SelaQui School, Dehradun: Connected by long-range ethernet, students can log on from anywhere in the school's 52-acre campus

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Shruti Ravi is in the sixth standard, but peek into her school satchel and there's never an exercise book in there. Nor a workbook. Or even a notebook. That's because Shruti never needs one. At school every morning, she merely flips open the laptop computer on her desk, checks the assignments that appear on her screen and then gets down to business. On a typical day, she searches for a few e-texts on the school's virtual network-yes, that's precisely why she doesn't have to lug around fat tomes with her every day-and even checks out a digitized video clip and surfs the net for all the information she needs. Research over, Shruti completes her written assignment and e-mails it back to her teacher.

Back home, Shruti's parents can go online to check their daughter's grades, compare them with the previous ones and also monitor her progress, while her teachers at school mark and grade their students online. Welcome to a paperless classroom at Mumbai's American School. Well, the school hasn't quite gone totally paperless yet but is getting there. According to James Mains, the school's superintendent, the transformation is being done in phases and the senior school will be completely paperless by next year. All students from Class VI through Class XII will have a laptop to take notes, complete assignments, take tests and do research and also get simultaneous feedback from their teachers. Gushes Harry Berret, the American School's technology director, who has set up a WI-FI (wireless fidelity) network for the school: "We are not subscribing to an on-line curriculum source, not just making equipment available to teachers and students, but rather we were changing the way we approach education."

The school has invested Rs 78 crore in its 150-acre campus Jain International Residential School, Bangalore

They're not alone. Just next to the American School is the upcoming Dhirubhai Ambani International School (dais), whose students will be able to hook up desktops and laptops via 420 data points and learn in computer laboratories and a social science laboratory, where technology will be the means for teaching history and geography. At dais' library, 44 networked computers will help students do research and browse reference texts.

Technology is it in the brave new world of schools. Up north in Gurgaon, near Delhi, the new Pathways World School, a Rs 100-crore project, is also a wireless school where it is compulsory for all students to have laptops. At SelaQui, a residential school in Dehradun, parents fork out Rs 1.57 lakh in annual fees but get in return a package-wholesome education, extra-curricular activities and discipline-all technology-enhanced, of course. SelaQui's technology and networks are facilitated by Cisco Systems whose head of Indian operations is also on the board of the school. The Gurukul Trust, founders of SelaQui, will invest Rs 50 crore in the 52-acre campus that began operations last year. For the record, the school, which now has just 125 students, expects to breakeven in another two years.

Wired from Day 1, the school is a pioneer in tech-enabled education Vasant Valley School, New Delhi

Thousands of miles away from SelaQui is the Jain International Residential School, whose Chairman, R. Chenraj Jain (who, incidentally is a high-school dropout), has pumped in Rs 78 crore in the 150-acre campus. Jain's school charges a hefty Rs 2.5 lakh annually but there are 20 applicants for each of its 680 seats. At the Pathways World School, science labs are designed for computer simulation of dangerous experiments and a well-equipped library/media centre includes a distance-learning studio for access to curriculum and teaching from some of the best universities in the world. Fees are upwards of Rs 3 lakh but bookings are in full swing.

But technology is just the means to an end. Most of these new age schools emphasise new methods of learning. Says Arun Kapur, Delhi's Vasant Valley School, which has been a pioneer in this field: "The corporate world has always had an arm in research and one in education. Now they are simply transferring that new-found knowledge in terms of new education method.'' At Vasant Valley, which was established in 1990, the emphasis is not just computer-based education but both student and faculty development through technology-enabled education.

The school's wi-fi network is set to take learning to the next level American School, Mumbai

The new breed of schools also splurges on creature comforts. The Pathways World School is centrally airconditioned and entirely covered with a fibreglass ceiling; it has a huge amphitheatre as well as mini amphitheatres in each academic block for outdoor classes; and its dorms are almost like five-star hotel rooms-spacious with a bathroom for every two students-and pamperingly equipped with luxuries like left-handed scissors for southpaws. At Bangalore's Jain International, former national sportsmen like Ashish Balal (hockey) and A.V. Jayaprakash (cricket) coach students in a Rs 25-crore indoor stadium. Personal attention is another big USP of most of these new age schools. No class size is bigger than 25 and teacher-student ratios are often as good as 1:10 (Jain International School). With special attention and an encouragement for extracurricular activities, many students have already started making a mark. Last year, Neha Nagpal, a student of Class IX at Jain International, released her debut album Man Doley through BMG Crescendo. Neha's a budding Hindi-popper, thanks, in part, to her music lessons in school. What more could she (and her parents) ask for?

-additional reporting by Venkatesha Babu & Debojyoti Chatterjee