History & Mission

History & Mission

History of Boarding Schools Association of India (BSAI)

The idea of forming a separate association for purely residential schools can be traced back to the year 2020 during COVID -19 era. It was on 16th October 2020 that Rashid Sharfuddin (Headmaster, SelaQui International School, Dehradun), Mr Jayant Lal (Former Deputy Headmaster, The Doon School, Dehradun, and Mr Vinay Pande (Former Headmaster, of The Lawrence School, Sanawar) met for lunch at 33 Tilak Road, Dehradun. It was in this meeting that Rashid Sharfuddin floated the idea of starting an association for purely residential schools.  It was felt that the government guidelines that were coming for closing and reopening of schools during the pandemic were ignoring the nature of residential schools and there were no guidelines for it in the entire government directives. It also felt such an association will help strengthen the pastoral system in schools and can be a training ground for best practices. Mr Lal suggested that Dr Sumer Singh (Former Headmaster of The Lawrence School, Sanawar and The Daly College, Indore) and Dr Jagpreet Singh, Headmaster of The Doon School opinions be sought on how to proceed on this matter. Dr Sumer Singh suggested that we should speak to the Heads of some of the leading boarding schools in the country. Subsequently, in November and December 2020, Captain AJ Singh (Headmaster of Pinegrove School), Gen. Surendra Kulkarni, Director of Mayo College, Ajmer, Dr Madhav Saraswat, Principal, The Scindia School, Gwalior, Mr Prabhakaran. Nair, Principal – The Lawrence School, Lovedale and Dr Vidhukesh Vimal, Head of Assam Valley School also agreed to join the Association as Founding members and provided much-needed direction and inputs in finalizing the draft for registration of the society. In a series of Zoom meetings and physical meetings at The Doon School and SelaQui International School, the MOU was finalized and the Boarding Schools Association of India was registered under the aegis of the “Society for Association of Boarding Schools” on October 1, 2021. The Doon School, SelaQui International School, Welham Boys’ School, Welham Girls’ School, Pinegrove School, Mayo College, Assam Valley School, The Scindia School, Lawrence School Lovedale, and The Lawrence School Sanawar became the ten founding constituent schools. The decagon logo in blue representing ten founding schools designed by Rashid Sharfuddin was accepted as the logo of BSAI in the meeting on 18 June 2021

The first Board of Directors meeting was held on 20 August 2021 at Hotel Inderlok in Dehradun hosted by SelaQui International School and the members unanimously decided to elect Dr Sumer Singh as the interim President, Rashid Sharfuddin as the Secretary, Captain AJ Singh as Vice President, and Dr Jagpreet Singh as the treasurer for two years. It was also decided that the ten founding members and heads of three founding schools (Welham Boys School, Welham Girls School, and The Lawrence School, Sanawar) will constitute an Interim Board for two years. The next meeting of the Board of Directors was held on January 5, 2022, at The Mayo College, Ajmer where it was decided to appoint Bhavin Shah as Director strategic advisor and Mr Vinay Pande as Head of training. Gen. Kulkarni was entrusted with the task of heading the membership committee.  The next Board of Directors meeting was held at Welham Girls School on 27 January 2023 and the first Annual General Body meeting was attended by 16 Heads of schools, Dr Sumer Singh, Mr Vinay Pande, Mr Jayant Lal and Dr Vidhukesh Vimal and teachers’ representatives of member schools at the Welham Boys School on  28th and 29th January, 2023. It was in this meeting that a decision was taken to create a category of “Associate membership for schools having 200 boarders or more. Currently, there are 24 purely residential schools that are members of BSAI (April 2023).

Mission Statement

The Boarding Schools Associations’ of India is the pioneer Indian Association that serves, represents and promotes the interests of purely residential, private, unaided boarding schools in India. Our primary objectives are to serve the staff and students of member boarding schools through professional training, providing a forum for all member schools to increase interaction and cooperation amongst each other along all facets of the boarding experience, leading the discussion on well-being and all-round development of boarding students, and advancing and supporting best practices in pedagogy.

It fosters shared values and principles, and a sense of collective purpose among member schools. Furthermore, it advances the interests of member schools, boarding staff and students, and acts as a liaison between different stakeholders such as member schools, the larger educational industry, teachers, students, parents and the government.

Objectives

The Association operates to advance its objectives across the following broad areas.

1. To promote and facilitate collaboration in the fields of pedagogical approaches and pastoral care.
2. To publish literature/journals and facilitate workshops / seminars/conferences/training to promote life skills required for boarding staff (teaching and non-teaching) and students.
3. To organize sports and cultural festivals with the sole aim of promoting camaraderie and sportsmanship among member schools.
4. To promote and facilitate outdoor and community service activities in order to instill a sense of adventure and tradition of service.
5. To promote and facilitate inter-staff events (professional, sports / cultural / adventure).
6. To promote the value and principles of a boarding school education and support new boarding initiatives.
7. To acquire moveable and immoveable property in the name of Association.
8. To establish an institution or organization to promote boarding initiatives.
9. To raise grants and contributions either in cash or in kind.
10. To accept or give donations/loans to further the objective of the society.
11. To perform any act or duty to protect and project the interests of Boarding schools across India and liaison with any agencies/state and Central government for the same.
12. To provide support and consultancy services.