In a country where the odds of having twins is fairly low at 9 twins for every 1000 births, there is literally a deluge of doubles in a school in the northern state of Punjab, India.
There are 42 pairs of twins and two sets of triplets on the rolls of the Police DAV Public School, Jalandhar – a premier institute spread over 7.2 acres in a police campus of the city.
The twins – mostly identical, are currently in the age group of three to 17 and enrolled in Nursery to Class 12th (equivalent to Year 12 of school in New Zealand).
The school authorities were unaware of this significant odd phenomenon until this ‘amazing discovery’ was made just a few weeks back.

School principal, Dr. Rashmi Vij was, however, aware of some twins studying in their school, but not the exact number until someone approached them to seek details. This prompted her to ask all teachers to find out the number of twins studying in their respective classes.
This ‘census’ revealed there were 42 pairs of twins and two sets of triplets in their school.
“This strange fact was discovered a few days back only. I thought there are may be 20-25 pairs of twins, but I was surprised,” Dr Vij said.
“The amazing discovery was initiated with the proposal by a journalist who wanted to cover a story about the twins in the school,” Dr Vij told NewsViews when approached for details. “It came as a very pleasant surprise.”

The school organized a special event on August 22 to interact with all the ‘marvels of nature’- the twins.
“It was a marvelous feeling to witness all the 90 students gathered under one roof, sharing their myriad experiences,” Dr, Vij said while expressing her exuberance.
“Many of the twins are identical and seem to be a mirror image of each other. They may look alike but each one of them is the owner of a unique personality with varying aptitudes, nature, behavior and interests. The pairs comprise of both boys, both girls or one boy and one girl. Both the sets of triplets consist of two girls and one boy.
Being a psychologist, Dr Rashmi Vij is of the opinion that twins should study separately in different sections so that they get the opportunity to mingle with other students as twins have a tendency to stick together.
“I put them in separate sections…this way they can forge new friendships and let their unique personalities blossom and flourish. If the twins happen to be in the same sections, it becomes a daunting task for the teachers to identify one from the other, especially in case of identical twins.
In many countries around the world-including India, the twinning rates has increased dramatically over the last two decades, largely because more couples are using fertility drugs, assisted reproductive technology and increased maternal age with women delaying motherhood.
Police DAV Public School was established in 1996 and approx. 5500 students are currently enrolled.
The school has 126 classrooms, including 70 Smart classrooms which are fitted with Interactive Boards. The smart boards are pre loaded with course content making the studies interesting and effective.
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