admit students without regard to caste, creed or social status.

Following Das's death in 1928, the IPSS did not accomplish very much and by 1934 some of the original donors to the project had started to inquire about the return of their money. At this point, Sir Joseph Bhore, then Railway Minister of Lord Willingdon's Council, became Chairman of the IPSS and, with Sir Akbar Hydari as secretary, worked to obtain from the former estate of the Forest Research Institute in Dehra Dun on favorable terms. Lord Halifax, then president of the Board of Education, lead a selection committee that picked Arthur E. Foot, a science master at Eton College, to be the first headmaster.

The houses at the new School were originally named for their respective housemasters, but later renamed to honor the largest donors to the Indian Public School Society:

  • Hyderabad House, after Sir Akbar Hydari secured a contribution of Rs. 2 lakhs from the Nizam of Hyderabad's Government.
  • Kashmir House, after Maharajah Hari Singh promised a contribution of Rs. 1 lakh which was delivered in 1935.
  • Tata House, after the Tata and Wadia Trusts promised Rs. 1.5 lakhs, of which half was delivered in 1935.
  • Jaipur House, after Rai Bahadur Amarnath Atal arranged for contributions of Rs. 1 lakh from the Jaipur Durbar and smaller contributions from the tributary Thikanas.

(No building was named after Rai Bahadur Rameshwar Nathany whose donation of Rs. 1 lakh was initially made anonymously.)

On October 27, 1935, the Viceroy, Lord Willingdon, came to preside over the formal opening of the school. There were 70 boys enrolled in the first term, and another 110 boys had signed up for the second term.

Ethos

File:Arthur E. Foot.jpg
Arthur E. Foot, a former Science master at Eton College, was the first Headmaster of The Doon School
The Main Building of the school.

Arthur Foot had never visited India before accepting the position, and knew little of Dehradun beyond what he found after consulting an atlas: he noted that it appeared to be surrounded by forests and close to mountains, and the possibilities of outdoor recreation and mountaineering appeared to have influenced his decision as much as the chance to create a completely new type of school in India.[3]

Foot's first action upon being offered the position was to recruit John (J.A.K.) Martyn from Harrow as his deputy. Doon's ethos and guiding principles were determined early in its life by Foot, Martyn, RL Holdsworth and Jack Gibson (who went on to become Principal of Mayo College). While these masters all came from very traditional British schools, they were determined to create a uniquely Indian public school rather than a transplanted British institution, and they were soon joined in their efforts by equally influential Indians such as Sudhir Khastigir (the school's first art teacher, who had trained previously at Santiniketan) and Gurudial Singh (a pioneering mountaineer, who taught at Doon for several decades and acquired a reverential following among generations of alumni).

In an essay entitled The Objects of Education published in the school magazine, Foot outlined the basic template for a Doon education:

A complete education should teach a child:
1. to be able to distinguish between good and evil;
2. to form the habit of choosing good rather than evil;
3. to have his brain trained to think logically;
4. to have a reasonably wide general knowledge of important facts about the world in which we live;
5. to be able to express himself clearly in speech or in writing in the language or languages of the people with whom he will work;
6. to have a body that is healthy, strong and vigorous, and to know how to look after it;
7. to have developed a sensitiveness to beauty and taste and feeling that will strive to eradicate ugliness from his surroundings.[3]

In other essays, Foot marked the milestones in the development of each student:

By 14 he should have learnt all the ordinary principles of social behavior. He should know how to stand up and speak to a variety of different types of people -- to his own mother, to someone else's mother, to his father, to his schoolmasters, to servants, to Mahatma Gandhi or to the Viceroy, and to do this without any self-consciousness... At fourteen a boy should have constructed a framework of competence in language, in mathematical ability, and in social behavior. After that age he is, as it were, filling in a design to the framework. In short he learning to exercise taste... At 16, he acquired taste, a sense of the beautiful and the ugly, of the strong and the weak, of good and evil... At 17 must come another quality, less instinctive and requiring a maturer mind: he must acquire a capacity for judgement.[3]

In a letter to parents, written in 1940 in the context of World War II, Jack Gibson wrote:

