Academic Life
The school follows flexible modular scheduling to educate the pupils. The school practices a five and a half day week consisting of 40 periods (or "schools"), each of 40 minutes. The school day begins with "first bell" soon after 6:15 am. The boys have chhota haazri before doing calisthenics outdoors on the playing fields. There are two schools before breakfast and five more before lunch. All meals are served in a central dining hall, and boys from each table take turns acting as waiters for their table-mates.
The academic year has always consisted of two terms: the Spring Term and the Autumn Term. In the early decades, the academic year followed the calendar year. This changed in the late 1970s so that the Spring Term now runs from February to the end of May. New pupils ("D-Formers") join Doon at the beginning of April. The Autumn Term runs from August to the year-end examinations in November after which the boys are promoted to the new class beginning in February. These internal examinations were known as "trials", while examinations leading to certificates such as the Indian School Certificate were known as "finals".
Discipline has always been strict, and the school has expelled children from well-known families. In the 1950s, Martyn's suggestion that Sanjay Gandhi finish his senior year elsewhere was accepted without question by his mother, Indira Gandhi. In contrast, Doon's decision to expel a ward of Chief Minister Nityanand Swami of Uttarkhand in 2000 led to allegations of threats to disrupt power and water supplies; the difficulty was overcome by the prime minister's intervention.
Social work, known formally as "Socially Useful Productive Work", is also part of school life. All boys of the school must complete a mandatory quota of social service hours every term. Pupils and alumni have frequently organised efforts across India to assist people affected by natural disasters. During the 1991 Uttarkashi earthquake the school's amateur radio club was used by the government for communication purposes. Doon also oversees a Panchayat Ghar teaching impoverished children, and many building projects and workshops for the local community.
Doon has exchange programmes with a number of overseas schools. As of September 2011, a small number of Doon students were attending Eton College, Harrow School, Millfield, Schule Schloss Salem, The Armidale School, Bridge House School, Deerfield Academy, King's Academy, Stowe School and St. Mark's School (Texas).
In 2011 Doon twinned with The Thomas Hardye School, Dorchester, England, through a cultural exchange project organised by the BBC and British Council in light of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games held in the UK.
Read more about this topic: The Doon School
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