Hum Honge Kamiyab – From 'Me' to 'We'

Every morning at The Fabindia School, as we stood in assembly, our voices rose in unison, singing Hum Honge Kamiyab. It was more than just a song; it was a promise—a hope we carried in our hearts. It felt almost like our school anthem, a close substitute for the official school song.

One day, while walking out of school, I noticed something above the exit gate—a green archway that welcomed students, covered in thick climbers and the ever-flourishing karonda tree. Its deep green leaves remained fresh throughout the year, providing an incredible, shaded pathway. But what made it even more exciting were the small, tangy karonda fruits that ripened at just the right time—perfect for students to pluck and enjoy at the beginning of every new term. The entrance wasn't just a passage; it was a memory, a ritual, a place of shared laughter.

But that day, something else caught my eye. Painted in bold letters above the gate were the words HUM HONGE KAMIYAB.

A gentleman (Mr Sandeep Dutt, then the chairman of the Trust that operates the school) in the assembly, addressing the students, told us, "Every time you pass through this gate," he announced, "say these words in your heart. Carry their meaning forward."

I was in Class 6 then, and while the message was inspiring, something about it unsettled me.

A Question That Wouldn't Leave Me

Why just Hum Honge Kamiyab? Where was the rest of the song? And more importantly—why Hum and not Main?

That evening, at home, I shared my thoughts with MaaSa. “Why do we say Hum Honge Kamiyab instead of Main Hounga Kamiyab?” I asked, my young mind wrestling with the thought: Does saying "Hum" make us sound like royalty, speaking in plural like the kings of old?

And then, something else bothered me. The sign above the gate had Honge instead of Hoga. As a typical Rajasthani, I naturally tended to replace "we" with "I," I wondered if the painter had done the same, making a grammatical mistake. A small part of me wished my Hindi teacher, Ms. Rajeshwari, had noticed it. With her red pen, I imagined her circling the words and making us write them correctly ten times over. But then, I realized—maybe she hadn't spotted it because she didn't have a tall ladder to reach the sign! And I certainly didn't dare to point it out to her.

Days passed, but the question remained unanswered.

The Answer That Changed My Perspective

Then, one day, I found my chance. During a Student Council and Editorial Board meeting, I sat across from Ms. Deepika Tandon, our principal. I finally asked her:

"Ma'am, why do we say Hum Honge Kamiyab instead of Main Hounga Kamiyab?"

She leaned back in her chair, a thoughtful smile on her lips. She simply observed me momentarily as if deciding how best to answer. Then she said:

"Kunal, when you become successful, it's never just about you. Your success is tied to the people around you—your teachers, your friends, the driver bhaiya who picks you up daily, the Bai Ji who cleans the school, the librarian who helps you find books and even the gatekeeper who watches over the school. When you succeed, all of them succeed in some way, too. Your journey is never yours alone. That's why it's Hum Honge Kamiyab—because success is a collective effort, not an individual one."

That day, something shifted within me. Schools, education, and life are not shaped by a single person. It takes a community. The teachers in the classroom, the staff in the background, even the smallest contributions—each one plays a role in shaping a student.

From Main to Hum, my perspective changed.

Now, I remember those words whenever I walk through a school gate. Success is never alone. It belongs to everyone who walks the journey with us.

And I hope, one day, I will make the same journey.

KUNAL RAJPUROHIT

Fellow & Analyst

www.schooleducation.com

What School means to me? - Sukhpreet Kaur

School means to me….

A secure place that is full of joy, happiness, respect, dedication, giving and helping to fulfil our purpose in life. It touches each and every individual who is a part of this sacred place. A place where I can learn and grow. It’s a place where I can be myself and express myself. It’s a place where I can meet people with vast experience in life. It’s a place where I can be challenged and push myself. 

It helps everyone to learn challenges and to overcome problems that may arise in everyday situations. A place where I can share my knowledge and passion for learning with my students. The school doesn’t just teach you facts and academic skills, but also discipline, social and communication skills, leadership and inculcate values. It gives a sturdy foundation to the life of the students as well as everyone around. It is also the place where I can help my students grow into responsible and successful adults. It is like an organization of the human body from cell (brick) to organism (school) where both target the harmonious development of an individual.   

It is a place where everyone gets a vision and wings to reach that vision. So, once we understand that vision clarifies purpose, life will become simpler and more meaningful.

Sukhpreet Kaur

Gyanshree School, Noida | Masterclass 2024

Freedom and Peace - Ajay Vijayvargi

India won freedom by Peace (Non-violence) and now it is maintaining peace in Kashmir and

in other states with freedom by democratic ways (abolishing Section 370 and 35 A) – passing a bill in the Parliament.

Freedom is important for all humans; we have numerous examples in History where nations and races have struggled to win Freedom – Freedom movement of India, and freedom movements of South Africa – apartheid. All these struggles were led by great leaders who had a vision for the nation.