There are still too many boys blind to what they could see and deaf to what they could hear. They leave their minds blank, to be filled by the unbeautiful and untruthful, by unscrupulous propaganda, by debased public taste, by flattery and by appeals to fears and prejudices, to which a person without a mind of his own turns for second-hand and usually second-class opinions... When they leave school, they will join the ranks of those whose opinions are made for them by dictators, party leaders, or the writers of advertisements for patent medicines: it will depend upon what rut they get into... In these anxious times, it is more than ever important that each boy must train himself to think clearly so that he will be willing to come to conclusions that may be different from what he has expected and may point to something different from what we were brought up to believe to be the accepted order. He must train his body to undergo hardships and be prepared for unexpected discomforts, and above all he must awaken and sharpen his sympathies for and understanding of people outside his own class and circle.[3]

Martyn, who became Doon's second Headmaster and had a continuing involvement with Doon over several decades, acknowledged the influence of Kurt Hahn in the development of Doon's ethos:

I do not think I would ever have come to India if it had not been for that very remarkable German Jew, Kurt Hahn... When I first knew him I was teaching history at Harrow and he was head of Salem, a school he had established on the shores of Lake Constance, based on the ideas of Plato and the principles of British public schools... I longed to put his ideas into practice but at conservative Harrow I had no opportunity to do so. When I read in The Times that A.E. Foot of Eton had been appointed headmaster of a new public school to be opened for Indian boys at Dehra Dun, I offered to come with him and my offer was accepted... I had no previous interest in India; what interested me was the chance of starting a public school in a new environment... It was Arthur Foot who did the main planning, but luckily his ideas ran parallel to my own. I would not have been as bold as he was in trying to eliminate punishments, but we were equally keen on providing as wide a range as possible of activities that were creative and challenging... The problem, as we saw it, was to create an atmosphere in which boys would learn the importance of public spirit at the same time as they acquired self-confidence and initiative.[4]

Campus

Lawns in front of Main Building

The school consists of a single campus, covering approximately 70 acres (280,000 m2) in the city of Dehradun in the state of Uttarakhand in India.

To house the School, the Indian Public Schools Society acquired Chandbagh Estate in Dehradun from the Forest Research Institute. Part of the estate, where the Central Dining Hall is now located, was once a deer park. The IPSS also acquired an adjoining estate from the descendants of James Skinner, which forms the part of the campus known as Skinner's Field. At the time of acquisition, Skinner's was an overgrown and somewhat neglected estate, and its most prominent features were two sheds formerly used for housing elephants.

The new Art and Media School, located at the site of the old Music School and inaugurated in October 2010 by Kapil Sibal, was nominated for an international design award.[5] The school’s South Garden has been mentioned in Inside Outside Magazine’s Annual Awards for its green principles and GRIHA standards of environmental compatibility.

Nature

The Chandbagh estate is located in the greenest part of Dehradun[6] and a wide variety of flora and fauna may be found on the estate. These include many rare trees that date back to the estate's original use by the Forest Research Institute, while the immaculately-maintained formal gardens have long attracted a wide variety of birds.[7] (The ornithologist Salim Ali was a frequent visitor and speaker at Doon for several decades.[8])

Life at Doon

Pupils

File:Nehru in Kashmir House, The Doon School.jpg
Jawaharlal Nehru with the boys of the school

Pupils are known as Doscos; the term is a contraction of "Doon" and "School". (Alumni are often referred to in the press as "Doscos", although within Doon itself alumni are referred to as ex-Doscos, or simply as Old Boys.)

The vast majority of alumni are Indians, but a dwindling number are from Pakistan: they studied at Doon before Partition forced them to leave in 1947. Relations between Indian and Pakistani Doscos have remained warm over the years, despite the long history of conflict between the two countries. Boys from Bangladesh and Nepal continue to study at Doon.

Doon remains a boys-only school despite continued pressure to become coeducational.[9] A small number of girls, all daughters of schoolmasters, have studied at Doon over the years.

Terms

The academic year has always consisted of two terms: the Spring Terms and the Autumn Term. In the early decades, the academic year followed the calendar year; this changed in the late 1970s so that the Spring Term now runs from February through the end of May. New pupils ("D-Formers") join Doon at the beginning of April.

