Our Institution

There are two lasting bequest we can give our children : One is roots. The other is the wings.

Balmohan’s legacy of 84 years

| Our Founder: Late Shri. S.D.Rege alias Dadasaheb Rege

The School is a set of principles and traditions, expectations and conduct, it is an inspiration from our founder late Shri. S.D. Rege, or ‘Dada’ as he was fondly known amongst his students, parents and the community.

This endearment was a result of love, sympathy, and understanding, arising from the unique approach to imparting education adopted by Dada.

He named the institution Balmohan Vidyamandir. Vidyamandir is a temple of learning, a sanctuary for those with a yearning for knowledge. We identify ourselves as Balmohan, having drawn from the spirit and ideals of two illustrious sons of India, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

| 1948 A terracotta brick school was built.

Dada’s stint as an Assistant Teacher in a village Primary School and his work with delinquent students provided him with the requisite insight for imparting education, with compassion and love. With only dreams in his purse, Dada then decided to set up a school of his own.

Balmohan Vidyamandir came into existence on June 03, 1940, with eight students and four teachers. In a small room at 42 Keluskar Road, in Dadar, Dada’s experiments with education found a humble roof. This was a time of trials and hardship, Dada sought help and raised funds from those around him with only his integrity to pledge.

However, payment of school fees was never a requirement for learning and education in Dada’s school. A terracotta brick school was built to accommodate the growing masses of children who began to enroll under Dada’s tutelage. It was only in 1957, that the glorious structure of the School was built, as is seen today.

| Growing number of children enrolled to study under Dada’s tutelage.

He accepted all children into his arms, especially those who had no means to educate themselves. At a time when Indian society was segregated on the lines of caste, creed, social stratum, faith, and even gender; with sectarian strife looming, Dada tried to create a home for children, where they were safe, sheltered, and equally loved.

Dada was cognizant of the principles that India was struggling for, and the toil, tears, and lives that were being expended to realize that ambitious vision of a secular, democratic nation.

The nation had to emerge from the ashes of division and injustice, to resist getting subsumed by the trauma of it, and attempt to create an egalitarian and democratic society. Dada believed it was his duty to nurture able, independent and artistic minds who would go on to be the architects of India.

| Dada with visitors at Balmohan Vidyamandir

The Indian freedom movement had emerged as a hallmark of dissent and difference against colonial ideas, distinguishing the indigenous emotions and energy that paved the way for the Indian republic. The ideas of self-reliance, sacrifice, equality, and responsibility that shaped the idea of Independent India, were the values that Dada’s Balmohan Vidyamandir stands by.

His idea was to have a school that will represent and cultivate the liberated and imaginative minds of post-independence India. The institution has grown in size and popularity and is considered a leading cultural and educational melting pot in the State of Maharashtra.

| Dada’s eldest son Dr. Moreshwar Rege alias Bapu Sir.

Dada’s eldest son Dr. Moreshwar Rege alias Bapu Sir taught at Balmohan Vidyamandir and functioned in the institution in diverse positions such as Principal, Trustee and Managing Trustee.

Bapu Sir graced various positions, as Member of Committees appointed by the Government of Maharashtra including Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Pune; Mumbai Divisional Board; Maharashtra State Education, Research and Training Parishad; Board of Studies for English Language; Maharashtra State Examination Council; Maharashtra State Technical Education Council. Bapu Sir steadfastly worked for the betterment of Balmohan Vidyamandir.

| Dada with his younger son Dr. Shripad Rege alias Bal Sir at the Rambhau Parulekar Vidyaniketan campus at Talegaon-Dabhade, Pune.

Dada’s next dream was the establishment of a Residential School in a rural setting. Dada’s intense desire to spread education in rural areas manifested itself through the establishment of Rambhau Parulekar Vidyaniketan, a residential School at Dabhade, near Pune on June 22, 1970. Dada was conscious of the need to disseminate education in rural areas, inter-alia to obviate the urban-rural disparity by bringing educational opportunities to rural areas.

Bal Sir was awarded by the then Chief Minister Hon’ble Shri Sharad Pawar, the Maharashtra Best Teachers Award

| Dr. Shripad alias Bal Rege Sir was awarded by the then Chief Minister Shri. Sharad Pawar

Dada’s vision was brought to fruition by his younger son, Dr. Shripad Rege alias Bal Sir. It was with sacrifice, and many years of dedicated toil that Bal Sir developed the campus at Dabhade, following Dada’s wishes.

Dada’s reposed faith in Bal Sir stood vindicated, when on September 05, 1988, Bal Sir was awarded by the then Chief Minister Hon’ble Shri Sharad Pawar, the Maharashtra Best Teachers Award, for his yeoman service in nurturing school education in rural environments. Bal Sir functioned as Trustee and Managing Trustee, of the Balmohan Vidyamandir Trust, and led the School for many heady years.

| Dr. Moreshwar alias Bapu Rege Sir was awarded by the then Chief Minister Shri. Vilasrao Deshmukh

A milestone in Balmohan Vidyamandir’s journey was the inauguration of its English Medium Institution on June 21, 1999. This was a School for the new millennium. The endeavour was to continue on the precepts of Dada, and to introduce his vision and thoughts to a whole new generation.

Our School’s activities are oriented in a firm belief that there is no such thing as ‘teaching’, there is only learning. The teachers at our School recognize that a child absorbs, imbibes, and imitates what he witnesses around him.

A child may not do as a teacher says, but a child always does as a teacher does. Leading by ideal, through subliminal impressions, and with a gentle touch, is the core of the Balmohan philosophy.

At Balmohan, the teacher facilitates the child to discover through theatre, oratory, literature, history, research projects, field trips, experiments, which open the doors of the mind in the most unique and unexpected ways; ever new approaches drawing them out, motivating and promoting that unbound joy of discovery.

Incidentally, it was on Teachers Day, September 05, 2002, when Balmohan Vidyamandir was conferred the Award of Excellence in the field of Education and Community Welfare and declared as a Premier Educational Institution in the State of Maharashtra.

| Celebration at Balmohan, alma mater of the Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri. Uddhav Thackeray and the Former Cabinet Minister Shri. Jayant Patil

The current Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri. Uddhav Thackeray, who is also the Shiv Sena chief, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) State President & Water Resource Minister, Shri. Jayant Patil are both alumni of the Balmohan Vidyamandir (1976-77 batch of students), and were felicitated at Balmohan Vidyamandir on February 10, 2020.

Legacy of 84 years

Our education system is a scientific process in the making of a ‘human being’. At Balmohan, stress is laid on development of the holistic personality of the child.