A wise man aptly said: "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free!!"

Kundan Vidya Mandir – a glorious educational Institute, the first school of Punjab to be affiliated with CBSE, was founded in the year 1941. When the nation was still struggling to gain freedom, a visionary Shri Kundan Lal Ji, was working on the Quit Illiteracy Movement in Ludhiana. Motivated by the need to provide education to his two teenage daughters (Devlata and Kamla), he started KVM in April 1941 in two rooms of his house – today these are the Principal’s office and the adjoining Manager’s room. Initially the school was restricted to girls. In fact, he started admitting boys to KVM in the late 1940s to provide education to his eldest grandson – Digvijay. Many of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren did their schooling from KVM.

The tireless efforts, foresightedness, benevolence and hard work of the visionary, Late Shri Kundan Lal Ji bore fruit and Kundan Vidya Mandir was established in the same year at Daresi, in the heart of Ludhiana city, with a noble thought of cultivating and promoting qualities of nationalism, patriotism, service and sacrifice among children. This great founder, with his immense foresightedness, worked tirelessly as Founder Principal for more than two decades. The teacher-student ratio of 25:1 was followed to the T even at that time which is just another evidence of the prudence of the founder of this great institution.

The great passion and indomitable spirit of this dynamic persona, to spread the light of awareness and uplift society culminated into reality. Thus, in 1956, another campus was set up in the Civil Lines area of the city which is now the illustrious school fondly called KVM, while the old school is known as City Campus of Kundan Vidya Mandir. From 16 girls in 1941, the school had grown to a co-educational institution with over 1,500 students at the time of his death in 1966.

From 1966 to 1972, the school flourished under the focused leadership of Principals like Sh. Brij Mohan Trehan and Sh. Om Prakash Dhanda. Mr. Balraj Maria worked as the Principal of the school from 1972 to 1986 and brought the school to new horizons with his progressive planning and revolutionary ideas.

Today, Kundan Vidya Mandir is a progressive Senior Secondary School which provides modern and value-based education. This distinguished school has to its credit, the feat of being the first school in Punjab to get affiliated with CBSE in 1963. It has been acknowledged as a new generation school by CBSE. Kundan International School, Chandigarh is another venture of Shri Kundan Lal Trust which was established in 2007. Its unique features and modern amenities add to our pride and glory. Guided by the motto -Truth, Love & Efficiency, the school aims at inculcating moral values along with discipline among its young ignited minds. 

This temple of knowledge has, over the years metamorphosed, from era to era, keeping pace with the growing needs of young children. Principals like Dr. D. B. Sharma,  Mrs. I. Kumar, Mr. S. C. Saxena and Mrs. Navita Puri proved to be the torch bearers of holistic education. And since 2022, under the able guidance of Principal and Director Academics, Mr. A.P. Sharma (National Awardee and CBSE Awardee) the school envisions to reach the greatest height of success.

Nevertheless, the true soul of this institution has always been its student strength of over 5000 students and about 350 dedicated members of staff, teaching and non-teaching. The welfare of the school is taken care of by Shri Kundan Lal Trust and the School Managing Committee comprising eminent and versatile public personalities, educationists and industrialists. To ensure the future success and stability of KVM, Shri Kundan Lal established the Shri Kundan Lal Trust in 1950 and donated a large part of his Civil Lines property to it.

This pride of Ludhiana, which is spread over a vast area of about 7 acres, has the most modern and excellent infrastructure based on the latest techniques and imparts education up to 10+2 level and offers medical, non-medical, commerce and humanities streams to its students. The KVM campus is Wi-Fi networked and all school tasks are computerized through an ERP software. With Smart Classes, KVM is among the few selected schools in India which uses the digital instruction material exactly mapped to meet the specified objectives of the CBSE curriculum.

With regular counselling sessions and workshops/webinars/symposia/conferences, etc. being an integral part of the functioning of KVM, the school leaves no stone unturned in bringing world-class exposure to each of its students at its doorstep.

Year after year, the brilliant results, along with the recognition, eminence and distinction earned by the determined Kundanites at national and international level is the genuine tribute that can be paid to its founder who was a great philanthropist.

In October 2015, KVM kicked off celebrations to mark the 75th year. And this year, the school will complete 83 years of its existence where it has not only contributed, but also in more ways than one, been a reason for the progress of the society which it is a part of.