Mr Rakesh Kapoor presenting his book on meditation to Mr Salovey, the Emotional Intelligence guru and Professor of Psychology at Yale University, on 9^th August 2007at Yale University, USA. Also present is Mr. David R. Caruso.

Univariety specialises in the field of university access and higher education counseling. It is a part of the Singapore based ‘International Education Gateway’ and has operations in UK and India as well.

On Republic Day 2012, the first Univariety workshop took place, conducted by Mr. Varun Agarwal, who had specially come from the London office of Univariety.

The summary of the workshop is as follows:

• The Modern School is the first school in North India to tie up with Univariety.
• Univariety has ties with some of the best international and progressive schools in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.
• Univariety will assist all students in class 11^th and 12^th, through a series of workshops conducted at The Modern School and the online portal.
• Each student will be helped to identify the career he/she wants to take up after class 12^th and the college and course he/she needs to target.
• Univariety will use its extensive database and network of thousands of Indian and foreign colleges and computer technology to find the most suitable college for each student.
• Mr. Agarwal gave examples of little known colleges and courses which but were excellent options for admission.
• Like the Indian Institute of Packaging has such a specialized course that each of its graduates get placed in a national level retail company with salary more than of a IIM / IIT student.
• Univariety will assist the children in the complete college admission process and even after to get financing for fee or apply for a scholarship.
• The children and parents present were very happy with the workshop and look forward to singing up and future workshops.

1. Individual attention: Teachers can spend more time with each child. Teachers can focus on the growth and development of each child individually.
2. Individualized teaching plans: Teachers can create individualized classroom learning experiences, assessment and feedback for student improvement. Each child is different and has his own strengths and weaknesses.
3. Richer learning: Teachers can plan for a richer and more meaningful curriculum that is connected to the real world.
4. Applied learning: Have more time for enrichment activities and real life application of classroom learning.
5. Better organized: Teachers are able to better manage teaching aids, digital technology, paperwork, checking work, and are more organized in a smaller group of children. They have more time for engaging learning activities.
6. Student participation: The teacher is able to engage ALL students in authentic learning experiences. Unlike larger classrooms, a child is not lost in the crowd.
7. All-round development: Teachers have time to plan and develop other aspects of each child – knowledge, skills, attitudes – leading to transformation of personality.
8. Meaningful assessment: Assessment is more meaningful and is not just limited to traditional paper and pencil tests, which mostly tests memory. Teachers have opportunities for far better forms of assessment which assess all aspects of a child’s growth.
9. Child centered classroom: The focus of the classroom is the child and not the teacher. Students have opportunities for being empowered for their own learning and having a sense of achievement.
10. Group learning: Students learn in smaller groups with more intense intellectual and social learning experiences.

On behalf of our patron Shri R K Trivedi, Former Chief Election Commissioner of India and Governor of Gujarat and on behalf of Dr. Nityanand, eminent scientist, Former Chairman of the school’s Advisory Committee, and Hon. Justice D K Trivedi ji, retired senior most judge of UP High Court, and current Chairman of the school’s Advisory Council, and on behalf of our Founder Shri Rakesh Kapoor and his family, I welcome our Chief Guest, Dr. R K Sharma, Director, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, and the august gathering here of the parents, grandparents, and family members of teachers.
Before I read my annual report I take this opportunity to mention our school’s history.

HISTORY AND VISION
The school was established and constructed during 1979-1985. Shri Manohar Lal Kapoor and Shrimati Kailash Kapoor had donated a large sum of money to their son, Shri Rakesh Kapoor, for founding this spiritual and charitable mission. They were inspired by Shri Jiddu Krishnamurti, the Zen Buddhist philosopher. The school not only aims to impart the acquisition of learning but also assimilation of values and transformation of children into self-confident, resilient, happy, caring and creative human beings for their life long well-being.