At individual level freedom can have different perspectives- freedom from orthodox beliefs, from habits that are harmful and evil practices in the society. Good habits are hard to form but easy to live with whereas bad habits are easy to form but are hard to live with; one must free himself from bad habits.

Peace at the micro level – when children are small parents show concern, care and love for them and when parents are old grown-up children show love, care and concern for them, so as an end result wherever these relationships exist peace also exists. Peace is important for an individual to become responsible. An individual if at peace at home will be at peace with the outer world.

If we are free we will be peaceful and if we are at peace with ourselves we can plan our freedom at all levels – individual, social and spiritual levels and this will help us to grow freely with peace.

Ajay Vijayvargi

The Fabindia School.

avi@fabindiaschools.in

Happiness and Tolerance: Punita Chouhan

“The Smiley face is a well –known symbol for happiness.”

Happiness is an important value in human life. It makes life much easier than other things.

When a person is happy in his life then he will make his surrounding happy.

Happiness is all about having a balance between pleasure and purpose and when we’re setting goals, it should come from a place of what’s going to make us feel more of these feelings rather than what we think should make us happy.Some different values also play an important role to make it valuable -like honesty, behaviour, politeness, tolerance, etc because these values are interconnected with each other.

“Tolerance and happiness are necessary for our species,”

Tolerance is one such thing that is developed through difficulties. Sometimes it sounds like that happier person tolerates more. Actually  from one side it can look like that people are compromising and tolerating for happiness but it is not. Happiness is the choice, some can be happy without anything and some can be unhappy with everything. But I think happiness is all about controlling our mind to being, therefore, promoting happiness just means helping out other people and getting along positively. Having a positive mindset is the first step to attain 'happiness’. Tolerance is ‘good’ stress; it doesn't make anyone happy or angry. But if you ask for the reason after tolerating, then it becomes knowledge. The stress is gone.

Happiness comes from fulfilment. If you have a vision and strive for that vision you will be happy. Success always comes last.  

Punita Chouhan

The Fabindia School

Lockdown: Time to rediscover ourselves - Ajay Vijayvargi

Two successive lockdowns​ of 21 and 19 days due to the pandemic helped many of us 

discover our talent and potential. Being at home for so many days  in touch with our friends, family members, colleagues and students (those who are in education stream) and searching out old friends from our school and college life on social media platforms - Facebook, Instagram etc.

Those who are fitness conscious started doing yoga and other fitness exercises with the help videos on internet. Some enjoyed watching T.V for hours on various channels and improved their General Knowledge on various topics - Geography (spread of Covid- 19 from China), Life Science (symptoms of Covid-19, fever, difficulty in breathing, Hydroxy Chloroquine Sulphate), Political Science (how various leaders blaming China and WHO ) etc.

Many of us stuck to mobiles and laptops  and learnt new concept of Work from home and improved our knowledge on various apps as Google Classroom, Zoom, Hangouts and many more,kept themselves updated with these futuristic apps and concept.

Most of us also learnt the importance of freedom after being stuck at home due to lockdown, living with limited resources like no online deliveries by Zomato, Swiggy  etc,in red zones no vegetables, fruits, milk. No junk food, we learnt  life can be lived without all these. Most of us tried hands in kitchen whether it is simple cup of tea or some recipes from You tube.

The list is endless and unknowingly we discovered many values such as Unity - we all stood united to minimize the spread of pandemic, appreciation for ladies at home as during the lockdown when everyone is at home, their work in the kitchen has increased many times, help poor in the neighborhood with food, this list can also be endless.

We all collaborated​ in nation's progress by staying at home, trusted our leadership, developed  new vision towards our lives.

 Ajay Vijayvargi

The Fabindia School

AI MADE EASY BY Professor M.M. Pant

Better learning is not memorising!
We need to inculcate the ability to learn, need for lifelong learners and building learning communities.

Prof. M.M. Pant is promoting the ideation, development and delivery of educational products, processes and services for the next generation learning space in the post Internet post-WTO world. In tune with the emerging Knowledge-Economy, he is exploring the creation of quality Knowledge products and ways of enhancing the productivity of Knowledge workers.

Vision

To promote learning, thinking and caring to achieve the higher goals of human existence and flourish, prosper, thrive and be happy and fulfilled in the rapidly changing future. To be future-ready.

Mission

To raise the economic potential through personalised learning interventions covering knowing, being and doing for better and 21st Century Skills enhancement of unskilled, poorly skilled and erstwhile excluded individuals, leading not only to their prosperity but also leading to higher national productivity and greater GDP, giving India a pivotal position in the world economy.

Learning 221™ is a program for effective and authentic learning in the 2nd decade of the 21st century

Whatever It Takes - PLCs lead the change

The Power of Collective Intelligence

How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don’t Learn?

All we need to do is work hard to honour and organize the creative capacities of school-based teacher teams, of authentic “learning communities,” to live up to the mission and vision that glibly proclaim that “all children will learn.”

This will only be accomplished by systematically and aggressively identifying and solving problems as they merge; by creating “places of action, experimentation and a willingness to test ideas.