The Autumn Term runs from August through November, with year-end examinations in November after which the boys are promoted to the new class beginning February. Traditionally, year-end examinations were known as Trials, with the examinations that granted various certificates such as the Indian School Certificate known as Finals.

Houses

File:Kashmir House, Doon School.jpg
Kashmir House with its Quad
File:Tata House in Doon.jpg
Tata House at night
File:Jaipur House in Doon.jpg
Jaipur House on a misty morning
Oberoi House behind the Skinner's Field

Doon follows the House System, with five administrative units, or dorm-like houses, named, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kashmir, Tata, and Oberoi. In addition, there are two "Holding Houses", Foot and Martyn, named after former Headmasters, where "D-Formers" live for one year before they move into the main houses.

Each house is run by a Housemaster, who is also an active member of the teaching staff. Housemasters are assisted by a senior boy known as the House Captain. One senior boy serves as School Captain and is assisted by School Prefects from each of the houses. Boys are assigned to Houses at the time of admission, and develop great loyalty to their Houses since all intramural sports involve fierce competition between Houses. Boys with even the most distant family connections to a particular House are invariably assigned to that House in order to further promote loyalty to the House. For some alumni, inter-House rivalry continues well into middle-age.

For many decades, Housemasters were always men but now there are Housemistresses as well. Housemaster and Housemistresses are assisted by a matron known as "The Dame" of the House in providing important pastoral care for pupils, some of whom take several terms to fully adjust to life in a boarding school, particularly given Doon's monastic lifestyle and strict regimen for daily life. Housemasters and Housemistresses live in homes that are adjacent or physically attached to their Houses so that they can remain close at hand for both supervision and support.

(For a couple of decades, beginning in 1970, each of the main Houses was divided into two smaller Houses, named "A" and B", so that Kashmir House, for example, became Kashmir-A and Kashmir-B. This was done to increase the level of pastoral care. The Houses were subsequently merged back together so that the "A" and "B" distinctions are no longer used.)

Each House also has a set of House Tutors who supervise Toye during the week, take the younger boys on mid-term hiking trips, and also tutor members of the house.

Each main House accommodates 80-90 boys, and the holding Houses are home to 40-45 newly-admitted boys.

Daily life

Individual class periods are referred to as Schools. The school day begins with First Bell soon after 6:15AM. The boys get chhota haazri before doing calisthenics outdoors on the playing fields.[10] There are two schools before breakfast, followed by five schools before lunch. All meals are served in a Central Dining Hall and boys from each table take turns acting as waiters for their table-mates.

The afternoon includes a rest period as well as time devoted to various extra-circular activities. In the later afternoon there are compulsory sports before dinner.

Dinner is followed by Toye time when the students do homework and study on their own. Lights Out is at 9PM and breaking bounds to sneak into town late at night remains a tradition.

While the grounds are beautiful, with gardens and rare trees, life for boys is monastic: they sleep on narrow beds and study in unheated rooms; the floors are rough stone and the lights are fluorescent tubes.[11]

Discipline has always been strict, and the school has expelled chidren from well-known families. In the 1950s Headmaster J.A.K. Martyn's suggestion that Sanjay Gandhi finish his senior year elsewhere was unquestioningly accepted by his mother, Indira Gandhi. In contrast, Doon's decision to expel a ward of Chief Minister Nityanand Swami of Uttarkhand in 2001 resulted in threats to cut off power and water[12] (nothing came of these threats after Mr. Swami discovered that Doon had stronger political connections than he did).

Sports

A cricket game in progress
Marching marks the end of athletics season in Doon every year

Doon hosts the annual Afzal Khan Memorial Basketball Tournament which is the biggest inter-school basketball tournament in the country,[13][14] The tournament has since achieved international repute and is now popular among South-Asian countries.[15] The school has over 30 acres (120,000 m2) of playing fields. The two biggest playing fields are known as Skinner's and the Main Field. Sports are a compulsory part of school life: cricket, hockey, athletics, boxing and football are seasonal sports. Tennis, table tennis, badminton, squash, basketball, swimming and gymnastics tournaments are also available.

