Good Schools of India
Joy of Learning Weekly #61
Bumper Issue of Our Newsletter
My Good School Retreat 2026: Nurturing Learning, Reflection, and Relationships
The My Good School Alliance Retreat (MGS Retreat), in collaboration with Mayoor School Jaipur, was successfully held on the school premises, with participation from 12 schools across the country. The Good Schools Alliance (GSA) promotes the values of “Joy of Learning” and “Joy of Giving,” aiming to build a connected and inclusive community through Service, Skill, Sport, and Study.
The retreat focused on the 3R’s—Reading, Reflection, and Relationships—providing students with a holistic learning experience. The four-day camp included enriching book-reading sessions led by eminent authors, including Ms Bhairvi Jani and Mr Jugjiv Singh, during which students explored excerpts from inspiring works such as Highway to Swades.
Each day began with engaging sports activities, including basketball, badminton, swimming, tennis, and indoor games like chess and carrom. A special art session by Prenita Dutt introduced students to creative techniques using various art media. Interactive sessions by INME encouraged teamwork, critical thinking, and emotional awareness.
Students also enjoyed an educational excursion to the City Palace, where they experienced its rich heritage and architectural grandeur. The retreat featured a vibrant talent show where students showcased their skills through music, dance, skits, and cultural presentations.
The closing ceremony included an insightful session on financial literacy led by Mr Manoj Kumar (Executive Director, SEBI), Mr Venkat Chalasani (CEO, AMFI), and Mr Suryakant Sharma (Sr. Consultant, AMFI), emphasising the importance of financial planning and investment.
Program Philosophy: Every student’s journey to success requires mastering financial literacy. We simplify complex concepts into engaging lessons, empowering teachers to help students manage money wisely and achieve their dreams.
Training-the-Trainer: Train teachers at schools, predominantly women, who significantly impact children’s life skills.
The event concluded on a positive note, fostering unity, learning, and inspiration, while opening new avenues for future generations.
Regards
Team Mayoor School Jaipur 🦚
Their creativity knew no bounds, and the results are there for all to see!
From a simple line on art paper to an art exhibition, our artist-in-residence at the My Good School Retreat has truly opened a whole new world for us! Thank you, Prenita Dutt for the five days you took out for us #JoyOfGiving.
Art works produced by the simple line drawing, please play the video.
Nature-Inspired Books and Environmental Advocacy.
Brewing Knowledge Friday
Discussing Priyadarshini’s nature-inspired books and environmental advocacy.
Key Takeaways
Core Theme: Coexistence is the central message. The books challenge the idea of human-wildlife conflict by showing how balanced ecosystems depend on every creature.
Root Cause: Unchecked urbanisation and year-round tourism are the primary drivers of environmental degradation in hill stations like Kodaikanal, leading to habitat loss, landslides, and increased human-wildlife encounters.
Advocacy Strategy: Priyadarshini uses engaging genres (adventure, poetry) to make eco-fiction accessible and avoid being preachy. She empowers young readers by giving child characters agency and focusing on local environmental action.
Policy Gap: Current conservation policies are insufficient. They categorise endangered species but lack concrete regulations to protect their habitats, such as the Shola grasslands, which are critical to the Nilgiri Tahr.
Community Engagement for Rural Education: Strategic Targeting & Male Advocacy
Read And Lead
To read and discuss chapter 4 and beyond from the book “Every Last Girl” by Safeena Husain.
Key Takeaways
Male Advocates Are Essential: The narrator’s initial bias that only women could champion girls’ education was disproven by male advocates like Kamlesh and Ram, whose “father-to-father” chats and male-to-male interactions were uniquely effective in changing mindsets.
Government Data Is Incomplete: A government list of out-of-school girls proved incomplete when the team found 21 unlisted girls in a single village, underscoring that official data alone is insufficient for comprehensive outreach.
Strategic Targeting Is Key: The team used MHRD data to target Rajasthan, which had 9 of India’s 26 worst gender-gap districts, and then focused on Pali, a central “hotspot,” to maximise impact.
Persistence Is Required: The project’s success required navigating bureaucratic hurdles and adapting strategies when initial plans failed, highlighting the need for persistence in social work.
BOOKS OF THE WEEK
Education is friendship, not work
Sandeep Dutt’s Masterclass
To explore Adlerian psychology’s application to education and self-reliance.
Key Takeaways
Problem behaviour is a cry for help: Students act out to find a sense of belonging, not just to misbehave.
Education is friendship, not work: The teacher’s role is a counsellor-educator who builds relationships based on trust and equality.
All problems and joy are interpersonal: Suffering and happiness both arise from relationships, making them the central focus of life and education.
True worth is self-reliance: External validation (e.g., rewards, grades) creates dependence, turning individuals into “clockwork dolls” who cannot move without being wound up.
Affection vs Rejection: Part 1
Learning Forward Saturday
To read and reflect on Chapter 4 of the book Wanted Back-bencher & Last-Ranker Teacher “Affection vs. Rejection.”
Key Takeaways
Staff rooms can be toxic. The chapter’s staff room scene highlights how gossip and negativity can create a draining atmosphere, in contrast to Brinda’s experience of a supportive, collaborative space.
Use marking schemes to empower students. Posting a detailed marking scheme with answer breakdowns (e.g., 1/2 mark per step) helps students understand why they lost marks, reducing disputes and fostering accountability.
Teachers’ personal lives impact the classroom. Roma’s story shows how personal events (like a broken engagement) can become public gossip, creating a stressful environment that distracts from teaching.
Empathy is the foundation of effective teaching. A teacher’s own struggles build empathy, which is essential for connecting with students and creating a safe, supportive learning environment.
My Good School
Sunday School for Reading and Reflection
To read and discuss two books, “My Family and Other Animals” and “Time Stops At Shamli (Hindi).”
Key Takeaways
“My Family and Other Animals” Reading: The Durrell family moved to the “Daffodil Yellow Villa” to accommodate unexpected guests. Gerald’s observations of swallows and an oil beetle (Melloproscarabeus) highlight the book’s core theme of nature discovery.
“Antim Sanskar” Reading: A boy processes his father’s death, feeling isolated from the adults. His unique coping mechanism—imagining becoming a flower to help new life grow—was praised for its maturity.
My Good School Retreat: A recap of the Jaipur retreat showcased its focus on reflection and community building. All future My Good School sessions will be held in webinar mode to increase capacity and improve YouTube recording quality.
Inme: The Art of Becoming
Where the outdoors is not an escape, but a return
It begins, as all meaningful journeys do, quietly.
A bus pulls away.
A city fades into the background.
And somewhere between the noise and the stillness, something shifts almost imperceptibly.
No one announces it.
No one points it out.
But it’s there.
A beginning.