The stories of schools from the book, WHATEVER IT TAKES, featured schools encountered and solved these problems make for great reading. They worked on problems thoughtfully, collectively and continuously. These schools found a way, they worked while inventing, innovating and adjusting their way towards excellence.

An Unprecedented Challenge

“Quality teaching requires strong professional learning communities; they must become the building blocks that establish a new foundation for schools.” 

Professional learning communities (PLC’s) differ from traditional schools in following substantive ways: Shared Mission, Vision, Values and Goals.

Educators in PLCs embrace the notion that the fundamental purpose of school is learning, not teaching. 

My next post would be defining the School Motto, extracted from the book, WHATEVER IT TAKES.

~Ms. Rajeshree Shihag is the Principal of The Fabindia School. Her email address is principal@fabindiaschools.in

My Vision - Equal Opportunities for Boys and Girls

Payal Sharma

My vision is to become a good teacher and to build a platform where males and females are professionally given equal opportunities to grow.

As a teacher I want to become a friend, a guide and a helper for my students. I want to become a part of their lives in such a way that they don’t hesitate to share anything with me. My vision is to understand the cause behind student’s disinterest in the classroom.

I want to be a good teacher because I love to be with kids. This profession helps me to be a learner every day. Whenever I talk to my students I forget everything that is happening in my life and I become a part of them.

No other profession gives me as much satisfaction as teaching. The teacher training program happening in my school is helping me to deliver my subjects in the most effective and creative ways in the classroom. But I have to keep improving and learning.

Professional Equality for Males and Females

I want to build a platform where males and females are professionally given equal opportunities to grow. I think this way because of my life circumstances; I wasn’t able to work and research as biotechnologist just because I’m a woman and I received no support that my profession requires. I think many women must be facing it every day. Even today when we live in an educated society, such things happen with women!

To make a difference I have started with my own home with my three years old daughter. I don’t want her to feel later in life that she’s in anyway less because she’s a girl. I don’t want her to think, “Why am I a girl?”

In my neighbourhood, a family is sending their son to an expensive school but their daughter to a less expensive school. I have talked twice with the family and even visited their home to help them understand that girls should get equal opportunities. They said they’ll admit her to a better school later. But I know this will not happen. I dream that one day I’ll join a NGO and work for equal opportunities for boys and girls.

My giving extra time to school to attend training workshops was not liked by few people in my family. However the more I attend these workshops, the more I’m able to understand them.  Now I understand why they behave the way they behave. These workshops are helping me to understand not even children but even adults around me.

At DBN Amarvilla, there are days when resource persons, trainers get to converse with teachers on their vision and dreams. Our series titled ‘My Vision, My Dream’ is all about the aspirations of our teachers ever ready to embark on a journey of learning, exploration and self-discovery.

Post by: Payal Sharma, DBN Amarvilla School, Jammu, Email Payalsharma963@gmail.com 

My Vision, My Dream – By Girja Koul

“Children have the ability to take ownership of their learning and develop and explore their curiosity.”

My vision as a person is to contribute towards the society for positive things, positive change. As a person, I want to experience a change in the society through education, culture and values. My vision is that we must understand the child’s potentialities, his abilities, his aptitude and many other things. My vision is that I wish to dedicate my life towards this work for society, particularly through education.

My experience of my life’s vision has been amazing for the last few years. I have been focussing on my goals. Changes are happening in my school DBN, and it’s amazing to learn new things about my profession and find new clarity to achieve my goals. It’s an incredible period of my life.

As a teacher, over the years, I have practiced every day to learn one new word, one new thought from my students. This practice has changed my life’s vision for good! I started to practice this because of a student in my class – every day this child used to come to me with a new question, new thought or idea. He would ask me, “Aisa Kyon Hota Hai? (Why does this happen this way?)” That child’s habit became my habit! I’m very thankful to my school for giving me the opportunity for this learning.

It’s important for me to achieve my vision because I feel if I don’t make an effort towards it I’ll not grow. How our life process moves on. So to complete my mission, I feel I need to focus on my goal, in my profession as a teacher. I want to be dedicated towards my mission and keep striving towards success. I have gained clarity about my vision, and so I believe I’ll achieve my goal.

I’m a teacher in Jammu – a region with not many sources of quality education and not many opportunities for learning for teachers. We need better educational resources in Jammu because of its unique socio-political context. It’s possible to pass on my vision to my students through the subjects I teach. I believe that my view will help my students to realize their visions and find a purpose for themselves in the world. I want to continue being an honest, dedicated and good learner.

At DBN Amarvilla, there are days when resource persons, trainers get to converse with teachers on their vision and dreams. Our series titled ‘My Vision, My Dream’ is all about the aspirations of our teachers ever ready to embark on a journey of learning, exploration and self-discovery.

Girja Koul is a senior teacher with decades of experience at DBN Amarvilla School in Jammu; you can contact her by email av@dbntrust.in, please.