During the Terms, various Inter-house matches are played in Cricket, Hockey and Football.

Facilities

Sports facilities include:

Overseas tours

The school also goes on overseas tours. Recent tours have included:

A number of alumni have become national champions in squash. (See main article.)

Clubs and societies

The Doon School Weekly is the school newspaper and was established in 1936

Extracurricular activities are also a compulsory element of school life, and there are around 23 clubs and societies including debating and chess, and magazines are published in English and Hindi. In many societies pupils come together to discuss a particular topic, presided over by a schoolmaster and often including a guest speaker. Some societies are dedicated solely to music, some to politics, some to drama, and so on. The school has often invited prominent figures to give speeches and talks to the students; these have included heads of state and politicians; ornithologists and naturalists; artists and writers; economists and diplomats; and industrialists.

The Doon School Weekly is the official school newspaper and is distributed every Saturday morning. It chronicles school activities and is a platform for creative and political writing. It was founded in 1936 and is edited by boys at the school. Although liable to censorship, incidents of satire and criticism of school policies have surfaced in the past. More subversive publications have been produced in the past, without official sponsorship, that were far more critical of teachers and the school establishment.

Other school magazines include The Yearbook, The Doon School Information Review; publications by academic departments include Echo (Science), The Econocrat (Economics), Infinity (Mathematics) and The Circle (Political Science).

There are societies for Photography, Aeromodelling, First-Aid, Dramatics, Painting, Sculpture, Music, Carpentry, HAM Radio, Trinity Guildhall Music Examinations, Senior and Junior English Debating Societies, Model United Nations[16], Chess[17], Paper Recycling, Quiz, Maths Colloquium and Astronomy.

Social work

Social work, known formally as Socially Useful Productive Work, is also part of school life, based upon Foot's precept that "the boys should leave Doon School as members of an aristocracy, but it must be an aristocracy of service inspired by ideas of unselfishness, not one of privilege, wealth or position."[3] All boys of the school must complete a mandatory quota of social service hours every term.

Both pupils and alumni have frequently organized efforts, across India, to assist people affected by the earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides and floods. During the 1991 Uttarkashi earthquake, for example, when all communication lines were down, the school’s HAM radio club joined hands with the state administration and aid-providers to set up channels of communication with the base station.[18][19] Following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the Doon School Old Boys Society organized an extensive relief effort to deliver relief supplies in southern India.[20]

Doon runs a Panchayat Ghar where Doscos teach underprivileged children. Doon has, over the years, adopted villages and worked with the villagers in the construction of houses, community centres and school buildings; sanitation systems; energy efficiency systems; self-employment and small scale irrigation systems. Apart from village development, the school is actively involved with the Raphael Ryder Cheshire International Centre and the Cheshire Home.[21]

Doon is a regional leader of the Round Square group of schools and regularly participates and hosts international service projects. The Duke of Edinburgh's Award programme, which is run by the School, provides additional incentive for pupils to undertake service projects.[22]

Midterms and mountaineering

Mt. Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar Expedition 2008

Halfway through each term, the boys take a one-week Midterm: a rugged trip often through the Siwalik Hills or Himalayas which senior boys take unaccompanied and which they plan themselves. This includes camping out in tents, cooking their own food and hiking. Alumni have credited these Midterms as being among their most formative and character-building experiences while at school since they require a great deal of self-determination, planning, effort and endurance, particularly for boys who go on five-day treks in the Himalayas unaccompanied by any teachers.[23][6]

Doon has been credited with pioneering mountaineering in India,[24] thanks to the considerable talents and efforts of masters such as RL Holdsworth, Jack Gibson and Gurudial Singh, and alumni such as Nandu Jayal.[25] Notable climbs by Doscos include Bandarpunch in 1950, Kala Nag (6,387 meters) in 1956, Trisul in 1951, Kamet in 1955, Abi Gamin in 1953 and 1955, Mrigthuni (6,855 meters) in 1958, Jaonli (6,632 meters) in 1964,Mt.Everest Base Camp in 2008, Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2009, and both Gran Paradiso and Mont Blanc in 2010.