STANDARDS OF EDUCATION – INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL
A school is part of the educational system of a nation, and especially a day school is a part of the educational system of a city.
Generally schools give education at three levels. The lowest level is acquiring basic information. All schools as per the affiliation board, whether ICSE, CBSE or intermediate, all are required to do this.
The slightly higher level of education is assimilative. At this level many schools make children imbibe values and some basic positive attitudes.
The highest level of education is transformative education, which seeks to change the hearts and minds of children through developing their teachers and a transformative curriculum. Our Vidyatree curriculum combined with IB & CIE, aims to do that.
Our school educates children not only at the basic, informational level as required by the Council for ICSE, and at assimilative level for skills and good citizenship habits, but also at the highest international level of transformative education through its unique KQES Vidyatree Curriculum, to make children self-confident, open-minded, caring, principled and independent learners.
For nursery and primary education, the school has International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program (PYP), Geneva, curriculum, which is transformative, and has appropriate curriculum and teacher training program for making children independent learners, open-minded, knowledgeable, thinkers, principled, caring, etc.
For the school as a whole, the school has the KQES Vidyatree transformative curriculum, which additionally makes children more intelligent, flexible, confident, empathetic, courageous and creative.
For classes 6th to 8th, to raise academic standards the school is also implementing Cambridge International Examination (CIE) program – governed by Cambridge University, one of the best universities in the world.
The two above mentioned transformative curricula are one of the best in the world. The best and most renowned schools of India are implementing IB and CIE. About 3000 of the best schools worldwide in Asia, Europe, Americas, Australia and Africa are implementing IB curriculum from Geneva, Switzerland, including methods of teacher development and teaching through individual attention in classes with small number of children.

INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION – SMALL CLASS GROUPS
In an individual attention school like ours, the teacher is trained to pay attention to each child’s total development, and number of children in a classroom is kept small, so that proper transformative educational work can be done through individual attention.
In schools where transformative education is not given, number of children per classroom can go up to 50 to 60. But to implement a transformative curriculum the lower the age of the children, the smaller the number of children per classroom is a necessity. Our school has about 20 to 25 children in a classroom, from classes Nursery to 5th and approx. 30 to 35 children for classes 6th to 8th, so that individualized attention can be given to each child’s transformation and academic excellence.
An individual attention school requires greater effort, greater attention by teachers and management, and continuous development of the whole staff.
The Modern School is known all over the world and it is among a few schools which has an intensive in-house continuous teacher training program.

CONTINUOUS IN-SERVICE TEACHER TRAINING & COACHING OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARD

In fact our school is the proud recipient of the Golden Peacock National Training Award. Some of the recent training programs that our teachers have gone through are:

a. Empathy in the classroom
b. Inculcating self-confidence in children
c. Inculcating self-knowledge and self-awareness in children
d. Formative and summative assessments
e. Higher order thinking skills
f. Use of technology in the classroom like projectors, whiteboards, starboards
g. Inculcating the IB PYP and the Vidyatree attributes among children
Our leadership team has been trained for IB in Singapore and Mumbai. Recently three staff members of the school, and I underwent a rigorous 3 days training at the IB workshops at Mumbai. Countless Principals, school directors and teachers from IB schools in Japan, Hong Kong, China, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia and of course India participated. We learnt so many new things from our trainers and other workshop participants. We can’t wait to train the teachers to implement all that we learnt and improve student learning further.

OUR COMMITMENT TO THE BEST QUALITY EDUCATION IN THE WORLD – INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / SINGAPORE (CLASSES NUR TO 5); CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATION, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, ENGLAND (CLASSES 6 TO 8 )

One might ask ‘why an international curriculum?’ Well the answer is that, the world has become one global village. The world economically and socially is more interdependent and integrated than any other time in our history. People are constantly settling down in different parts of the world for work, livelihood and pursuing their passions. Even our own alumni have shifted to cities like Cupertino, San Francisco, London, Sydney, Melbourne and even places like Cyprus. We can hardly imagine what it would be like 5, 10, 15 years from now, when our children will go out into the larger world to make a place for themselves.
We are committed to give and do the best available internationally for our children. Anything less than that is not enough anymore.

The Modern School has implemented two new international curricula in recent times. For the first time in the city of Lucknow, the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program in classes Nursery to Fifth, and the Cambridge International Examinations in classes 6th to 8th. Both are international curricula, making The Modern School the only truly international school in the city of Lucknow.

HIGH VALUE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AT LOCAL COST
Common schools give the least intensive and diluted mass education, in classrooms which have 50 to 70 children. In such schools with large number of children per classroom, the school is not accountable for development of each child. The teacher treats teaching as a nine-pins game and because of the large class size cannot ensure that every child is properly educated. In such big classrooms only cramming takes place, and assimilative and transformative education is impossible. Our school’s commitment is to serve each child with limited number of children per classroom .
The international and individual attention standard requires not only appointment of more teachers with intensive and high training costs, but also requires less number of students per class for individual attention and extensive new facilities, like a new IB PYP library, new furniture, more classrooms, latest technology in the classroom, specialized teacher training. This makes the running of an international school three times costlier than schools which are merely teaching information.

