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Our Jorney

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The early Gujarati settlers in Leicester (U.K.) found that English was the main

spoken language. The prominent members amongst our Gujarati community felt that

if people continued to speak in English only, we would eventually forget our mother

language and our culture and values. This inspired them to set up Gujarati classes

“India-Ling” was set up to teach Gujarati and Punjabi classes at Charnwood Primary

Schools on Saturdays in Highfields area. However, most of our Gujarati community

lived in the Belgrave area and meant travelling long distances by bus, as very few

people owned a car in those days. After consultation with the parents, it was decided

that we needed to continue with the Gujarati school in our local area.

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In 1964, the Indian Education Society (IES) was formally established as a charity

organisation, the first of its kind to be set up in U.K. offering Gujarati classes.

On 31st May 1977, we called another AGM and decided to give 6 committee members lifetime membership to the society: Lalloobhai Patel, Dhanjibhai Atwala, Ranchodbhai Mistry, Jeevanbhai Mistry, Naginbhai Chauhan, Rameshbhai Ramji.

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The Indian Education Society celebrated its silver jubilee at the prestigious venue of

De Montfort Hall, Leicester. Since then, IES has organised an annual cultural

evening to celebrate our student’s hard work at the Gujarati Schools and award

trophies to the successful students on gaining their GCSE.

2013

The Indian Education Society Leicester celebrated its golden jubilee at Shri Ram

Mandir. All past and present staff were invited to a get together to celebrate with a

cultural programme of events.

The Gujarati school was operating at two venues, Rushey Mead and Abbey Primary

school. Rushey Mead became an Academy and decided to increase the rental for

the hire of classes. It was unsustainable to maintain operating at two venues, and

reluctantly we had to transfer all teaching to the one school at Abbey Primary.

2017

2020

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all schools were closed and meant we could no

longer continue with our evening classes. The teaching staff and the committee

members worked together to sustain the Gujarati classes by facilitating teaching via

Zoom. IES was the only Gujarati school to have continued with Gujarati classes

during the pandemic period. A remarkable achievement and a true testament to the

dedication and hard work of our teaching staff.

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