This school in Lalitpur is fusing education with environment
Since its establishment more than a decade ago, Vajra Academy’s vision has been clear: equip students with the tools of critical thinking, not just churn out high-scoring SEE students. Students at Vajra Academy pick spinach from the school kitchen garden area. Photo Courtesy: Vajra Academy Ankit Khadgi In almost every other school in the country, as soon as the first bell of the day rings, students queue up for the morning assembly. After singing the national anthem and completing a few morning drills, they then make their way to their classrooms. For the next eight hours, the children sit on their desks, listening to their teachers or copying notes from the board. This is what happens in almost all private schools across the Valley. But not in Vajra Academy. The students of Vajra Academy in Jharuwarasi, near Bajrabarahi Temple, eight kms from Lalitpur, wander around their school garden for two days a week before their classes start. They tend to their “friends in nature”—the plants