COLLEGE SECTION ACHIEVEMENTS
And finally we come to the ICSE and ISC curricula in classes 9th to 12th. Our teachers continue to excel year after year in delivering outstanding board exam results. This year:

Indian School Certificate Examinations (ISC) 2011 Highlights
19 students scored 90+ in E.ED.
99 Highest marks scored in Biotechnology and Accounts.
98 Highest marks scored in Mathematics, Computer Science, Hindi.
14 students out of 49 scored 90+ in computer science.
12 students out of 53 scored 90+ in Commerce.

Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) 2011 Highlights
Every 4th child has scored above 90% aggregate.
9 students scored 100 in E.ED.
99 Highest marks scored in Computer Applications.
98 Highest marks scored in Commercial Studies.
53 students out of 97 scored 90+ marks in E.ED.
40 students out of 75 scored 90+ marks in Computer Applications.
13 students out of 31 scored 90+ marks in Commercial studies.

TOPPERS
CLASS XII (ISC) Aggregates
Divyum Rastogi 96.75%
Anuruddh Mishra 95.5%
Ishita Agarwal 94.25%
Sankalp Singh 93.75%
Avani Jain 93.25%
Divanshi Rastogi 93.25%
Akansha Kapur 92.75%
Akansha Singh 91.5%
Shreya Agarwal 91.5%
Stuti Rastogi 91.25%
Nihar Naveen 91%

CLASS X (ICSE) Aggregates
Devanshi Nagar 95.2%
Natasha Srivastava 95.2%
Vikas Mishra 94.2%
Maimoona Riaz 92.4%
Shubhangini Gupta 92.4%
Vishal Singh 92.2%
Anant Anand 92%
Karishma Rastogi 92%
Diksha Srivastava 91.8%
Palak Tandon 91.6%
Shubham Agarwal 91.6%
Ayush Goel 91.4%
Manas Tyagi 91.4%
Pooja Bhagwani 91.4%
Ayushi Marhia 91.2%
Rakshit Jaiswal 91%
Aman Srivastava 90.6%
Krishna Saxena 90.6%
Meghna 90.4%
Sakshi Singhal 90.4%
Ayush Agarwal 90%
Shraddha Sriv’tava 90%
Ayush Agarwal 90%

IIT SUCCESSES –
AS USUAL
As expected, Aniruddha Mishra and Biranch Tandon of The Modern School have excelled at the IIT entrance exams and got through to the Indian Institute of Technology in their first attempt.
Here I would like to remark on a recent development in the city. Some schools have started outsourcing student learning of classes 9th to 12th to outside coaching companies who prepare students for IIT and competitive exams along with preparation for board exams. The interesting thing is that the IIT success rate of such schools is same or inferior to schools like ours. This year we have had two students out of a class of about 70 science students, getting through to IIT. Similarly we have been having IIT successes every year.
But more importantly schools which outsource its ISC teaching along with an IIT coaching program deprive their students of all round development, and transformative student learning, which is more important for life long success.

LEADING QUALITY SCHOOL OF INDIA
In the end I take an opportunity to reiterate the achievements of the school, all aimed at the best possible student development.
1. The Modern School is the first school in the country to be certified for ISO9001 for its excellence quality management system, since 1997
2. The Modern School is the first school in the country to be accredited to Quality Council of India for excellence in quality school governance, since 2009
3. The Modern School is the first school of Lucknow to introduce the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program and also the Cambridge International Examinations for classes 6th to 8th.
4. The school has setup excellent new infrastructure for its IB PYP section:
a. new IB PYP library; b. music room; c. a/v room or audio/visual room; d. theatre and dance room; e. projectors and whiteboards in every classroom; f. Six special interactive starboards
5. The school has implemented national fire safety standards. The school has periodic fire drills and training for use of fire safety equipment for all its staff, bus drivers, and security guards.

Thank you.

Dear Parents,

The school has an extensive transformative educational program to build self confidence in children. In fact not only  the system transforms them, the overall culture of the system builds up their sense of a positive outlook towards themselves. In case the school’s efforts are complimented by the parental efforts at home, the children will have double the benefit. We shall be happy if you can share with us the results of your efforts, at home, to build your child’s self-confidence.