Expeditions by Doscos have had their own idiosyncrasies: after Gurudial Singh lead a successful climb of Trisul, he performed a headstand asana on the summit as a tribute to the Hindu god Shiva who is said to abide within Trisul; Holdsworth has been described as holding the high-altitude record for smoking a pipe, which he did on the summit of Kamet after the first ascent in 1931; and, as a lark, two Doscos climbed Mont Blanc in 1951 wearing cricket boots.[26]

Theatre and music

Waiting for Godot being staged in The Rose Bowl (Rosy)
Theatre

An amphitheatre known as The Rose Bowl (and, today, nicknamed "Rosy") was built largely by pupils in the 1930s. The Rose Bowl can seat up to 1,000 people and has been the setting for numerous Shakespearean plays, other classics of Western theatre as well as musical performances and speeches during important school ceremonies such as Founder's Day. The Multi-Purpose Hall is a more modern indoor theatre that can accommodate approximately 2,000 people.

Plays are staged in English and Hindi on a regular basis with 8-9 productions each year, including 2 major productions that are part of the Founder's Day celebrations. The Junior Dramatic Society stages one or two plays a year.

Every year all Houses participate in the Inter House One-Act Play Competition which is directed, produced and staged by boys of respective Houses. The Founder's School Plays, staged in the Autumn Term, are the most prominent events, and usually benefit from a larger cast and budget. The stage design, sound design, stage lighting, and much of the set construction are the responsibility of the pupils. The Founder's Day plays are sometimes staged in other schools of the country. Plays which have toured the country include Macbeth, The History Boys and The Sunshine Boys.

In 2009, the Rose Bowl underwent a major structural change while retaining its amphitheatre style.

File:The Music School in Doon.jpg
The exterior of the Music School
Music

In 2005, a new Music School (pictured) was build beside the Rose Bowl. It houses multiple practice and teaching rooms, a Music library and a Concert hall. In 2011, the school invested in the Music Department with a substantial number of new instruments both western and Indian with new Yamaha pianos and guitars. The Music School also has a Schiller Grand Piano. Instruments taught at the Music School include Piano, Violin, Classical Guitar, Drums, Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Tabla, Santoor, Sitar, Mridangam, and Synthesizer. Other Percussion, Wind and String instruments such as Tambourine, Caxixi, Triangle, Xylophone etc. are available for practice by the pupils.

Ms. Priya Chaturvedi is the current Director of Music. The school participates in many national competitions; many pupils take the Trinity Guildhall Music Examinations in piano, violin, electronic keyboard, classical guitar and drums.

The School Choir practices daily after lunch in the Music School; sometimes, this is followed by a cappella rehearsals. Pupils are also responsible for the sound design, set design and stage management for all music productions and competitions.

Awards

The school awards include School Colours, House Colours, and various Sports Colours. The Games Blazer and the Scholar's Blazer are awarded to students who excel at sports and academics, respectively, and are much harder to achieve than the other Colours.

The school originally had no valedictorian or commencement ceremony and boys would leave as soon as they had completed their board exams. In March 2011, an annual ceremony was established to celebrate the graduating class's departure from the School.

School Songs

File:Amphitheatre - The Rose Bowl - at Doon School.JPG
The Rose Bowl - Venue for school plays, functions and morning assembly.

Morning Assembly requires attendance by all pupils and schoolmasters, and traditionally begins with a song from the school's Song Book:

Although Jana Gana Mana is India's National anthem, it is traditionally referred to as "Song No. 1" at Doon since it was adopted as the School Song in 1935,[27] fifteen years before it was adopted as India's National Anthem. The school songs were deliberately chosen to include both Urdu poetry and Hindu bhajans as a way of emphasizing Doon's secular ethos; similarly, the school prayers include a mix of Anglican hymns and Indian poetry.

Founder's Day

Doon's best-known celebration takes place on Founder's Day, a 3–4 days celebration of the founding of the school in 1935. It is held in the Autumn Term, usually in the last week of October.

