DarpanVidyadhaam
upscdarpan.in

For principals

How Baal Darpanfits into a school

बाल दर्पण विद्यालय में कैसे जुड़ता है

One map for the staff room: where the twenty minutes go, what the teacher does in them, what the school needs, what is measured and what never is.

Find the slot The one-page map

1 · The slot

Twenty minutes, in a place the school chooses

No new period is needed. Most schools can find twenty minutes in one of three places; each class can use a different one.

Before assembly

The class starts calm. Good where children arrive early and wait.

  1. Arrival
  2. Baal Darpan 20 min
  3. Assembly
  4. Period 1
  5. Period 2

Zero period

A short period before the first lesson, already in many timetables.

  1. Arrival
  2. Assembly
  3. Baal Darpan · zero period 20 min
  4. Period 1
  5. Period 2

After lunch

A quiet minute settles the class after the break.

  1. Period 4
  2. Lunch
  3. Baal Darpan 20 min
  4. Period 5
  5. Period 6

2 · Minute by minute

What the teacher does in the twenty minutes

Every Baal Darpan lesson carries a teacher's note built only from that lesson's own lines, so the teacher adds no facts and needs no preparation.

With no equipment: the teacher's note

One lesson, read aloud. This is the note's shape for every lesson; the questions and lines change with the lesson.

  1. 0–2 minShaant minuteEveryone sits straight, eyes closed: breathe in for 4, hold for 2, out slowly for 6, five times.
  2. 2–5 minSocho pehleThe teacher asks the lesson's opening question aloud and hears three or four answers. A wrong answer is welcome. Then the lesson's 'think' line.
  3. 5–11 minPaath sunaoThe teacher reads the lesson's own lines aloud, or tells them in their own words. No board or equipment.
  4. 11–16 min3 sawaal, zor seThe lesson's three questions with their options, answered by a show of hands. No marks, no punishment.
  5. 16–17 minEk ‘kyunki’ lineThe class repeats one 'because' line taken from the lesson.
  6. 17–20 minCopy mein likhoThe lesson's notebook lines go into the copy; a child without a copy says them aloud.

With a phone and a projector: the day's bell

The app's own daily rhythm for a class. Its Teacher mode enlarges the text for a projector.

Roz ki ghanti — 30 minutes, bade ke saath

  1. 0–1 minShaant Pal
  2. 1–5 minYaad Karo
  3. 5–20 minDo paath
  4. 20–25 minAaj ka socho (Vichar Sabha or Sach ya Afwaah)Vichar Sabha: Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun
    Sach ya Afwaah: Tue, Thu, Sat
  5. 25–28 minSikhao

Optional, any day: Mann ka Mausam, khidki.

3 · What the school needs

Little is asked

  1. One coordinatorA teacher who keeps the bell ringing and speaks for the school.
  2. A phone and a projectorThe school’s phone in a browser, on any projector or smart TV. Without them, the teacher’s note needs no equipment, and a Chaupal sheet prints the day’s lessons.
  3. Twenty minutes a dayIn the classes the school chooses, at a time the school chooses.
  4. No costNo fees, no devices to buy, no logins, no contract. The school can stop at any time.

4 · What it supports

Work the school already has to do

Baal Darpan does not replace any part of the syllabus. It can support requirements and aims the school already works towards.

CBSE · school safety

The NDMA School Safety Policy Guidelines, 2016

CBSE’s circular of 25 September 2017 made these guidelines mandatory for every CBSE-affiliated school.

How Baal Darpan helps: Seva aur Suraksha, a weekly first-aid and safety lesson drawn from cited public guidance, and a yearly disaster-preparedness week in the rhythm. Seva aur Suraksha

NCF-SE 2023 · pedagogy

Questioning, discussion and writing

“In general, more participation, questioning, discussion, debate and writing, including creative writing, by all students in the classroom in all subjects will help ensure the acquisition of capacities in languages, communication, and logical reasoning…”

How Baal Darpan helps: the Pathyakram’s question ladder (what is it, why does it happen, what would you do), three questions asked aloud in every lesson, and one line that begins with “because” at the end of the bell.

NEP 2020, as NCF-SE 2023 sums it up

Understanding and capacities, not rote

“Curricular Aims: Emphasis on conceptual understanding rather than rote learning and development of capacities and values, such as, critical thinking, decision making, creativity, and ethical, human and constitutional values.”

How Baal Darpan helps: six capacities form the trunk of the Vat Vriksha Pathyakram; each batch thickens two of them.

NCF-SE 2023 · assessment

Assessment as and for learning

“The ‘assessment culture’ must change too, so that assessment is conducted increasingly as learning and for learning.”

How Baal Darpan helps: it records habits on the child’s own device, never marks, so it adds no test to the school’s load.

These are our readings of public documents, quoted word for word from the sources below. Baal Darpan is a free initiative; it is not approved or endorsed by CBSE, NCERT or the Ministry of Education.