- Principal

1. Praise actions: Provide specific praise about actual actions performed and efforts made in the process. If praise is only attached to success, kids become focused on “winning”.

2. Identify strengths: Be sure to point out your child’s strengths regularly and, again, be specific.

3. Foster a sense of belonging: Show your children that they are important by listening to and responding to their needs and ideas. As much as possible, save grown up conversations for later so that you can have family conversations. Try to address their concerns as they arise, no matter how minor.

4. Celebrate small steps:  Choose attainable challenges for your kids and celebrate the small successes along the way. If we only celebrate the end goal, they will evaluate their self-worth based on whether or not they cross the finish line.

5. Encourage talents:  Let your child focus on their strengths and talents. Try not to force certain sports or activities just because they’re readily available or other kids are involved.

6. Be affectionate: Be generous with hugs, kisses, and I love yous. They thrive on affection. It helps them feel loved and secure.

7. Join with your child: Join in when your child engages in his favorite activity.  Ask questions. Take an interest.

8. Foster independence: Teach problem solving skills. Step back and let them work on challenges before jumping in to help. Help by asking, “how can we do this in a different way? Let’s come up with some ideas together.”

The children as well as I enjoyed the journey of learning. The children are very confident….”

- Shalini Chauhan, mother of Vamakshi, II B

The journey of learning is really a journey of learning for us parents, because we also learn by seeing our children taking the responsibility of preparing for public speaking by themselves. I feel very satisfied and positively motivated to see my child in very good hands.” – Neerja Srivstava, mother of Arunima Shanker, II D

It was an interactive and good session. Students were excited. They were comfortable and bold. Great!” – Deepak Khare, father of Divyabh, II B

My daughter Mili Tandon (II A) has shown improvement in all aspects of learning, understanding and her personality. Her personality has improved a lot like gaining confidence, speaking in public, etc. All credit goes to Vidyatree and International Baccalaureate (first time in Lucknow) in The Modern School.”

- Amit Tandon, father

HIS BIO-DATA

PROFESSOR C.N.R. RAO National Research Professor, Linus Pauling Research Professor & Honorary President Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, India Born: June 30, 1934, Bangalore, India

Important academic positions:  a. Professor of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India (Head of Department and later Dean of Research of the Institute) (1963-76). b. Visiting Professor, Purdue University, 1967-68; 1982 (in part). c. Commonwealth Visiting Professor, University of Oxford and Fellow, St. Catherine’s College, Oxford (1974-75). d. Distinguished Visiting Professor, LaTrobe University, Melbourne, Australia. e. Jawaharlal Nehru Professor, University of Cambridge and Professorial Fellow, King’s College, Cambridge (1983-84). f. Founder Chairman, Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit and Materials Research Laboratory, Indian Institute of Science (1977-84). g. Director, Indian Institute of Science (1984-94).  h. Visiting Professor, Universite Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France (1990). i. Honorary Professor, University of Wales, Cardiff (1993-1997).  j. President, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (1989-99). k. Albert Einstein Research Professor (1995-1999). l. Honorary Professor, Indian Institute of Science (1994- ). m. Visiting Professor, University of Southampton (2007-2010). n. Adjunct Professor of Chemistry, Purdue University (2004- ). o. Distinguished Visiting Professor of Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA (1995- ). p. Distinguished Research Fellow, University of Cambridge (2007 – ). q. Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of California, Berkeley (2008 – ).

Degrees, Fellowships and Memberships of Science Academies: M.Sc. (Banaras) 1953, D.Sc. (Mysore) 1960, Ph.D. (Purdue) 1958. Honorary Doctorates from 51 Universities: Foreign Universities: D.Sc. (honoris causa) Bordeaux, Caen, Colorado, Khartoum, Liverpool, Northwestern, Novosibirsk, Oxford, Purdue, Stellenbosch, Wales, Wroclaw and RAS (SB); Sc.D (honoris causa) Notre Dame; Fil. Dr. (honoris causa) Uppsala.