Many ex-Doscos come from all parts of the world to celebrate the event. Security on campus is tight since alumni attending the event frequently include senior politicians and government officials, and the Chief Guest is usually someone of considerable prominence in public life.[28] The major English Drama Productions are held as part of the event which is followed by a Orchestral Music Production organized by members of the School Music Society.

DS-75 celebrations

File:Doon 75th Founder's Day Logo.jpg
DS-75 Logo

Doon celebrated its 75th Founder's Day (Platinum Jubilee) in October 2010; the event was christened as DS-75 ("Doon School 75"). The celebrations were widely reported to be of an unprecedented scale.[29][30][31] The Chief Guests included Pratibha Patil (President of India), Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (King of Bhutan) and Kapil Sibal (Union Minister for Human Resource Development).

The much-anticipated[32] Chandbagh Debates on the topic Can India Lead? were moderated by Karan Thapar, and included fellow Doscos Vikram Seth, Kanti Bajpai, Kamal Nath, Manpreet Singh Badal and Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia. The discussion was frank, with a sardonic reference by Mr. Thapar to corruption charges that had been leveled against one of the panelists.[33]

Ashvin Kumar made a film for the event entitled Dazed in Doon using pupils for the cast and crew. Most of the film was shot in June–July during the Summer Break, and the scenes which required the entire student body were filmed after the school re-opened in August.[34]

Shayan Italia, another ex-Dosco, composed the song Doscos Forever, Brothers for Life to mark the event and gave a live performance of the song.[35]

Headmasters

Period Details
1935 – 1948 Arthur E. Foot
1948 – 1966 J.A.K. Martyn
1966 – 1970 C.J. Miller
1971 – 1979 Eric J. Simeon
1979 – 1988 Gulab Ramchandani
1988 – 1996 S.R. Das
1996 – 2003 John A. Mason
2003 – 2009 Kanti Bajpai
2009 – Present Peter McLaughlin

Doon and other schools

Welham Boys School, from its foundation in 1937 through the early 1980s, acted a preparatory school (i.e. feeder school) to Doon and Mayo College. This link ended when Surendra "Charlie" Kandhari, a Dosco and former Housemaster at Doon, became Principal of Welham and transformed it to a high school. As a result, many Doscos from the 1940s through the 1970s are also Welhamites.

Doon has long had a familial relationship with Welham Girls School: several families who chose to send their boys to Doon also chose to send their daughters to Welhams, and many Doscos over the years have married alumni of Welham Girls. An annual "dance social" with Welham Girls was the highlight of the senior year for many Doscos, and alumni events are sometimes coordinated by the alumni of both schools.

In 1998 the Chand Bagh School was established by Pakistani Doscos approximately 40 km north of Lahore, Pakistan, and modeled on the general structure of Doon.

Exchange programs

Doon has exchange programs with a number of overseas schools; at present, a small number of Doscos are attending Eton College, Harrow School, Millfield, Schule Schloss Salem, The Armidale School, Bridge House School, Deerfield Academy, King's Academy, Stowe School and St. Mark's School (Texas).[36]

Doon is current hosting students from Ballarat Grammar School, Brunswick School, Groton School, St Edward's School, Oxford, St. Mark's School (Texas) and Stowe School.

Associations

File:HMC logo.jpg
HMC

The school is a member of the G20 Schools, the Round Square, the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, and the International Boys’ Schools Coalition. The BBC's World Olympic Dreams School Search twinned Doon with The Thomas Hardye School in Jan 2011.

Schools with similar names

As India's private schooling industry expanded, several schools were established that appear to have been named in a deliberately confusing manner: there is the Doon Global School, Doon Presidency School, Doon International School, Doon Preparatory School, Doon Cambridge School, Doon Girls School, Doon Public School (which is not even located in the Doon Valley), and even a Doon College of Spoken English, none of which are related to The Doon School.[12] Some schools have even adopted Doon's idiosyncrasies at face value: for example, the Delhi Public School offers "Marker Cups" to those who get the highest "marks" in examinations; Doon's Marker Cups, which also are awarded to those who score the highest in particular subjects, were named for the Marker family of Pakistan who donated the Cups.

