How this Delhi school is changing students into changemakers.

At the Guru Tegh Bahadur School in Model Town, the school bell doesn't mark the beginning of a lesson—but the beginning of something revolutionary. Here, classes go beyond four walls, and the syllabus consists of empathy, cooperation, and action in the world outside.

In a subtle yet forceful break from traditional school, the school is creating a learning culture of learning from each other and learning with each other. With its "Learning Buddies" program, high school students take on a mentorship role with lower students—helping them not only academically, but in building confidence and trust. It's a simple strategy that's rewriting the way children think about other children: not as rivals, but as teammates.

But learning does not go out of the door.

Under their "Classroom Without Walls" program, students go to city bazaars and conduct eco-awareness drives among the local people and vendors, convincing them to go green. Posters, street plays, and determination in hand, they're putting theory to practice—learning citizenship the hard way, not in class.

However, teachers are becoming learners too.  From exchanging tips on the latest pedagogical gadgetry to rethinking the art of lesson planning and assist each other in building classrooms that are more interactive and inclusive.

Principal Baljeet Kaur believes this shift is rooted in both vision and investment. “Even with a modest fee structure, we’ve upgraded our labs, introduced AI-powered teaching tools, and created an environment where quality education is not a privilege, but a right,” she says.

This convergence of social outreach, mentorship, and radical pedagogy is making exam-students, yes, but more importantly, future-students. In the midst of a time when rote learning still reigns supreme in most schools, Guru Tegh Bahadur School is different because it's producing critical thinkers and empathetic citizens.

It's evidence that if only schools are courageous enough to think beyond the box, then students become achievers no longer, but game-changers.