Lady Irwin School for Girls is an educational institution in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, established in 1927. It is a composite English medium school from class I to class XII affiliated to the

Central Board of Secondary Education The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national-level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India. Established in 1929 by a resolution of the government, the Board ...

(CBSE), New Delhi. It has a nursery section. The school has two branches -

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

. The school is housed in three separate buildings viz. primary at Defence Colony and middle and secondary at Canning Road, New Delhi.

General

The Lady Irwin School for Girls was established in 1927, under the leadership of the late Shri S. R. Das, the Law Member of the

Viceroy's Executive Council The Viceroy's Executive Council, formerly known as Council of Four and officially known as the Council of the Governor-General of India (since 1858), was an advisory body and cabinet of the Governor-General of India, also known as Viceroy. It exis ...

, for the purpose of making

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

available under the same roof to all the children of Central Government servants. Since the Summer Capital those days was located at Simla, a branch of Lady Irwin School was first opened in Simla. A branch was later opened in New Delhi so that students did not suffer any inconvenience when the government servants moved to Delhi, which was the Winter Capital. The school building at Simla, which is considered to be a heritage building, today houses the DalZiel Hotel. The higher secondary School at New Delhi was and still is located at the erstwhile Canning Lane, now called Madhav Rao Scindia Marg, just off what was then known as Curzon Road, now called Kasturba Gandhi Marg. The middle school was housed in the Army barracks on Canning Lane just across what was then Pataudi House. The Army Barrack has since been demolished and the middle school is now housed in another building on Canning Lane which was constructed by funds raised by annual PT Shows organized at the National Stadium through the 1960s and 1970s by the students and teachers of Lady Irwin School. There are 3200

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most The Commonwealth, commonwealth countries, a "student" attends ...

s in the New Delhi branch of the school and 120 staff members. Through the 1960s and 1970s, the Central Board of Secondary Education Merit List was dominated by the students of Lady Irwin School.

Houses

The School has six houses, identified by a colour and are named after the daughters of Mother India: * Maitreyee - Blue, * Gargi - Indigo, * Lilawati - Green, * Laxmibai - Violet, * Sanghamitra - Yellow, * Ahilyabai - Red. The six house colours are the colours of the Rainbow. Saffron, a shade of orange, is the school colour.

Motto

The school's

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

is ''Dhiyo yon-ah prachodyath'' i.e. "Let our faculties flourish in the realization of the Supreme". The

emblem An emblem is an abstract art, abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a monarch or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and ''symbol'' ...

is a lotus, the color of the school is

saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of '' Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent ...

. The school publishes a yearly school magazine ''Uditi''.

Notable alumni

Madhavi Mudgal Madhavi Mudgal is an Indian classical dancer known for her Odissi dance style. She has won several awards, including the ''Sanskriti Award'', 1984, President of India's award of Padma Shri, 1990, the ''Orissa State Sangeet Natak Akademi Award'' ...

, Indian classical dancer known for her Odissi dance style. Her awards include the Sanskriti Award, 1984, President of India's award of Padma Shri, 1990, the Orissa State Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 1996, Grande Medaille de la Ville by Govt. of France, 1997, Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 2000, Delhi State Parishad Samman, 2002 and the title of Nritya Choodamani in 2004. *

Saswati Sen Saswati Sen is an Indian dancer and choreographer, and an exponent of Kathak, an Indian classical dance form. She was a senior disciple of Pandit Birju Maharaj, and still teaches and performs at his Kalashram Institute in the Jor Bagh distric ...

, exponent of Kathak, an Indian classical dance form. She is a senior disciple of Pandit Birju Maharaj. She achieved fame by dancing in Satyajit Ray's film, Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977), his invocation of Lucknow society at its "Paris of India" zenith. She teaches Kathak in Kalashram in Jorbagh in New Delhi. Saswati Sen mostly teaches and performs with her Guru Birju Maharaj. *

Poonam Gupta Poonam Gupta OBE (born 17 August 1976) is a British-Indian entrepreneur, based in Scotland. Early life She completed her early schooling years in Delhi at Lady Irwin School and Delhi Public School where she got admission on merit to complete ...

, Scottish-Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist. She was appointed Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) for her services to the business and charity in the 2017 New Year Honours.

References

External links