Public image

Doon in films
  • In the movie Aisha, the character named Randhir Ghambir is a Dosco.[37]
  • More controversially, the film Dazed in Doon, which was commissioned by the School on the occasion of its 75th anniversary, and produced by an ex-Dosco Ashvin Kumar, was banned because it "doesn't give the school a good name".[38][39] The dispute remains unresolved between the school and Mr. Kumar.[40][41][42] See main article: Ashvin Kumar.
Doon in fiction
  • In Salman Rushdie's anthology of short stories East, West, the characters Zulu and Chekhov are Doscos.
  • In Kiran Doshi's Birds of Passage the central character Abhay is a Dosco.
  • Vikram Seth used his own experiences of being bullied at Doon, to model the character of Tapan in A Suitable Boy.
  • The title character in Aminuddin Khan's A Right Royal Bastard is a Dosco.
Doon in research

Notable alumni

Main article: List of Doon School alumni
File:Rajiv Gandhi.jpeg
Rajiv Gandhi Former Prime Minister of India (Class of 1960)

Doscos have achieved prominence in politics, government service[43], and the armed forces of India and Pakistan, as well as commerce, journalism, the arts and literature.[44] They include former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, nine Cabinet Ministers, two Chief Ministers, several members of the Indian Parliament and state Legislative Assemblies[45]; a Naxalite; nineteen generals, two admirals and the former heads of the Indian Air Force and the Pakistani Air Force; and twenty-four Ambassadors (including those from India, Pakistan, Nepal and the United Kingdom).[46]

