About Jai Bharat School & New Jai Hind Schools

In 1968 Virbalaben Dalal moved to Rajkot with a view to opening her own school, and initially taught at Nirmala Convent School whilst she was setting up her own school. Sister Maria Teresa Unzu, Principal of Nirmala Convent also supported her in this journey.

Prafulbhai Dalal studied Engineering at Wadia College, Pune and then was involved in his Family business in Uganda, East Africa. He was very supportive in encouraging Virbalaben to learn and to play her part in public life and managed the financial, and administrative aspect of the school as well as the shared the responsibilities of looking after their 3 children, who were all young and in different schools at the time. This then gave Virbalaben the opportunity to devote her energies to the educational aspects of Jaibharat School. Without his help and support, Virbalaben would not have been able to achieve this dream.

Virbalaben used to regularly give talks on the radio in Rajkot, particularly Ratnakanika. One of Virbalaben’s radio talk on Montessori Education. Virbalaben was also very active socially in Ladies Club, Lions Club and was the founder Chairperson of Lioness Club in Rajkot.

In 1968 Virbalaben Dalal moved to Rajkot with a view to opening her own school, and initially taught at Nirmala Convent School whilst she was setting up her own school. Sister Maria Teresa Unzu, Principal of Nirmala Convent also supported her in this journey.

Prafulbhai Dalal studied Engineering at Wadia College, Pune and then was involved in his Family business in Uganda, East Africa. He was very supportive in encouraging Virbalaben to learn and to play her part in public life and managed the financial, and administrative aspect of the school as well as the shared the responsibilities of looking after their 3 children, who were all young and in different schools at the time. This then gave Virbalaben the opportunity to devote her energies to the educational aspects of Jaibharat School. Without his help and support, Virbalaben would not have been able to achieve this dream.

Virbalaben used to regularly give talks on the radio in Rajkot, particularly Ratnakanika. One of Virbalaben’s radio talk on Montessori Education. Virbalaben was also very active socially in Ladies Club, Lions Club and was the founder Chairperson of Lioness Club in Rajkot.

Her eldest daughter Neeshat Dalal also shared her passion for teaching and did a Montessori Teachers Training course in London, and then taught in a Montessori School in Knightsbridge, London. She and then joined Jai Bharat and New Jai Hind School. Neeshat then expanded a range of extracurricular activities for the school.

In 1995 due to Prafulbhai’s ill health, Virbalaben had to make the difficult decision to close the school and move to the United Kingdom to join her younger daughter Jayam Dalal.

Memories of her oldest daughter Neeshat Dalal

I have very good memories when I was with Jai Bharat school, and my parents were wonderful and very supportive. I was able to bring my skills and a new energy into the school, whereby we had Sports days and a lot of Talent shows, as well as holiday and evening classes for students. This way other students got the privilege of using their valuable time in a constructive way – which were a great success.

I arranged picnics for my students and teachers every month. We also did shows with students on television and Radio station.

I was very sorry that we had to close down the school because my father was very ill and without the help of my Father and Mother I could never manage to run the school on my own, so we decided to wind up and come to England in 1995.

I have very fond and memorable memories connected to Jai Bharat and New Jai Hind school. My old students also were very sad that we had decided to wind up. My mother and myself remember the lovely memories attached to the school.

My mom and I visited Rajkot a few years ago and we met so many students who came a bowed down to my mum and showed great respect to us. We were so overwhelmed by their love and support. Parents and old students showed great appreciation and shared wonderful memories.

One tweet was “Mam we really miss you and that Jai Bharat and Jai Hind school was a great contributing fact to our growth and upbringing towards a brilliant future”.

