Navayug School - yaadein
Mr. Jivan Nath Dar
Mr. Kailash Nath Dar remembers his father (Late) Mr. J N Dar
Mr. Dar was born on 13th Apr, 1904.
The biggest influences on his life were his mother, who adopted him after she became a widow at the age of 19 & the Indian Freedom Movement. His mother was the grand daughter of Raja Dina Nath Madan, who was the Chief Minister of Punjab during the regime of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. She was a fiercely independent & self respecting lady, who gave high degree of freedom to her son within clearly laid out parametres of discipline. Mr. Dar was deeply devoted to her, and but for her, he would have surely joined the freedom movement under Gandhi. Both the son & the mother were his passionate followers. Both also stood for genuine human equality, uplift of the underprivileged & a firm belief that through ones efforts one could overcome the most severe handicaps. It was this belief which made the mother & son leave the comforts,as also, the murky domestic politics of Raja Dina Nath's haveli in Lahore & move to U.P. in the 1930's to start a life on their own.
Mr.Dar studied in schools in Lahore & U.P.For his college he joined Lucknow Christian College,which he left,when there was a call in 1924 to join the newly started S.D.College of Commerce,which was supposed to be more nationalistic.He was a keen student of Geography.
After completing his college education he joined it as a lecturer. He found the mostly academic pursuit & absence of opportunity to mould young minds dull, so he joined Modern School, Delhi.The school was then located in Daryaganj.He was among the founding fathers who carried a brick each to Barakhamba road to lay the foundation of the new school building. He enjoyed the curriculum of Modern School & made a impact on the school. He soon realised that education of the under privileged in a palpably Indian setting was to be the mission of his life, so he left for Vidya Bhawan, Udaipur, where he accepted a job at 50% of the salary at Modern School. When his daughter was born, his mother told him to temper his romance for educating the under privileged with earning enough for his family's needs, so he joined the Doon School. He liked the training & the program which the school offered to its students, but not being allowed to keep his mother with him on the campus made him unhappy, so he joined The Scindia School Gwalior. In 1956 he took over as the Principal of the iconic Netarhat School, where admissions were made purely on merit & the fees were paid as per a student's family income. The school paid higher salaries than colleges. It was able to collect a distinguished faculty & attain high academic standards. Today,probably no other school has as many students in the Civil Services as Netarhat. He resigned his job at Netarhat as he was unwilling to give admission to a minister's relative who had not made the grade in the entrance test. Then he joined Vikas. After leaving Vikas, he joined Navayug,a school similar in its flavour to Netarhat.
In 1973, Mr Dar was invited to start Navayug which he ran until 1977.
Mr. Dar passed away on 10th of July, 1989 leaving a legacy of which Navayug is a blazing star.
Mr. Kailash Nath Dar
His father, Mr. J.N.Dar is his role model. Therefore, it is only natural that he should opt for school teaching. Presently he is the Chairman of the Cambridge School, Indirapuram . He is also working as consultant to schools such as Shreejee international School, Sonipat. He has specialized in starting new schools and turning around old institutions . He helped establish Apollo International School at Sonipat, The Arti Memorial School at Asansol and Gyanodya, at Damoh ( M.P). He steered the process of reinvigorating Sawan Public School, New Delhi, Cambridge School, New Delhi and Raja Rammohan Roy Academy, Dehradun.
He taught at St. Paul's School, Darjeeling and The Punjab Public School, Nabha. He was educated at the Scindia School, Gwalior, Vikas Vidhyalaya, Ranchi, St. Stephens College ( Univ of Delhi) and The Central Institute of Education, New Delhi. He believes that good education, which helps the individual to grow to his full stature is important for all sections of society. He has had the privilege of teaching both the children of the poor and the underprivileged and the rich and the powerful.