OUR FOUNDER
MANAVA BHARATI was the dream project of our founder Chairman the Late Dr.
Durga Prasad Pandey (born February 11.1910). An Academician and Educationist
of international renown Dr. Pandey was educated at the Banares Hindu University,
India and the Universities of Cambridge, England and Leiden, Holland. He was associated
with the Indian National Freedom Struggle in both; it's revolutionary and Gandhian programmes
at the cost of suffering imprisonment twice.
He was a close compatriot of another famous revolutionary, Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya who suggested his
name as a Hindi/Sanskrit teacher to Guru Rabindra Nath Tagore, who in turn invited him to join the Vishwa Bharati.
It was Poet Tagore who motivated him to pursue his higher studies and proceed to Europe where he took a Ph.D from the
prestigious Kings College, Cambridge University, England. 'Babuji' as he was fondly known, decided to consecrate his
life for the cause of child education and the service of divinity in man. He followed his inclination to develop the
concept of child education, which he had nurtured while in association with Poet Rabindra Nath Tagore at the
'Vishwa Bharati', prior to leaving for England.
In 1941, he founded the Manava Bharati institution a centre for learning on the lines of 'Shantiniketan' and engaged
in developing it with his heart and soul. Manava Bharati has subsequently, flourished into 4 purposive centres at
Mussoorie, Dehradun, Delhi and Varanasi. Babuji's philanthropy and understanding of the unity of man earned him
'The Order of the St. John' in 1966 and gave him the chance to be a globetrotter.
Manava Bharati flourished at 'Shakti Ashram' in Rajpur (midway between Dehradun and Mussoorie) in Uttaranchal
.The institute's foundation stone was laid by the Great Mahatma Gandhi, and it received active support and
co-operation of the two late Presidents of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishan.
The school gained phenomenal popularity in a short period and in order to accommodate the increase of students
in 1948, relocated to a big estate called ‘Dumbarni’ in Mussoorie, ‘The Queen of Hills’. This estate had once
belonged to the Church of England where it ran a school for English girls. In these new environs commanding a
prominent view of the vast snow clad peaks of the Himalayan range on one side and overlooking the scenic beauty
of the famous Doon Valley on the other the institution functioned as a boarding school following the ‘Guru-Shishya’
parampara.
The idea of the development of Manava Bharati India International School, Delhi sprung from a chance meeting Dr. Pandey
had during the early 1970's with his friend the Late Dr. Aditya Nath Jha the first Lt. Governor of Delhi.
Religious representatives from all over the world laid the Foundation stone of Manava Bharati India International
School Delhi, on 11th February 1974. On this occasion prayers were chanted, hymns were sung and the idea to provide
equal and unbiased opportunity to all on a level educational plane was embraced.
In the initial years our school functioned out of modest accommodations.
It was in 1980 that Capt. Vishwakant Pandey, our Chairman, an Ex-serviceman and Mrs.
Bharati Pandey, our Director; an educationist took over the mammoth task of shouldering
the responsibility of expansion and growth of the school. Years of hard work, dedication,
experimentation and personal sacrifice has resulted in a contemporary educational institute
that provides exceptional opportunities for the development of 'mind and body' through a
well-planned academic and activity based curriculum.
Since inception, our endeavour has been to inculcate the spirit of 'Panchsheel', the
five-value principle, so that our students may understand the fundamental ethics of life,
love, compassion, honesty and co-operation through day-to-day activities. We seek to prepare
our students to be life-long learners, benefit from higher education and become responsible
citizens in a changing and challenging world.
