Sanskriti School
Sanskriti School is a recognised integrated co-educational school in the diplomatic area of Chanakyapuri, New Delhi. It is affiliated to CBSE, and offers education from Nursery to XII. It was founded in 1998 primarily to provide education to children of All India Services and Allied services officers and Defence Services Personnel on transfer. The school is run by Civil Services Society, an NGO formed by senior civil servants and their wives, with the spouse of the serving Cabinet Secretary of India as its chairperson. Overview The first principal of the school was Mrs. Gowri Ishwaran, who headed the institution until 2008. She was followed by Mrs. Abha Sehgal, who was incumbent from the session of 2008-09 onwards. Her last day at the school was on 11 April 2017. The new principal is Mrs. Richa Agnihotri. The foundation stone for Sanskriti School was laid by Mrs Hemi Surendra Singh, chairperson, Civil Services Society on 30 May 1996. Mrs. Singh was instrumental in getting the land and building allocated while her husband was Cabinet Secretary of India Surendra Singh. She thus continued in the tradition of her philanthropic father Thakur Dan Singh Bist, Dan Singh Bist founder of DSB college, Nainital. Sanskriti School was established on 12 August 1998 by the Civil Services Society, formed by the wives of the civil servants belonging to the various branches of Government of India. Mrs. Gowri Ishwaran took over as the founder principal in 1999. The aim of the Society is to fulfill a need in the city of Delhi for educating the children of officers of the All India and Allied Services and defence personnel moving to Delhi on transfer. Students whose parents are in other services or professions may also apply. The school has also admitted students from marginalised backgrounds since 2004. At present, the School admits 25% students from economically weaker sections of society. School is a public-service–oriented, non-profit organization, with Jaya Chandrasekhar, the spouse of K. M. Chandrasekhar, the previous Cabinet Secretary, as its chairperson. The school was founded by Mrs. Hemi Surendra Singh, the wife of Surendra Singh, a former Cabinet Secretary, Mrs. Livleen Bhagat, wife of a former Director of the Intelligence Bureau and Mrs. Ramachandran among others. The school has 60% of seats are for the children of Group A officers, of the who enter service through the Civil Services Examination, this includes Group A officers of Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Indian Police Service (IPS). Besides this 10% for general public, 5% for staff and 25% for children under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category. However the Delhi High Court started suo motu case against the school receiving state funding and free land, which in turn converted into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in 2006. In November 2014, the Delhi High Court bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Mukta Gupta ruled against the quota system stating, "Reserving seats for a particular branch of the Indian Services disadvantages children of