Indian Universities: D.Sc. (honoris causa) Aligarh, Anna, Andhra, Banaras, Bengal Engineering, Bangalore, Burdwan, Bundelkhand, Delhi, Hyderabad, IGNOU, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, IIT New Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological, Kalyani, Karnataka, Kolkata, Kuvempu, Lucknow, Mangalore, Manipur, Mysore, Osmania, Panjab, Roorkee, Sikkim Manipal, SRM University, Uttar Pradesh Technological University, Sri Venkateswara, Vidyasagar, Visveswaraya Technological, LL.D (honoris Causa) SV University; D.Litt. (KSOU); Nadoja (Hampi); Desikottama (Vishva-Bharathi).

Fellowships of Academies: Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences. Fellow, Indian National Science Academy. Fellow, The Royal Society, London. Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences, USA. Honorary Foreign Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Member, Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Foreign Member, American Philosophical Society. Founding Fellow, Third World Academy of Sciences. Foreign Member, Soviet (now Russian) Academy of Sciences. Foreign Member, Polish Academy of Sciences. Foreign Member, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Foreign Member, Slovenian Academy of Sciences, Ljubljana. Foreign Member, Serbian Academy of Arts & Sciences, Yugoslavia. Honorary Foreign Member, Korean Academy of Science & Technology. Foreign Member, Academia Europaea. Titular Member, European Academy of Arts, Sciences & Humanities. Corresponding Member, Brazilian Academy of Sciences. Honorary Member, Japan Academy. Foreign Member, Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences. Foreign Member, French Academy of Sciences. Honorary Member, African Academy of Sciences. Honorary Member, Caribbean Academy of Sciences. Foreign Fellow, The Royal Society of Canada. Foreign Member, Argentina Academy of Sciences Foreign Member, Mangolian Academy of Sciences

Research interests: Solid State and Materials Chemistry, Structural Chemistry; Some of the major areas of research are transition metal oxide systems, (new synthesis and novel structures, metal-insulator transitions, CMR materials, superconductivity, multiferroics etc.), hybrid materials and nanomaterials including nanotubes and graphene. Other major professional interest: Science education and direct contact programmes with school children Publications: Around 1500 research publications and 45 books.; Citation : Over 42,000 total citations (H-index, 90+).

Editorial Boards: Member of the Editorial Boards of several International journals dealing with Chemical Physics, Spectroscopy and Solid State and Materials Chemistry, such as Chem. Phys. Lett., Modern Phys. Lett., J. Solid State Chem., J. Mol. Struc., Mat. Res. Bull., Philosophical Magazine, Topics in Catalysis, J. Mater. Chem., Chemistry – An European Journal, Solid State Sciences, ChemPhysChem, J. Nanosci. Nanotech., Dalton Transactions, Small, Curr. Nanoscience, Chem. Soc. Rev., Bulletin of Chem. Soc. of Japan, J. Cluster Science, J. Experimental Nanoscience, Chemistry – An Asian Journal, Chem. Commun., Proc. Royal Soc. (London).

Important Medals, Prizes and Honours: (a) International: MARLOW MEDAL for outstanding contributions to Physical Chemistry, Faraday Society, England (1967).  CENTENNIAL FOREIGN FELLOWSHIP of the American Chemical Society (1976).   THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY (LONDON) MEDAL for outstanding contributions to Solid State Chemistry (1981).   HEVROVSKY GOLD MEDAL, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (1989). HONORARY FELLOWSHIP, The Royal Society of Chemistry, London (1989). BLACKETT LECTURESHIP, The Royal Society, London (1991). ALBERT EINSTEIN GOLD MEDAL, UNESCO, Paris (1996). LINNETT VISITING PROFESSORSHIP, University of Cambridge (1998). CENTENARY LECTURESHIP AND MEDAL, Royal Society of Chemistry, London (2000).   HUGHES MEDAL for Physical Sciences, The Royal Society, London (2000).  OFFICIER DE L’ORDRE DES PALMES ACADEMIQUES, France (2002).  ORDER OF SCIENTIFIC MERIT, GRAND-CROSS, President of Brazil (2002).  GAUSS PROFESSORSHIP, The Academy of Sciences, Gottingen, Germany (2003).  SOMIYA AWARD of the International Union of Materials Research Society (IUMRS) (2004).  THE DAN DAVID PRIZE for Science in the Future Dimension in the field of materials science (2005).

