A free initiative of UPSC Darpan
दर्पण विद्याधाम
Surya ki chamak, vat vriksha ki chhaonThe brightness of the sun, the shade of the banyan
A free school of India under the open sky: for the child in playgroup, the aspirant to the civil services, the farmer, the teacher and the parent.
The vision, in three lines
Why a banyan
The soil every lesson grows from: our languages, texts, sciences and ways of living, taught with their sources.
Consciousness, awareness, intelligence, discernment, opinion-making and mental health: the strength that carries every subject.
Seven schools, each reaching a different learner, all fed by the same trunk.
A banyan’s aerial roots reach the ground and become new trunks. So does every learner who teaches another.
The trunk
Subjects are the branches. What carries them is the inner life of the learner, grown slowly, ring by ring, like the trunk of a banyan.
The trunk in cross-section. Each ring is a capacity, and every year each ring grows.
Consciousness
Knowing what one is doing, and why.
Grown by a quiet start to the day, and a reason written for every answer.
Awareness
Seeing the world as it is, from the day’s primary sources.
Grown by the daily magazine and issue threads that follow a story for weeks.
Intelligence
Understanding a concept well enough to use it.
Grown by the Concept Booster and quizzes that explain every option.
Discernment
Telling the true from the plausible, and the right from the convenient.
Grown by the twelve Darpan Lenses and ethics cases.
Opinion-making
Forming a view of one’s own, and giving reasons for it.
Grown by Mains answers, essays and Meri Raah.
Mental health
A steady mind that can carry all the rest.
Grown by morning calm, feelings weather, and the Tele-MANAS line 14416 shown to older children.
The branches
Two schools run every day on upscdarpan.in. The others grow from them, one branch at a time, each with its own learners and all from the same trunk.
Baal Darpan · आकाश विद्यालय
A school under the open sky for children: seven batches from playgroup to Class 12 and an eighth for young aspirants, a daily bell with two subjects, and Meri Raah, a strengths guide that gives direction, not marks.
UPSC Darpan · लोक सेवा विद्यालय
A daily two-hour magazine in English and Hindi, five optional-subject magazines, a daily Concept Booster class through the Officer’s Lens, quizzes that explain every option, Mains practice, essays and reels.
Natural farming · गौकृषि दर्पण
An open library on natural farming, the cow economy, bio-CBG and village enterprise, where every claim carries an evidence label.
Language and literature · भाषा और साहित्य
Daily vocabulary, essays and the Darpan letter are live. Next comes the Sahitya Ghanti: a daily bell for a poem, a story or a page of prose, read slowly.
Mind and wellbeing · मानस केंद्र
A morning calm before lessons, and “feelings weather”: a child names today’s feeling as weather, with no marks and no judgement. Older children are shown Tele-MANAS, the free national helpline: 14416.
For teachers and families · शिक्षक और परिवार
Meri Raah already has views for parents and teachers. Next: a teacher note on every lesson, a line for parents to ask at home, and Chaupal sheets to print for homes without a phone.
Service and safety · सेवा और सुरक्षा
First aid, safety and disaster preparedness for children and young people, a lesson every week at each age, with older students teaching the younger ones.
What is live today
The School of Public Service and Aakash Vidyalaya run every day on upscdarpan.in, free, for anyone with a phone.
Figures as of 5 October 2026, from the published site.
How a day works
Every page of the day’s newspapers is read, not the headlines alone.
Each fact is checked against its primary source: PIB, PRS, court orders and official sites.
Twelve to fourteen study cards: the news, its chain of causes, static linkage, Prelims facts, a Mains question with an approach, and its Lens.
Every card is published in Hindi as well as English, on the same day.
On upscdarpan.in, free, with the day’s quiz, revision and essay.
Guardrails
A school for children and aspirants earns trust slowly. These rules hold in every school of the Vidyadhaam.
No fees, no paid tier, no “premium” lessons. Every learner gets everything.
No ads, no sponsored lessons, no product placement. Nobody buys a learner’s attention.
No chat and no public profiles for children. Every lesson follows written safe-content rules for its age.
Progress stays on the learner’s own device. No account is needed to learn.
Every fact is sourced. What cannot be verified is not published, and errors are corrected openly.
Each issue is read through a Darpan Lens: a real tension, with each side put in its strongest form.
The road ahead
Three phases, each one earned by the last. Dates are goals, not promises made on anyone else’s behalf.
Plant
Now to 30 days
Grow
One to three months
Spread
Three to twelve months
Who it serves
Children and their schools, families, and aspirants to public service. Every door is free, and none needs an account.
A 20-minute daily bell: eight batches, no cost, one phone and a projector. Any school can try it for 30 days.
For schools Children and familiesFirst aid, safety and service for every child and young person, one short lesson a week at each age.
The programme Civil services aspirants, Union and StateA free, verified daily built only from public, sourced material. State aspirants welcome; a State track is being built.
The School of Public ServiceJoin the community
Teachers, parents, aspirants and volunteers meet in the Darpan community. Give a Gyaan Seva hour: teach what you know, freely, to a younger class or a neighbour.
Under Section 23 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, the word “University” belongs to universities established or incorporated by or under a Central or State Act, and Section 22 reserves the right to confer degrees for them and for institutions deemed to be universities. Darpan Vidyadhaam is none of these, and does not pretend to be.
So it is a vidyadhaam, a seat of learning, and it gives certificates of learning, never degrees. Read the UGC Act, 1956 (PDF).
Sources for this page