Ravi Rohmetra
Shri Harbans Lal Gupta was born in a village Dubheran ‘ in Rawalpindi Tehsil (now in Pakistan) on February 04, 1912. He was the eldest son of L. Mohan Lal Gupta and Smt. Krishna Wanti. Mr. Gupta received his school education in Sri Ranbir High School, Jammu. He passed his Matriculation from Akbar Islamia High school, Jammu in 1927. He joined Gordon College, Rawalpindi and graduated in 1931. He completed M.A. in Economics from Foreman Christian College, Lahore in 1933.
Mr. Gupta married Shanti Devi – a talented teacher herself, in 1942. Smt. Shanti Gupta was the only daughter of Shri Kahn Singh Kohli and Smt. Bhagwanti who were both educationists at Chakwal in Jhelum district, now in Pakistan. H.L.Gupta founded Model Academy in 1936 and nurtured the institution with love, dedication, sacrifice and vision. Model Academy started with just two students and became the first co-educational school in private sector in Jammu in which both Hindi and English were taught from First class itself. The school also followed progressive practices where under boys and girls were encouraged to take part in co-curricular activities on the stage. Not only this, the school followed secular traditions. All students of different communities, castes and religions drank water from the same tumbler.An effective teacher with creative abilities, Mrs. Shanti Gupta strengthened Mr. Gupta’s mission and contributed to the growth of the Model Academy immensely. Mr. Gupta was a teacher par excellence and was held in great esteem by teachers, parents and students alike. Mr. Gupta was an innovator with a research bent of mind. He was always eager to experiment with new ideas in promotion of education. H.L. Gupta used to teach English and History to the students and had a hold on both these subjects. He was a Master of English grammar and even authored a book ‘English Grammar without tears’, which was extremely popular with students. He was a very strict disciplinarian and would not tolerate mistakes and undesirable behavior on the part of his students, Gifted with a loud voice, his very presence evoked a sense of awe among the students in the class and there used to be pin drop silence while he used to teach. Generations of students passing out from Model Academy have affirmed his influence on their lives and attributed their mastery in English and History to his teaching methodology. He would frequently ask the weak students in his class to move to the school along with their bedding so that he could personally supervise their time management and preparations for examinations. As a result of such efforts and hard work, Model Academy became a well known institution for excellent results year after year in the University/Board examinations. Students from good families vied for admission in the school.
Mr. Gupta firmly believed in God and followed the principles of simple living and high thinking. For poor students he was a Messiah, ever-ready to help them both academically and financially. He traveled far and wide in and outside the country several times in pursuit of quality education. Accompanied by his wife, Shanti Gupta, he visited more than thirty countries during his foreign travels starting from Middle East to Russia, Scandinavian and European countries, north America, Japan and South-East Asian countries. During the course of his foreign visits, he would often meet his former students and even stay with some of them. Several of them would travel hundreds of miles to meet Mr. and Mrs. Gupta.
It is gratifying to note that the students who received education in Model Academy have risen to highest echelons in society and have made a mark on the national and international scene.
Several of his Muslim students, who migrated to Pakistan during partition, also rose to high positions in Government and Army. The erstwhile President of POK Raja Zulqarnain Khan and Tariq Masood, former Chief Secretary, POK are two such names. In fact, when Mr. Tariq Masood visited Model Academy after a gap of sixty years, he mentioned that alumni of Model Academy were well settled in different cities of Pakistan and were in constant touch with each other.
Mr. Gupta attended several conferences and visited centres of learning both in India and other countries. A fine and forceful orator, Mr. Gupta kept audience spell bound by his views. As the Founder President of J&K Cooperative Union, Mr. Gupta contributed a lot to the growth of cooperative movement in J&K. Today, the MIER Group is offering seven under-postgraduate and five postgraduate programmes and has rendered 77 years of glorious educational services to the region.
The Institution has now spread across two campuses where state of art infrastructure has been provided in campuses spread over fifty acres of land. The whole Group is wedded to the cause of quality education in accordance with the Motto ‘Shresth’ which is a Sanskrit word translated from French word ‘Crème’ which the original logo of Model Academy bears. This logo was designed by the famous Dogra painter Shri Sansar Chand Baru. The key principles which guide the policies of MIER are excellence, quality, self-reliance, collaboration, innovation, sharing, networking and service to society. Mr. Gupta heralded the advent of private enterprise in the field of education by taking a bold step to set up a co-educational school in 1936. This led to entry of other individuals both educationists and entrepreneurs to follow suit. Today, private sector is playing a significant role in providing quality education and meeting aspirations of future citizens and is well entrenched as a component of educational structure.
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Follow our WhatsApp channel