CHEMICAL PIONEER, American Institute of Chemists, USA (2005).  CHEVALIER DE LA LÉGION D’HONNEUR by the President of the French Republic (2005).  HONORARY FELLOWSHIP, Institute of Physics, London (2006).   HONORARY FELLOWSHIP, St. Catherine’s College, Oxford (2007).  NIKKEI ASIA PRIZE FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION from Japan (2008).  ORDER OF FRIENDSHIP, by the President of Russia (2009).  THE ROYAL MEDAL (THE QUEEN’S MEDAL), by the Royal Society, London, U.K (2009).  THE AUGUST-WILHELM-VON-HOFFMANN MEDAL for outstanding contributions to chemistry by the German Chemical Society (2010).   A.D. LITTLE LECTURER IN CHEMISTRY, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2010).   (b) National: BHATNAGAR PRIZE in Chemical Sciences, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India (1968).  PADMA SHRI, National honour bestowed by the President of India (1974).   S.N. BOSE MEDAL for Physical Sciences, Indian National Science Academy (1980).   PADMA VIBHUSHAN, National honour bestowed by the President of India (1985).   MEGHNAD SAHA MEDAL, Indian National Science Academy (1990).   GOLDEN JUBILEE PRIZE in Physical Sciences, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, India (1991).   KARNATAKA RATNA, Highest honour of the State of Karnataka (2001).   INDIA SCIENCE AWARD (2004), First recipient of the highest scientific recognition of the Government of India.   DHIRUBHAI AMBANI LIFE-ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR INNOVATION (2011)  Other Awards and Recognitions: YEDANAPALLI MEDAL AND PRIZE for outstanding research contributions in Physical Chemistry, Indian Chemical Society (1973).   JAWAHARLAL NEHRU FELLOWSHIP, Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund (1973).   P.C. RAY MEDAL in Chemistry, University of Calcutta (1975).   SIR C.V. RAMAN AWARD for experimental research in Physical Sciences by the University Grants Commission (1975).   FICCI AWARD in Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (1977).   ZAHEER LECTURESHIP, Indian Chemical Society (1980).    KARNATAKA STATE AWARD (1982).   DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS MEDAL, Indian Institute of Science (1983).   P.C. RAY MEDAL, Indian Chemical Society (1984).   NATIONAL FELLOWSHIP, National Institute of Education (NCERT) (1986).   HONORARY MEMBERSHIP, Society of Materials Science, India (1987).   JAWAHARLAL NEHRU AWARD for scientific research (1988).    B. ROY MEDAL of the Indian Physical Society (1988).   K.G. NAIK GOLD MEDAL for Chemical Technology (1988).   ZAHEER LECTURESHIP, Zaheer Science Foundation (1988).   C.V. RAMAN CENTENARY MEDAL (1988).   HONORARY FELLOWSHIP, Institution of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers (1988).   HONORARY FOREIGN FELLOWSHIP, Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka (1988).    SARABHAI LECTURESHIP, Indian Council of Social Science Research (1989).   G.M. MODI AWARD for innovative scientific research (1989).   HONORARY MEMBERSHIP, International Academy of Ceramics (1989).   HONORARY FELLOWSHIP, Electrochemical Society of India (1989).   HONORARY MEMBERSHIP, Materials Research Society of Japan (1990).   HONORARY MEMBERSHIP, Materials Research Society of South Korea (1991).   HONORARY FELLOWSHIP of the Institution of Engineers (1991).  GOYAL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY of the Sri Kala Ram Trust (1992).   SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AWARD of the Kamal Kumari Foundation (1992).     MRSI PRIZE in Superconductivity and Materials Science (1992).   DISTINGUISHED MATERIALS SCIENTIST MEDAL, MRSI (1993).   G.P. CHATTERJEE MEMORIAL AWARD of the Indian Science Congress (1993).   U.S. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES INTERNATIONAL LECTURER (1993).   P.C. RAY MEMORIAL AWARD of the Indian Science Congress (1994).   HONORARY FELLOWSHIP of the Indian Institute of Science (1994).   DR. MAHENDRA LAL SIRCAR Prize of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (1994).    SAHABDEEN INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR SCIENCE, Sri Lanka (1994).   KELLY LECTURER, Purdue University (1994).    N.R. DHAR AWARD of the National Academy of Sciences (1994).  ISCA MEDAL of the Asiatic Society (1995).   ASUTOSH MOOKERJEE MEMORIAL MEDAL of the Indian Science Congress (1996).    HONORARY FELLOWSHIP, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (1996).    HONORARY FELLOWSHIP, Korean Association for the Advancement of Sciences (1997).    HONORARY FELLOWSHIP, Cardiff University of Wales (1997).    H.K. FIRODIA AWARD for Excellence in Science & Technology (1997).      VIGYAN RATNA, Indian Society of Analytical Scientists (1998).    HONORARY FELLOWSHIP, Indian Chemical Society (1999).   HONORARY FELLOWSHIP, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (1999).   SHATABDI PURASKAR, Indian Science Congress (1999).   HALLIM DISTINGUISHED LECTURER, Korean Academy of Science & Technology (1999).   COMMANDER OF THE NATIONAL ORDER OF LION, Senegal (1999).   HONORARY MEMBERSHIP, The Indian Institute of Metals (2000).   HARI OM ASHRAM PRERIT SENIOR SCIENTIST AWARD (2000).   MILLENNIUM PLAQUE OF HONOUR, Indian Science Congress (2001).   HONORARY FELLOWSHIP, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (2001).   COMMANDER OF THE ORDER OF RIO BRANCO, President of Brazil (2002).   HOMI BHABHA LECTURE, TIFR, Mumbai (2002).   AVRA FOUNDATION AWARD, Hyderabad (2002).   D.S. KOTHARI LECTURESHIP, Indian National Science Academy (2002).   HONORARY PROFESSOR, Jilin University, Changchun, China (2002).   CHANCELLOR LECTURER, Lousiana State University, (2002).   LIFE-TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, Indian Chemical Society (2003).   MENTOR OF SCIENCE Gold Medal, Indian Science Congress (2003).   SARVADHIKARI MEDAL, Calcutta University (2004).   LIFE-TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, Indian Science Congress (2004).   HONORARY FELLOWSHIP of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (2005).   MEDAL OF HONOR, Chemical Research Society of India (2005).   BARRETT LECTURE, Illinois University (2005).   WATT LECTURE, University of Texas (2005).   BURSTEIN LECTURE, University of Pennsylvania (2005).   PINNAMANENI AWARD for science (2005).

