Built on 30 acres of prime real estate within motoring distance of the national capital, Pathways is among the most capital intensive education institutions constructed in Indian history

Located on an elevated, wooded site in the Aravalli Hills, 25 km from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, Pathways World School could well be mistaken for a hill resort. Hardly surprising, given that built on 30 acres of prime real estate within motoring distance of the national capital, Pathways (estimated investment Rs.80 crore) is among the most capital-intensive education institutions constructed in Indian history.

Designed and conceptualised by national and international experts, and run by a pool of multinational staff since April 2003, when the school admitted its first batch of 40 students, Pathways offers the flexibility of day, weekly, fortnightly or term boarding to kindergarten-class XII students. “Usually,” explains Lalage E. Prabhu, principal “schools construct buildings and then somehow try to squeeze in the curriculum. We worked the other way round to first design a 21st century curriculum and then built a school which could contain our ideals.” An alumnus of Birmingham University, UK, Prabhu served as an English teacher in classes VII and VIII and was principal of the middle school before taking charge as principal of Pathways, following the exit of John Taylor last year.

Pathways offers four international syllabuses to its students — the International Baccalaureate primary years programme (nursery to grade V); the Pathways medium school programme (grade VI-VIII), the International General Certificate of Secondary Education or IGCSE syllabus of Cambridge University (grades IX and X) and the diploma programme of the International Bacca-laureate Organisation, Geneva (grade XII).

The school prides itself on its pioneering teaching methodologies which are well-tried internationally but new to India. Its methodology, according to Prabhu, is based on five holistic principles — student-centred learning, learning to learn, anytime-anywhere learning, project-based learning and the development of multiple intelligences as defined by Dr. Howard Gardner, renowned Harvard educationist who pioneered the MI (multiple intelligences) theory of student develop-ment. “Our teaching methodology,” emphasises Neerja Sehgal, director of admissions at Pathways, “is student-centred and project-based. While the general curriculum is followed by all students, we encourage personal hobbies and interests, sport, theatre and music.”

Although the school draws largely from international models, its management is well aware that it is sited on Indian terra firma. “We teach our students to appreciate India’s diverse culture, its vast natural resources and condition them to protect and preserve them for future generations. To this end we organise regular expeditions to rural and economically-backward areas. The idea is to break down barriers created by privilege and expose our students to a reality outside their own experiences,” explains Prabhu.

But even though Pathways offers internationally approved curriculums to its 200 students instructed by a transnational faculty of 34 comprising teachers from Australia, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and England, its unique feature is a five-star student-supportive infra-structure which according to several educationists, is unprecedented in the Indian school system.

Thus the school offers a well-equipped computer lab with a generous number of desktops, while all secondary school students are given a laptop each which is linked with a campus-wide radio network. Students also have access to a Design Technology Studio, conforming to international standards, where they can pursue project assignments under the guidance of visiting experts. The best of these experiments could well lead to commercially viable products even while a child is at school, say management spokespersons.

Likewise the school’s library-media centre which contains 12,500 volumes, 130 CDs and subscribes to 40 journals and magazines includes a distance-learning studio for accessing information from around the world. It also features reading and story-telling corners and a coffee bar for rest and recreation. The school is developing a comprehensive compact disc library to strengthen its reprographics centres which are housed in each academic building.

For accommodation, Pathways offers periodic and term-based boarding on its premises. The three single-sex stone and red brick Tudor-style halls of residence designed by well-known Delhi architects Prakash Nair and C.P. Kukreja have been, “built as homes not hostels”, and accommodate 80 students each. Moreover each floor within the ground plus two storey halls of residence has its own furnished room with cable TV and a designated space for socialisation. Instead of old-fashioned dormitories, each study-bedroom is for two students with laptops so that “learning can take place anytime, anywhere”. All halls of residence are supervised by experienced faculty who also discharge the role of house parents.

But undoubtedly the major attraction of Pathways World School is the lavish games and sports facilities it offers to parents and students who subscribe to the increasingly popular concept of balanced holistic education. On 30 acres of meticulously landscaped campus, with a lake in its epicentre, the school offers an olympic-size football field, a 400-metre athletics track, horse riding, a 25-metre swimming pool, a hockey field and golfing putt; squash, tennis and basketball courts and a well-equipped gym. Co-curricular education facilities include music, dance and theatre, both faculty and student-directed; a series of well-equipped music and dance studios for presenting small-scale performances while the central amphitheatre, with state-of-the-art lighting and acoustic facilities is the venue for full-scale productions. 

“Pathways is an international school in the true sense of the word. And we’re committed to delivering quality education which goes beyond mere academics,” says Pramod Jain, the promoter and managing trustee of Pathways World School.

 

Admission & fees

Pathways offers the flexibility of day, weekly, fortnightly and term boarding. The medium of instruction is English. The school offers primary education and diploma programmes of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Organisation of Geneva and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education of the University of Cambridge, England.

Admission. While there is no formal entrance exam, applicants are invited to a ‘conversation’ where they are asked to talk about their interests followed by a session with applicants’ parents.

Fees. Nursery-KG (full day): Rs. 95,000 per annum; Grade I-V: Rs.120,000; Grade VI-VIII: Rs.130,000; Grade IX-X (IGSCE): Rs.180,000; Grade XI-XII (IB diploma): Rs.230,000.

Apart from this there is a registration fee, a refundable security deposit, and an application fee.

For further information contact Pathways World School, Corporate Office, 2, Sainik Farms, New Delhi 110 062. Tel: 11 26850592-3; e-mail: info@pathways.ac.in; website: www.pathways.ac.in.

Neeta Lal (Delhi)