Who are We?

A soldier-scholar of the Indian Army, Lt. General Arjun Ray, PVSM, VSM (Retd.) has a wide range of experiences in matters of defence and conflict management and at the same time, deeply rooted in social transformation. He graduated from the prestigious Staff College at Camberley, UK, and served as the country's Deputy Military Advisor in London. On his last assignment, he commanded the newly raised 14 Corps in Ladakh. In recognition of his services in nation-building, he was awarded the Param Vashist Seva Medal, the highest honour in the armed forces for distinguished service.

General Ray is the CEO and MD of the Indus Trust and provides vision and strategic direction to all Indus International Schools and Institutions. Under his leadership, fourteen institutions including the three IB Schools, the School of Leadership, the Indus Training and Research Institute, eight Early Learning Centres and the International Community School, which is the world’s first equal opportunity school have been set up.

General Ray is of the firm belief that the purpose of education is to prepare students to be Start-up Ready, i.e to make them future ready where they are outliers, exponential leaders, innovative individuals and lifelong learners who succeed and thrive in a VUCA + environment. In the post COVID-19 era, which has brought with it great disruption, everything will and must change for the better. In this regard, individuals must seek out opportunities from the challenges that the new normal presents and be leaders who inspire hope and positivity.

In this regard, the role of the teacher is to teach the child and not the subject alone and hence, they must focus on the development of competencies of the heart and mind and not of the head alone. Having a higher purpose, vision, challenging goals along with competencies such as creativity, adaptability, innovation, critical thinking, resilience, self-efficacy, positivity, and volition should be the focus of the curriculum along with concept and relevance.

The Start-up School is yet another moon-shot idea from General Ray. It is based on the belief that the Indus legacy will be founded on innovation but not at the cost of academic excellence. It is the first of its kind in the world in K-12 education, where students of Grades 9-12 will pursue a twinning/dual programme, both their IB as well as the Start-up School curriculum.

IB World has acknowledged General Ray to be one of top six IB World School Leaders for rethinking education and making high-quality education affordable to the underprivileged. Education World who names General Ray as one of the fifty game-changers in the education scenario also awarded him the Lifetime Achievement in Education Leadership in 2014.