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The Doon School
- Address: The Mall, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India 248 001
- Phone:
- +91-135-2526-400
- +91-135-275-7275 (fax)
- Website:
- Overview
Doon owes its founding to S.R. Das, an eminent lawyer from Calcutta who, in 1927, became Law Member of Lord Irwin's Executive Council on the condition that he might use the prestige of this position to raise funds for a new type of public school in India. He traveled widely in India with a goal of collecting Rupees 40 lakhs, but at the time of his untimely death had raised only Rs. 10 lakhs in cash, and another Rs. 10 lakhs in promises. Mr. Das also formed the Indian Public Schools Society with the object of founding new public schools in India that would admit students without regard to caste, creed or social status. (In a technical sense, the IPSS "owns" The Doon School although the School operates independently.) [1]
Following Mr. Das's death in 1928, the IPSS did not accomplish very much and by 1934 some of the donors of the Rs. 10 lakhs had started to inquire about the return of their money. At this juncture, Sir Joseph Bhore, then Railway Minister of Lord Willingdon's Council, became Chairman of the IPSS, and with Sir Akbar Hydari as Secretary, worked to obtain from the former estate of the Forest Research Institute in Dehra Dun on favorable terms. Lord Halifax, then President of the Board of Education, lead a selection committee that picked Arthur E. Foot, a science master at Eton College to be the first Headmaster. [1]
The Houses at the new School were named first after the housemasters of the respective houses but later by the biggest donors to the Indian Public School Society:
- Hyderabad House, after Sir Akbar Hydari secured a contribution of Rs. 2 lakhs from the Nizam of Hyderabad's Government.
- Kashmir House, after Maharajah Hari Singh promised a contribution of Rs. 1 lakh which was finally delivered in 1935.
- Tata House, after the Tata and Wadia Trusts promised Rs. 1.5 lakhs, of which half was finally delivered in 1935.
- Jaipur House, after Rai Bahadur Amarnath Atal arranged for contributions of Rs. 1 lakh from the Jaipur Durbar and smaller contributions from the tributary Thikanas. [1]
(No building was named after Rai Bahadur Rameshwar Nathany whose donation of Rs. 1 lakh was initially made anonymously.) [1]
On October 27, 1935, the Viceroy, Lord Willingdon, came to preside over the formal opening of the School. There were 70 boys enrolled in the first term, and another 110 boys had signed up for the second term. [1]
Jana Gana Mana by Rabindranath Tagore was chosen as the school song in 1935[1]; the song was later adopted by India as the national anthem in 1947. At Doon, Jana Gana Mana is traditionally referred to as "School Song No. 1", reflecting its position in the School's song book. [1]
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