SRI CHANDRASEKARENDRA SARASWATI NATIONAL EMINENCE AWARD FOR SCIENCE (2005).   L. SINGHANIA-IIM LUCKNOW AWARD for leadership in Science & Technology (2005).   INDIA CITATION LAUREATE 2006 (Thomson/ISI, USA).   NATIONAL RESEARCH PROFESSORSHIP, by the Government of India (2006).   INSA MEDAL FOR PROMOTION AND SERVICE TO SCIENCE, 2006.   MAGNA LECTURE, Brazilian Academy of Science, 2007.   LIFE MEMBER, Christ Church College, Oxford, 2007.   DURHAM LECTURES, 2007.   KNOWLEDGE MILLENNIUM AWARD, ASSOCHAM, 2007.   BANGALORE NANO NATIONAL AWARD 2007 by Government of Karnataka.   FIRST JC BOSE LECTURE, Kolkata, 2007.

FIRST LAUREATE OF THE 21ST KHWARIZMI INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AWARD by the Iranian Research Organization for Science & Technology (2008).   THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE by MRSI (India) (2009).   KELLY LECTURE, Cambridge University (2009).

HONORARY FELLOW, Chinese Chemical Society, China (2010).   DISTINGUISHED LECTURE, Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology (2010).   FIRST PC Ray Lecture, IACS Kolkata (2010).   EDGE Award for leadership in education (2011).

Important positions in National and International Bodies:    Chairman, Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (2009 – ).   Immediate Past President, The Academy of Sciences for the developing world (TWAS), Trieste.   Chairman, National Nano Initiative, Government of India.   Member, Atomic Energy Commission of India.   Member, Executive Board, Science Institutes Group, Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton.   Founder President, Chemical Research Society of India.   Founder President, Materials Research Society of India.   Chairman, Indo-Japan Science Council.   Chairman, Indo-Brazil Science Council.   Chairman, Indo-Russia Long-term Programme in Science & Technology.   Chairman, Standing Committee of the Council of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER).   Member, Council of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.   International Adviser of the National Institute of Materials Science (NIMS) of Japan.   Vice-President, International Organization of Chemistry for Development.   Important positions in various bodies held in the past:   Chairman, Scientific Advisory Committee to the Union Cabinet.   Chairman, Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India (1985-89).   Chancellor, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong.   President, International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).   Chancellor, Assam University.   Member, Executive Board, International Council of Science (ICSU)   President, Indian National Science Academy.   President, Indian Academy of Sciences.   President, Indian Science Congress.   Chairman, Advisory Board, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (India).   Member, University Grants Commission, India.   Member, Planning Commission, Government of India.   Chairman, IUPAC Commission on Spectroscopy and Molecular Structure and also of the IUPAC Committee on Teaching of Chemistry.   Chairman, Chemical Research Committee, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.   Chairman, Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Committee, Department of Atomic Energy.   Member, Board of Directors, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited.   Chairman (Honorary), Board of Directors, Hindustan Insecticides Limited (a Public sector undertaking).   Member, National Committee on Science & Technology and later Science Advisory Committee to the Cabinet.   Member, Science and Engineering Research Council, Government of India   Member, Executive Committee, Committee on Data for Science and Technology (ICSU).   Director, Reserve Bank of India.

