When Kamlesh Joshi joined Delhi University’s Dyal Singh College in 2007 to pursue an honours degree in physics, he quickly realised two things. First, he had no real interest in the sciences and had chosen the subject primarily due to family pressure. Second, the gap between him and his peers at Delhi University was more like a valley than a schism.

Calling his experience a culture shock would be an understatement — everything about this new environment was unfamiliar to him, coming from a rural background.

Unable to cope, and despite opposition from his family, he dropped out after his first year and switched to political science at Shaheed Bhagat Singh College. But this too proved challenging: transitioning to an entirely new field (having studied science in school), and much of the teaching was conducted in English, whereas he had attended a Hindi-medium school (Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Nanakmatta, Uttarakhand). Many lectures went over his head “like a bouncer”.

When it was time to fill out examination forms, he kept them for a week before deciding which language he would write the exams in. Hindi was his comfort zone, but English was the challenge he needed to conquer. Ultimately, he took the harder route and studied tirelessly in libraries and with friends from his village who were pursuing similar subjects at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). His hard work and perseverance paid off — he topped his class of 18 students and won a gold medal, a redeeming achievement in the eyes of his family back home in Nanakmatta.

Kamlesh then went on to earn an MBA in international business with a specialisation in tourism from the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel, Gwalior. He assumed that a professional degree would secure him a decent-paying job, even if his career in tourism wouldn’t significantly impact the world.

A chance discussion with his JNU friends led them to question their futures and what contributions they could make to society. That’s when the idea took root: why not start a school in their village to ensure future generations wouldn’t face the same cultural and educational gaps they had? “We learnt everything under the ‘danda’ system (strict, imposed discipline), and this fear-based education only produces well-trained individuals, not well-educated ones,” Kamlesh argues.

The group unanimously agreed — they had to make a change. The next generation in Nanakmatta deserved a better, more modern education that aligns with the rest of the country and the world.

This discussion at JNU shaped the next few years for the small group of five — Kamlesh Joshi, Varsha, Kamlesh Atwal, Chandra Shekhar Atwal, and Gopal Dutt Joshi — who had ventured outside their home state for higher education, a move often discouraged by families in their village.

The early years

Deciding to start a school was one thing, but actually walking the talk was an entirely different ballgame. None of the five founders had formal training in education, financial backing, or experience working with children.

With an initial batch of 110 students and an investment of Rs 40 lakh cobbled together from various sources, ‘Nanakmatta Public School’ began operations in 2012. It started in a former orphanage with just six teachers, minimal resources, and little expertise. The only thing the founders were clear about was their mission — to........

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