5 · The 30-day trial

Four weeks, then an honest decision

Small on purpose: one coordinator, the classes the school chooses, and a review in which the school decides whether to continue. The trial in detail

Week 1

Set up

  • The principal names one coordinator
  • The school chooses the classes
  • One test run on the phone and projector
  • A note to parents, written by us, sent by the school
Week 2

The bell rings

  • Twenty minutes a day in each trial class
  • A teacher note guides each lesson
  • The coordinator logs only “rang” or “did not ring”
Week 3

Children lead

  • Older students read a lesson to a younger class
  • Meri Raah introduced to children and parents
  • Chaupal sheets go home where there is no phone
Week 4

Look back

  • A 30-minute review with the coordinator and two teachers
  • What to keep, what to change
  • The school decides whether to continue

6 · What we measure

Habits, never marks

In the trial review

Counted by the class, never by name.

  • Habit: the school days the bell rang, out of the days it could
  • Reasons written: how many children wrote a “because” line
  • Calm practice: the days the class began with the quiet minute

On each child’s device

Six kind signals of growth, seen only on that device.

  1. Return rate
  2. Reasons written
  3. Wrong-to-right
  4. Truth-or-rumour checks
  5. Calm practice days
  6. Teach-backs

Never measured

Not in the trial, not in the app.

  • Marks, ranks or comparisons between children
  • Names, photographs or any personal data of a child
  • Anything that leaves the school without the school’s consent

7 · Privacy

Nothing about a child leaves the device

  • No login, no accountsNo sign-up for the school, the teacher or the child.
  • Stays on the deviceProgress is kept in the browser of the device it was made on, with a clear delete button. Nothing is sent to us.
  • No chat, no strangersNo ads, no chat, no public profiles for children.
  • Sharing is a choiceA message to parents goes only when an adult taps share or print.
  • Safe-content rulesEvery lesson is written to safe-content rules for its age.
  • Certificates of learningNever degrees, marks or official qualifications.

For the staff room

The one-page integration map

Print it for the staff meeting. It prints on one A4 sheet.

DarpanVidyadhaam

How Baal Darpan fits into a school

A free initiative · upscdarpan.in

1 · The slot: twenty minutes, in one of three places

Before assembly · the class starts calmZero period · before the first lessonAfter lunch · settles the class

2 · The teacher’s note (no equipment)

  1. 0–2 min · Shaant minute
  2. 2–5 min · Socho pehle
  3. 5–11 min · Paath sunao
  4. 11–16 min · 3 sawaal, zor se
  5. 16–17 min · Ek ‘kyunki’ line
  6. 17–20 min · Copy mein likho

…or the day’s bell (phone and projector)

  1. Shaant Pal · 1 min
  2. Yaad Karo · 4 min
  3. Do paath · 15 min
  4. Aaj ka socho (Vichar Sabha or Sach ya Afwaah) · 5 min
  5. Sikhao · 3 min

3 · What the school needs

  • One coordinator
  • A phone and a projector or smart TV (or none: the teacher’s note needs no equipment)
  • Twenty minutes a day in the chosen classes
  • No cost, no logins, no contract

4 · What it supports

  • NDMA School Safety Policy Guidelines, 2016 (mandatory for CBSE schools, circular of 25 Sep 2017): a weekly safety lesson
  • NCF-SE 2023: questioning, discussion and writing by all students
  • Assessment as and for learning: habits, never marks

5 · The 30-day trial

  • Week 1: coordinator, classes, test run, note to parents
  • Week 2: the bell rings every day
  • Week 3: older students teach younger classes
  • Week 4: review, and the school decides

6 · What we measure

  • Trial: days the bell rang · “because” lines · calm days, by class
  • On each device: Return rate · Reasons written · Wrong-to-right · Truth-or-rumour checks · Calm practice days · Teach-backs
  • Never: marks, ranks, names, photographs, personal data

7 · Privacy

No login and no accounts. Progress stays in the browser of the device it was made on, with a delete button; nothing is sent to us. No ads, no chat, no public profiles. Sharing happens only when an adult taps share or print.

Lessons: upscdarpan.in/baal/Curriculum: upscdarpan.in/vidyadhaam/pathyakram.htmlCommunity: chat.whatsapp.com/KUwbRGhrf9pAQcQVJYzQ60

Begin

Let the bell ring in your school

Write to us in the Darpan community with the name of your school and the classes you would like to start with.

Join the community on WhatsApp The whole curriculum

Sources for this page

  1. CBSE circular No. CBSE/AFF./Adv-20/2017 of 25 September 2017: NDMA School Safety Policy Guidelines, 2016 mandatory for affiliated schools cbse.gov.in
  2. National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023, Introduction (the three quotations above, including its summary of NEP 2020’s curricular aims) ncert.nic.in, fetched 6 October 2026
  3. The minutes of the teacher’s note and of the day’s bell: the Baal Darpan app on upscdarpan.in, as published on 6 October 2026