Memories of her younger daughter Jayam Dalal

They were interesting times, because my older sister Neeshat studied in St Mary’s School, my Brother studied in Rajkumar College and I studied in Nirmala Convent School. These were the three main English schools in Rajkot at the time, so I guess my mother had a pretty good understanding of the education on offer at the time. The three main English schools all had European Principals. So the choice at the time was to either be in an English School with a European Principal or in a Gujarati School with an Indian Principal. My Mother wanted children to have an English education, but also understand their Indian culture.

As a child I remember being taught Sanskrit Shlokas, Bhajans and inspiring songs instead of nursery rhymes at home, a selection of which can be heard on here.

Initially food was not provided, and Parents were asked to provide a packed lunch.  However some Parents provided a healthy lunch, others not so healthy and a few Parents did not provide any lunch at all.  Mom found this very uncomfortable, and I remember the discussion at our dining table when she decided that the fairest way to resolve this issue was to provide home cooked lunch for all students.  That way they would all get a nutritious home cooked vegetarian meal, and no children would go hungry.

We had three school buses and each child was provided with a home to home pick up and drop off service.  One day when our school ayah was off sick, Mom asked me to accompany one of our school buses to drop the children. I had strict instructions to ensure that each child was dropped home, and not on the road near their home!  At least once a month we used to go for picnics in our school bus with many of the school teachers, and friends to Gondal, Laal Pari, Aaji Dam and other picnic places near Rajkot.

Summer holidays were the busiest times for school admissions, and we were all taught how to take admissions, and deal with Parents’ enquiries. The school annual functions were great fun as it involved dressing children, announcing programmes, setting stages and meeting guests. Often if a teacher was off sick, Mom would call me downstairs to take a class. She always ensured that it was a class much junior to me, and she would give me many ideas of how to keep the children occupied. These skills are so handy even now because if I am put in front of a group, I can keep them occupied!

I remember in the 1970s when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came to Rajkot, my Mother was asked by the Rajkot Authorities to meet Mrs Gandhi at the airport and to escort her around in Rajkot. The worst part was that I was in school so couldn’t meet the Prime Minister! It was indeed, however, an honour to know that my Mother was escorting the PrimeMinister of India, in Rajkot.

My Mother inspired so many women to aspire and achieve their ambitions, even after marriage and having children, particularly at a time when this was not the norm. I still recall Mom bending down to put children’s shoes on, or wiping their nose – she would become a child with children, a Principal with the teachers, and a Mom when she was with us!

She certainly was my role model, and inspiration and I thank God for giving me such a wonderful Mother who gave me such strong values.

Jayam Dalal lives in the UK, and is a freelance Consultant and most recently was Chair of CDS Co-operatives which is a community led housing association is also the largest service provider for housing co-ops in the south east of England.  In partnership with the Greater London Authority it hosts the London Community Led Housing Hub, and has administered more than £4m of revenue grants to the capital.   She has previously worked as Marketing Advisor at the Cabinet Office and Office of Deputy Prime Minister. She is currently a Public Appointments Advisor with the Ethical Standards Commissioner in Scotland.   She is also a Judicial Office Holder as Lay Member of the First Tier Tribunal Property Chamber, and on the Panel of Experts with the Judicial College.  Uptil 30th April 2021 she was also a Member of the Tribunal Procedure Committee (an appointment by the Lord Chief Justice, most senior Judge in the UK), which was involved in establishing the Covid – 19 rules ratified in Parliament and came into effect on 8th April 2020, allowing all Tribunals in England to function remotely.  From 2012 till March 2022 she was a Non Executive Director within the National Health Service.

“It was a pleasure creating such a tributable memories for Mrs Virbalaben Dalal who is such an inspirational woman! May this legacy live forever and inspire people around the world!”

Bina Nathwani

“I would like to thank Bina Nathwani for encouraging me to set up this website. I particularly value her inspirations, ideas and vision on the development and design of this website, because her Brother’s son actually studied in Jaibharat School! I particularly liked the small attention to detail she has, like the blue background which matched the “headed paper” for Jaibharat School”!

                                                                                                                         Jayam Dalal