The Beginning - How SPV came into being  In the late 1950s a group of sensitive and visionary Gujaratis living in Delhi felt that they should establish an institution commemorating the memory of the great national leader and first deputy Prime Minister of independent India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. What could be better than establishing a school in the national capital? But as the Sardar was a leader with a difference, the school too should be an institution with a difference. This was not an easy task.
The Gujaratis, who had come from their state and Mumbai, felt the need for a school which would keep alive the best of Gujarati culture and heritage by providing suitable environment for their children to imbibe in. At the same time these traditions would have to be combined with those of the new independent India. This was the era of idealism and people were beginning to think in terms of a nation rather than a mere state or region.
The Gujarat Education Society founded in 1956 under the dynamic and progressive leadership of Shri H.M. Patel, its founder President, and the then Principal, Dr. Raghubhai M. Nayak set about estabilishing an institution quite unique in many ways. One of its cultural tenets was to establish a school, where both Hindi and English would be the media of instruction, but introduced at different stages. The ultimate objective was to produce young citizens who would not only be bilingual but equilingual in Hindi (the national link language) and English (the international link language). No private school in Delhi had thought of this then nor has since subscribed to it. Although the school, founded and managed by Gujaratis would have the best Gujarati culture, the overall aim was that its pupils should be Indians first and foremost. The school should not be irrationally or blindly biased in favour of any province or people. Location
In the middle of the verdant and spacious Lodi Estate stands the Vidyalaya. A sturdy building consisting of a large auditorium, well-equipped laboratories for Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Home Science and Geography, a Science Activity Centre, a Computer Unit, a spacious library with over 20,000 volumes, wood-craft workshop, rooms for music and art, halls for badminton and table-tennis, a studio for clay-modelling, batik and provisions for ikebana, bakery, cookery and food preservation, a counselling unit, staff rooms, besides the regular class rooms, a well-stocked canteen and a book shop made up the shell which houses 1500 pupils. These range between the ages of almost 4 years (Nursery) to 17+ years (Class XII), the final class of the 10+2 scheme. For emergencies as well as for regular health check-ups, there is a medical room.
To the south of the school building is the main playground: cricket, football, volley ball, badminton and basket ball are popular games. A few metres away is a new Olympic-size artificial climbing wall, the best of the kind in this country. Young climbers have already topped state and national level competitions. Adjoining it are a skating rink and the ?nets?, with two cemented and two turf pitches. A 200 metre track is provided in the middle of the playground.
Cricket is played on a turf wicket. Our boys have been regularly selected and on occasions captained Delhi State and North Zone teams for the C.K. Naidu, Cooch Behar, Vijay Hazare, Vijay Merchant and Vinoo Mankad Trophies. They have also been selected for the All-India School Elevn and played against Trinidad and Tobago, the Australian School Elevens, the South African Under 19, and the England School Elevens. 1993 saw two of them visiting South Africa for the under 19 test. In 1996, two boys went to the UK and two toured South Africa. More did the same in 1997. Year after year, a number of them attend prestigious coaching camps.
Our boys have been touring England to play friendly fixtures every summer since 1985.
To date four of them have played for India. Vivek Razdan made his debut against Pakistan; Ajay Jadeja, has been in the news in test matches for the past few years. Gagan Khoda has been on the threshold since 1996; January 1998 saw Rahul Singhvi debute at Dhaka in Bangladesh and Deep Das Gupta.
The administrative wing overlooks the lawns of the compound, flanked by roses on one side, seasonal and elegant legerstroemias and royal palms on the other two. There are over 1000 trees on the campus. They include fruit trees such as mango, jamun, mulberry, amla, lemon, guava, pomegranate etc., ornamental trees such as laburnum, drooping ashok, gulmohar, bottlebrush and others such as royal palms, pines, chir, eucalyptus, silver oak, neem, sheeshum, pipal and banyan. |
