The Doon School facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Doon School
Location
The Mall Dehradun – 248001 India (Map)
Information
School type	Private boarding school
Motto	Knowledge our Light
Founded	September 10, 1935
Founder	Satish Ranjan Das
Sister school	Welham Girls' School Chand Bagh School
School district	Dehradun district
Chairman of Governors	Analjit Singh
Headmaster	Peter McLaughlin
Founder Headmaster	Arthur Foot
Faculty	67
Gender	Boys
Age	13 to 18
Number of pupils	480
Campus	69 acres (280,000 m²)
Houses	5
Colour(s)	Blue      and White
Publication	The Doon School Weekly
Affiliation	IB Indian Certificate of Secondary Education
Former pupils	Doscos
Annual fees	₹5,30,000 (home students) ₹6,62,500 (international)
Website	http://www.doonschool.com

The Doon School (informally Doon School or Doon) is a boys-only private boarding school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. The school was founded by Satish Ranjan Das, a Calcutta lawyer. Doon's first headmaster was Arthur E. Foot, a former science master at Eton College. The present headmaster is Peter McLaughlin, who has occupied the post since 2009 and is the ninth headmaster of the school.

The school houses roughly 500 pupils aged 13 to 18. Every year in January and April, the school admits pupils aged 13 in Grade 7 (known as D-form) and aged 14 in Grade 8 (C-form) respectively. Doon pupils take the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education in tenth grade and are thereafter offered two strands for the final two years: International Baccalaureate (IB) or Indian School Certificate (ISC). The school began offering the IB curriculum only in 2006, before which all pupils had to sit the ISC examinations in twelfth grade.

Doon has consistently been ranked among the best residential schools of India by media such as The Times of India and Outlook. Doon remains a boys-only school despite continued pressure from political leaders, including President Pratibha Patil, to become coeducational. Former students of the school are commonly known as Doscos. Although the total number of Doscos is relatively small (estimated at 5,000 since the school's founding), they include some of India's most prominent politicians, government officials and business leaders. The best known alumnus is former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Images for kids

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  Main Building of Doon in 1917, when it was part of the Forest Research Institute.

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  Arthur Foot and his wife Sylvia Hartell with Lord Mountbatten, during the latter's visit to the school on 13 February, 1948.

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  Main event at the 75th Founder's Day in October 2010, with chief guest President Pratibha Patil, and other dignitaries including King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, Governor Margaret Alva, and Minister of Human Resource Development, Kapil Sibal.

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  In March 2020, the school closed for the first time since its founding, following the COVID-19 outbreak.

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  Main Field of the school with Hyderabad House in the background, and beyond, the Mussoorie range.

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  Ground-floor corridor of the school's Main Building, which houses classrooms and offices.

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  The Doon School Weekly, established in 1936, is the oldest publication of Doon. It is produced by the boys and distributed every Saturday morning.

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  Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot being staged in the open-air theatre, Rose Bowl.

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  A commemorative postal stamp depicting the school's Main Building was released by India Post on 22 October, 2010, to mark Doon's 75th Founder's Day.