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City Montessori School
Winner of the 2002 UNESCO Prize for Peace Education
The City Montessori School (CMS) in Lucknow, India, was founded in 1959 by a young visionary couple, Mr. Jagdish Gandhi, a socially motivated Gandhian, and his wife, Mrs. Bharti Gandhi.
Rich in vision and enthusiasm, the devoted pair launched their first campus on borrowed capital of three hundred rupees (less than $10), housed it in rented premises and began with only five students.
Greatly inspired by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, they wanted the school to be an instrument for inculcating values of universal brotherhood and the cultivation of virtues. The stirring call of Gandhi and Bhave 'Jai Jagat' (Hail the World) became the school motto. The school has been true to its mission, and even today Jai Jagat is not only the CMS greeting and slogan, it is also its guiding vision - to inspire children and youth to think in terms of the welfare of all peoples of the world.
Today CMS is the world's largest school in one city, with over 27,000 students from pre-school through high school level in 22 Lucknow locations. In 1998, CMS added a new degree college for girls, making it the only school in the world with classes ranging from age two to the degree level. CMS is also the only school in the world with an Innovation Department and a teacher's training college.
In 2002, CMS became the first school in the world to be honoured with the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education in recognition of its efforts "to promote the universal values of education for peace and tolerance at a time when these values are increasingly being challenged."
More information about the CMS can be found at
www.cmseducation.org
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