See also

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References

  1. ^ Eastern Book Company - Practical Lawyer
  2. ^ Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das - Family, Career, Profile
  3. ^ a b c d e The Doon School Sixty Years On, published by the Doon School Old Boys' Society, October 1996.
  4. ^ Sahibs who loved India, edited by Khushwant Singh, September 2009
  5. ^ World Architecture News February 13 2011
  6. ^ a b The Andover of India
  7. ^ Trees of Chandbagh, K.C. Sahni
  8. ^ The Doon School Register, published by The Doon School Old Boys Society every few years. The 1998 edition, among others lists Dr. Ali.
  9. ^ President leads assault on Doon School heritage The Pioneer, Oct 4 2010 [1]
  10. ^ Chhota Hazri bell tolls for desi Etons - Times Of India
  11. ^ Associated Press June 16, 2007
  12. ^ a b India Today April 23, 2001 [2]
  13. ^ Uttarakhand Basketball Association (UABA) - Performance Report 22nd March, 2011 [3]
  14. ^ Tribune Online Edition, May 4, 2002
  15. ^ Woodstock School News Sprint 2010 [4]
  16. ^ http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110820/dplus.htm#6
  17. ^ http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100424/dplus.htm
  18. ^ http://www.doonschool.com/student-life/supw-social-a-community-service
  19. ^ http://books.google.co.in/books?id=oSbTJDwMFgAC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=doon+school+uttarkashi+earthquake&source=bl&ots=auVRgAF83Q&sig=v_N_ehY83v5t3-4yNFqyYMG8G_I&hl=en&sa=X&ei=rQEIT8XKC8qWmQXU85X7Bw&ved=0CF8Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=doon%20school%20uttarkashi%20earthquake&f=false
  20. ^ http://www.doonschool.com/student-life/supw-social-a-community-service
  21. ^ http://www.doonschool.com/student-life/supw-social-a-community-service
  22. ^ http://www.doonschool.com/student-life/supw-social-a-community-service
  23. ^ How the playing fields of Doon nurture India Inc's best leaders
  24. ^ Encyclopaedia of Travel, Tourism and Ecotourism, Volume 1; by P.C. Sinha [5]
  25. ^ a b For Hills to Climb; editor: Aamir Ali; Published by The Doon School Old Boys' Society
  26. ^ Climbing with the Doon School Richard Anderson, Alpine Journal (PDF)
  27. ^ Constructing Post-Colonial India: National Character and the Doon School by Sanjay Srivastva [6]
  28. ^ The Dalai Lama at the Doon School Founder's Day in 2011 [7]
  29. ^ Economic Times, Oct 8, 2010
  30. ^ Hindustan Times, Oct 23, 2010
  31. ^ Daily Pioneer October 26 2011
  32. ^ http://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+matter+of+debate+at+Doon+School+platinum+jubilee.-a0240443417
  33. ^ http://www.garhwalpost.com/article/Dehradun/8546/
  34. ^ http://www.imaginox.co.uk/course/1718
  35. ^ http://issuu.com/unigross/docs/yearbook_sample
  36. ^ Doon School Old Boys Society Newsletter Sept 2011
  37. ^ Bollywood Hungama, June 9, 2010
  38. ^ Doon School bans Ashvin Kumar's film Times of India, Nov 14 2010
  39. ^ Doon film fallout! Times of India, Nov 18 2010
  40. ^ Ex-student's film celebrating Doon draws school's ire Times of India, Dec 25 2010 [8]
  41. ^ My reaction to censorship on Inshallah Football Kashmir Dispatch, Dec 24 2010 [9]
  42. ^ Sharmila denies censoring Jessica, Kashmir Films The Hindu, Dec 24 2010 [10]
  43. ^ Rahul Gandhi visits alma mater Doon school - Times Of India
  44. ^ The Hindu : Other States / Uttaranchal News : Seven Doon alumni in 15th Lok Sabha
  45. ^ If India has to grow, we have to bridge infra deficit: Nath - CNBC-TV18
  46. ^ Green Brigade: Doon alumni tee off in style - The Economic Times
Doon in the press
Bibliography
  • Chhota Hazri Days: A Dosco's Yatraby Sanjiv Bathla, Rupa & Co. (2010) ISBN 9788129116949. This coffee-table book was release on the occasion of The Doon School's 75th Founders' Day.
  • Sahibs who Loved India by Khushwant Singh, Penguin Books (2010), ISBN 9780143415800.
  • Earthquake:a Natural Disaster by Ashutosh Gautam, APH Publishing, 2008 ISBN 9788131303375.
  • The Corporeal Image by David McDougall, Princeton University Press (2006) ISBN 9780691121567
  • The Doon Valley Across the Years by Ganesh Saili, Rupa & Co.(2007) ISBN 9788129112873
  • Once Upon a Time in Doon by Ruskin Bond, Rupa & Co.(2007) ISBN 9788129112347
  • The Dosco Record is a book of short biographies, similar to what may be found in a Who's Who, which was first produced by J.A.K. Martyn who deliberately modeled it on the Harrow Record. (Martyn had been a schoolmaster at Harrow School before helping A.E. Foot start The Doon School.) As a consequence, alumni are listed in the year in which they joined Doon, rather than the year in which they graduated; Martyn believed that this would make it easier for Doscos to look up their friends. The book is updated every 8 years or so, and is published by the The Doon School Old Boys Society ("DSOBS") and distributed only to alumni. It includes biographical information about every Dosco (even people like Sanjay Gandhi who was expelled before completing his studies); it also highlights family connections between Doscos such as whether a particular Dosco was the son of another Dosco, or married the sister or daughter of another Dosco. ISBN 9789380262338
  • The Rose Bowl is a periodic newsletter that contains alumni news, obituaries, reminiscences, etc. It is produced by the DSOBS and distributed by post to all alumni; a PDF version is also sent by email to alumni.
  • The Doon School Register is published, every few years, by the DSOBS. It includes the contact details of every Dosco; deceased alumni are noted as such. Also included are the small number of "Associate Members" (honorary members) of The Doon School Old Boys: for the most part these include former teachers; also included are people such as Salim Ali who had been frequent visitors to Doon and were considered to be part of the Dosco fraternity. ISBN 9789380262338
  • Doon, The Story of a School, IPSS (1985) edited by Sumer Singh, published by the Indian Public Schools Society 1985. This (somewhat slim) book was distributed to alumni and contains essays, reminiscences, and stories about the founding of the Doon School. ASIN B0006ENF66
  • The Doon School -- Sixty Years On, edited by Pushpinder Singh Chopra, published by the DSOBS in October 1996. This book is similar in many respects to Doon, The Story of a School, but much larger.
  • Constructing Post-Colonial India: National Character and the Doon School by Sanjay Srivastva, published by Routledge 1998 ISBN 0203980271.
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