This book is for parents to select a school for their child, as the choice can have a lifelong impact on the growth and personality of the child. My Good School is a guide for you to look beyond that high-rise building and those perfectly manicured lawns—to go deeper in your search for your good school. It will encourage you to observe, question and evaluate, and choose a school that will truly prepare your child for a life beyond the campus, a life beyond theory, a life beyond algebra.

This book will help educators, school administrators and management to build and build such institutions and change the future of learning.

Enriched with the knowledge, experience and, most importantly, the wisdom of The Doon School alumnus and school improvement coach Sandeep Dutt, this book will encourage conversations around our education system and help shape the future of education in the world.

In 1979, I took the first-ever flight of my life to attend the International Gold Award Holders Summit, the prestigious youth awards program founded in 1956 by Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh. A proud young Gold Award winner, I was flying from New Delhi to Darwin, Australia. Little did I know then, that four decades later, the editor of The Rose Bowl, the Doon School Alumni magazine, would call me and find my story worthy of sharing!

What is now called the International Award for Young People (IAYP) was called The Duke of Edinburgh's Award when I was at school. The Gold Award of the programme really made me find myself, and the journey of three decades of volunteering and morphing into becoming the first boy from The Doon School to become its National Director, is a story that will surely interest the teaching fraternity. Many may not know that the Award was introduced at The Doon School in the 1960s. It took nearly 50 years of existence to have a Dosco (an alumni of the school) head the Award, set up the India office and give IAYP the shape and colour we see today.

Sandeep is a passionate educator. He is one of those individuals who have dedicated his life to making the greatest impact to the greatest number of people. The way he has chosen to do that is by helping schools and teachers implement programs that will help students to become lifelong learners.

He believes in the idea that if you can change a child's life, you can change the life of their family, their community and indeed their nation. He has lived up to his motto for the last 35 years of his life in helping teachers improve their skills, helping school administrators understand how to deliver the best learning outcomes, helping school heads foster communities of curiosity, openness, learning and creativity in their schools.

Sandeep has taken his lifelong experiences and summarized them in this thoughtful, provocative and very readable book.

I have had the pleasure of watching Sandeep's work in the school I founded 30 years ago and the proof of his work lies in watching the graduates of the school who came from a small rural community do extraordinary things with their life.

He has shown that regardless of where one is born, one's social or economic status, a good school can transform a child's life by helping them learn and develop into ethical responsible global citizens.

I come across many people who say they own a tract of land and would like to set up a school. But should just owning land be enough to consider setting up a school? Some say they are promoting a township and must set up a school. Yet others have real estate and find running a school to be a great revenue-generation proposition.

Is the school a good way to earn social acceptance, a way to espouse philanthropy? The challenge is not in owning or setting up a school, but operating it well and delivering quality education. We need to understand the purpose of the school before we set out to build it with brick and mortar.

A school is where students (or 'pupils') are taught by teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, wherein students move through a series of schools. The names for these schools vary by country, but generally include primary school for young children and secondary school for teenagers who have completed primary education. An institution where higher education is taught is commonly called a college or university.