Overview

The Doon School, often known as Doon or just Doon, is a private boarding school for boys only, located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. It was founded in 1935. The idea for the school came from Calcutta-based lawyer Satish Ranjan Das, who wanted it to be a British public school with an eye towards Indian goals and aspirations. The school was opened on October 27, 1935, with Lord Willingdon presiding over the ceremony. It had accepted its first students on September 10, 1935. Arthur E. Foot, an educationalist from England who had taught physics at Eton College for nine years, was the school’s first headmaster.

Approximately 580 students between the ages of 12 and 18 attend the school. Admission is determined by a tough entrance exam and a headmaster interview. Boys are only accepted in two-year cohorts each year, beginning in January with seventh grade and ending in April with eighth grade. Doon was home to 35 non-resident Indians and foreign nationals, as well as boys from 26 Indian states as of May 2019. Boys and the majority of the faculty dwell on campus, making the institution totally residential. Students sit for the Cambridge IGCSE exams in the tenth grade, after which they can choose to pursue the International Baccalaureate or the Indian School Certificate for their final two years of school. 

The boys have access to about eighty extracurricular activities, and early teachers like Gurdial Singh, R.L. Holdsworth, J.A.K. Martyn, and Jack Gibson created a strong heritage of mountaineering at the school. The school is surrounded by a variety of plants and animals on the land where the Forest Research Institute had stood. Despite persistent lobbying from political figures to become coeducational, Doon is still a boys-only institution. ‘Doscos’ are the term for the senior lads at the school.

Doon has been regarded as India’s top residential school for boys on a regular basis. Despite being referred to as the “Eton of India” by various media sources, including the Washington Post, The Guardian, The BBC, The New York Times, The Spectator, and The Daily Telegraph, the school rejects the affiliation. The media frequently highlights Doon and occasionally criticizes it for what they see as the alumni’s disproportionate impact in areas like Indian politics, business, and culture. 

The 1980s saw criticism of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s administration and the moniker “Doon Cabinet” since several of his school friends were appointed to important positions. Numerous eminent graduates from the school include merchants, politicians, diplomats, artists, and writers. Amitav Ghosh, Bunker Roy, Lalit Pande, mountaineer Nandu Jayal, Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, artist Anish Kapoor, writers Vikram Seth, Ramchandra Guha, and Amitav Ghosh, and the late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi are among the former students of Doon.

About The Doon School

The whole studying experience is enhanced for students at The Doon School by a variety of resources that it offers. Among those resources are a tennis court, basketball court, indoor games, online class sessions, playground, badminton court, and swimming pool and photography facilities at the school. The opportunity to stay fit and cool when the need for it arises during studies is provided by the swimming facility in this school. 

Students interested in basketball and racquet sports can use the badminton, tennis, and basketball courts. The school offers spaces set aside for playing a range of indoor games for those who enjoy them. The Doon School also provides the option of online courses in order that learners do not “miss the train of education” due to unforeseen circumstances. On the playground children can engage in various types of physical exercises including sports thus promoting their health and well-being. 

Students have an opportunity to use advanced equipment at their disposal for working on technical or creative projects within smart classrooms and photo labs at school. The Doon School’s varied facilities help to ensure that its students receive a well-rounded education.

The Doon School Sports Facilities

Indoor: The school has a fitness centre and gym, squash courts, a sports pavilion across from Main Field, and a multipurpose hall where pupils can play badminton and boxing.

Outside: The Doon School offers a 25-meter pool, acres of grounds, cricket net facilities, and numerous brand-new floodlit basketball and tennis courts. Above all, there is a golf course a short distance from the school gates where boys can play golf.

The Doon School Extracurricular Activities

The co-curricular program of The Doon School is essential to every student’s education. The school holds that education takes place in and outside of the classroom, and that both are crucial. Students are encouraged to investigate a range of activities and groups as soon as they enroll in the D and C forms. The above inquiry will help the young person realize their interests and talents. Additionally, engaging in such activities creates an opportunity for fun in studying and making friends, other than acquisition of new abilities.

The institution offers assistance to students in order to further explore their areas of interest. Tutors and housemasters assist students in making decisions and efficiently allocating their time. This advice is especially important because a lot of students are only learning about the depth of education that The Doon School offers.

Every year, the school hosts a Co-Curricular Fair to assist parents and new students in learning about the co-curricular options offered. They have the opportunity to learn more about the program at this event and decide how involved they want to be.

The Doon School Academics

First of all, class VII boys are admitted to the institution, which is connected to the Council for Indian institution Certificate Examination, Delhi (CISCE). The International Baccalaureate Organization, which offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP), is subsequently associated with it. Its headquarters are located in Geneva. 

The academic year consists of two terms:

• The Spring Term will run from February 1st to May 31st.
• The Autumn Term will run from August 1st to November 30th.

The school, however, follows a five-and-a-half-day workweek plan, with an average class size of about twenty students and a student-teacher ratio of 10:1.

It is required to take art, yoga, music, carpentry, Sanskrit, design, and technology in addition to academic studies. German or French are available to students as additional languages; Sanskrit is required.

Admission to the Doon School

Important details about the Doon School’s application process, costs, requirements, and test format are included in this section. All the information you require regarding The Doon School will be included in this page. The Doon School Dehradun is a senior secondary school that offers classes XI–XII. It is associated with the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), the International Baccalaureate (IB), and the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE). 

But the school is a boarding school for males, offering programs for grades seven through twelve. A relative of Indian independence warrior Chittaranjan Das and former Chief Justice of India Sudhi Ranjan Das, Satish Ranjan Das founded the Doon School Dehradun in 1935. Former Eton College science master Arthur E. Foot was the school’s first Headmaster.

The Qualifications for Admission to Doon School

Boys are accepted into The Doon School in January and April each year. Undoubtedly, it admits pupils for the seventh grade (D form) in April and the eighth grade (C form) in January.

A boy must be older than 11 and younger than 12 in September of the year he takes the entrance exam in order to be admitted to the seventh grade.

Boys who take the entrance exam in September of the year they turn 13 must be older than 12 but still under 13 in order to be admitted to the eighth grade.

The Doon School Exam Pattern and Syllabus

Nevertheless, the Doon School does not offer a detailed exam syllabus. This is because the test covers subjects that are currently taught at similar educational institutions. Male candidates from a variety of educational backgrounds, such as state boards, CBSE, ICSE, and IGCSE, are targeted for the examinations. On the other hand, a set of guidelines for the math test has been created and sent to every prospective parent. To familiarize them with the format of the papers, the applicant and their parents receive a complimentary copy of sample papers from the school. 

Admission will be determined by evaluating each of the five papers:

Famous Alumni of the Doon School

Here are a few of the most well-known former students of the Doon School: 

• Rajiv Gandhi, the former Indian prime minister.
• Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia is a politician from India.
• Mani Shankar Aiyar is a politician from India.
• Rahul Gandhi is an Indian politician.
• Sanjay Gandhi an Indian politician.
• Kamal Nath an Indian politician.
• Abhinav Bindra an Indian Olympian who won a gold medal.
• Karan Thapar an Indian journalist.
• Gautham Thapar is an Indian entrepreneur.
• Anil Kumar, a co-founder of ISB.
• Malvinder and Shivinder Mohan Singh work for Fortis Healthcare at Ranbaxy Laboratories.
• Chandrachur Singh is an actor from India.

Conclusion

To sum it up, Doon School is a great place where one can obtain education and develop leadership skills in his or her life, achieve good results in the field of sports or other spheres of society’s activities. Due to its rich educational background, advanced equipment, effective sporting activities and lively non-academic activities, this is a reputable Indian institution.

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