Present were Dr. Nityanand, Former Director CDRI and former Chairman of the school’s Advisory Council. The event was presided over by Honorable Justice DK Trivedi (Retd), senior most Judge of Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, and current Chairman of the school’s Advisory Council. And also present was the founder of the school, Shri Rakesh Kapoor, the quality pioneer and creator of KQES curriculum. They were all enthralled by the passion and creativity of the students.

The special guest to the event was Mr. Ritik Malhotra, undergraduate student at University of California Berkely in USA and two time second place winner at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. He observed that the students are much smarter than students of the same age in the USA, and that The Modern School is one of very few schools in India taking a step in the right direction by hosting a projects fair like Cognito (and that too for the 22^nd time!) and developing creativity of students and facilitating in-depth scientific experimentation.

Also Ms. Meena Kane, Principal, welcomed the chief guest and other guests. She talked about the newly introduced International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IB PYP) system of education, brought to the city of Lucknow for the first time by The Modern School, Aliganj. IB PYP is headquartered at Geneva and has more than 3000 schools across 139 countries have implemented this curriculum. IB PYP classes are child centered unlike traditional classrooms which are teacher and book centered. An IB PYP teacher facilitates the curiosities, questions and research and inquiry strands of children.

Ms. Meena Kane also announced the opening of the Day Boarding facility at the school premises which parents would be able to avail from the new session next year.

The students demonstrated projects like the production of electricity through water, robotic hand, a car for which water was used as fuel, bio generator using bio diesel made from waste vegetable oil the waste products of which were used to make soap, probability, genetic engineering, Rain Water Harvesting, Working of satellite, Optical illusion, Commerce gallery etc.

Primary children were not behind from their senior counterparts with projects like Motorized boat, DJ lights, Chipko  Movement and Dadi Ma ke Nuskhe.

The tiny tots of pre primary displayed the varied and rich culture of India through setups aout the various festivals and traditions in India.

Ritik is scientifically-driven and has been engrossed in scientific research for the past three years. Through his efforts, Ritik has become a two-time finalist (in 2009 & 2010) at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), winning second place both times for his scientific research, once in the category of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, for engineering a cost-efficient multi-touch screen with hover-detection capabilities, and another in the category of Health & Medical Sciences, for engineering a genetics-based early disease detection mechanism to detect lethal diseases, such as cancer, before their instigation period.

For his excellence in winning second place at the ISEF, MIT awarded Ritik by naming a minor planet after him, named Ritikmal (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=25717+Ritikmal). Furthermore, Ritik was offered a summer-time internship at both Agilent Technologies and Intel Corporation as a high school student, where he conducted research on mass spectrometry and perceptual computing (computing without the traditional mouse and keyboard setup). Ritik was also named an Intel Science Talent Search semifinalist for his research paper on improving the sensitivities of mass spectrometry machines.

Ritik was also highly active in his high school, presiding as the president of both the Speech and Debate team and the Computer Science club. Ritik was nationally ranked fourth in his form of debate, and in the top 100 in the USA’s Computer Science Olympiad. Along with all his activities, Ritik received numerous awards, including the National Merit Scholar, awarding him a scholarship to his university of choice.

At The Modern School’s Cognito, while viewing many of the projects and talking to the students, Ritik duly noted that the students at The Modern School are at a level of intelligence much higher than what he had seen back in the US, and all they need is deeper exposure to in-depth scientific experimentation. He further commented that The Modern School is one of very few schools in India taking a step in the right direction by hosting a projects fair like Cognito (and that too for the 22nd year!) and developing creativity in students’ minds.