A Sharjah-based school is celebrating 25 years of its teaching history with four out of its over 15 founding staff still working at the school. The school, which began in 2000 with just 140 students, now educates more than 6,000 students and has more than 400 teachers.
“More than 40 per cent of our current teachers have completed 15 to 20 years in this institute,” said Vandana Marwaha, principal and director at Delhi Private School (DPS), who has also been with the school from Day 1. “For us, the school and its community is like a family.”
Kamna Katoch, who started her career as a Hindi teacher, has been with DPS for 25 years, too. She rose through the ranks to hold various leadership positions, including supervisor.
For Kamna, her students are her “children”. “The most tremendous joy has been watching my children grow and achieve their dreams,” she said.
“One is an actor in India, another one works in Google and several of them work for some of the biggest companies in the world. It makes my day when they message me and talk about how they still remember some things I have taught them.”
Shanmughan Kotteppat, who has been working as an accountant in the school, recalled how he used to visit the campus’ construction site every two days in 1999.
“At that time, the area was totally deserted and there was no paved road leading up to the school building,” he said. “The first day I went there, my car got stuck in the sand and the construction workers helped me out of it. Over the last 25 years, I have seen the school and this area develop tremendously.”
Hysham Akram Sheikh, a student from the very first batch of the school, went down memory lane. “I did my 11th and 12th grade at DPS Sharjah and we were the first batch to graduate,” Sheikh recalled.
“I have the fondest memories of the school and I am so excited for their 25th anniversary. I was the school sports captain and I even went to Delhi to play for the school,” said the alumni, who now works in a government role.
“I think the best thing I loved about it was that the focus was not just on studies. We had a lot of extracurricular activities, field trips and sometimes even excursions to watch movies and plays. Every time I go to school, it is a great feeling to meet some of my old teachers and walk through the hallway again,” added Sheikh, who is also a proud parent as his four-year-old daughter is a kindergarten student in the same school.
Hysham said the discipline he learnt at school has helped him in life. “When we were in school, we had strict rules about shoes being polished and shirts being tucked in,” he recalled. “We were naughty at the time and we did not like these rules. But as I grew and began my corporate career, I realised how much the discipline helped in the real world scenarios.”
The school is celebrating the milestone with an elaborate play that will feature over 300 students. The show has been scripted and produced by teachers. The show, which will see students between the ages of four and 17 enacting scenes from the lives of education pioneers like Helen Keller and Maria Montessori, will be presented on Saturday at Sheikh Rashid auditorium.
According to Vandana, the students and teachers have worked hard to bring the play to life. “The scripting process began in June this year and students began practicing in October because we didn’t want them to miss too many classes,” she said.
“The participants were put in a special tutoring programme so that even if they missed classes, the topics are covered and their studies do not suffer.”
Scripted by vice-principal Chitra Raghavan and primary headmistress Prabha Sundar, the entire production — including stage design, lighting and sound — was done by students and teachers.
© Khaleej Times
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