Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalayas Arunachal Pradesh Trust August Month Report

Recently I have got the opportunity to relish two interesting anecdotes which spurred my thinking. The first one was that an army trainer pointing at a massive machine gun tells the trainees “This is the lightest weapon of all and quite easy to carry …”.   In the other one,   a platoon commander of a certain militarily outpost rushes to the commander and reports with bated breath “We are wrecked Sir! Enemies have cornered us from all the sides and we are baffled where to start counter- attack”.    The commander briskly replied “There is no confusion if we are surrundounded by enemies from all the sides, attack them from all the sides”.

The attitude towards anything really matters the most. We are capable to perform the best even in the most hazardous situations.  A few days back, I was in a certain school gracing a Parents’ meeting. All the enthusiastic teachers were apprising the parents about their chalked out plans, strength and weakness of the students.   Subsequently, the mathematics teacher took the turn and came to the dais and said “Mathematics is not like other subjects. It is very difficult and only studious students can achieve marks. I was taken back and pondered over the statement. The teacher has merely articulated just the general view floating around the society.  

One of the predominant reasons for the widespread mathematics phobia is the attitude of many teachers towards the subject. Students develop persistent, illogical, intense fear of not succeeding in mathematics. They hastily come to the assumption that they are incapable to handle the difficulty associated with learning mathematics. Vanessa Stuart writes: "My own hypothesis is that mathematics is like a sport: 90 percent mental--one's mathematics confidence--and 10 percent physical--one's mathematics competence in performing mathematical skills."

Math phobia can be surpassed with the assistance of an experienced and enthusiastic teacher.

Let us all exert our efforts to make our concerned subjects as simple as possible with good illustration and activities with the principle of constructivism.

The just concluded month has witnessed many activities which I would like to write down for the information of all:

Gold Medal to Balakrishnanji:

On the occasion of 67th Independence Day, the Arunachal Government has announced Gold Medal to Mananeeya Balakrishnanji, Vice President, Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari, in recognition to the immense contribution in the field of education and rural development rendered to the State. His association with North-East through Kendra began way back in the year 1974. Under the guidance of his mentor Mananeeya Eknathji Ranade, Sri.BalaKrishnanji took up the responsibility of Vivekananda Kendra’s work in the north-east. The seeds that he sown then have born fruits and have spread its branches all over north-east, giving solace and encouragement to a large number of people in the Northeast in general, and Arunachal Pradesh in particular. The medal will be presented to him on the Arunachal Pradesh Statehood Day.

Teachers’ orientation Camp for Sanskrit Teachers :

A 4 day Teachers’ Orientation Camp for Sanskrit teachers was conducted from 25th to 28th August, 2013 at VKV- Nirjuli. 30 Teachers from all the VKVs of Aruanchal Pradesh attended the camp. Dr. Unnikrishnan, the Head, Literature Department, Government Sanskrit College, Trivandrum and Dr C.N.Vijayakumari, the Head,  Sanskrit Department, University of Kerala were the Resource persons for the camp. The focuses of the camp were Sanskrit Sambhashanam, Pronunciation, clarification of doubts in Grammar, Teaching of slokas and poem with proper tune, demonstration of communicative Sanskrit teaching skills. It was noteworthy that all the sessions including inaugural, concluding, experience sharing everything was only in Sanskrit.  Active participation our teachers in the session write from early morning to till late evening was appreciated by the resource persons.  Let us keep the tempo and use the same in our schools.

Workshop for Environmental Science Teachers: 
 A 3 day workshop for the Environmental Science Teachers’ was conducted from 24th to 26th August 2013. Dr. Meenakshi Barve and Dr. Vasant Barve were the resource persons to guide the teachers to refresh the essentials in Environmental Science Teaching. 11 teachers from the VKVs of Papum Pare cluster attended the workshop.

Science Seminar:
District Level result: VKVs have shown good performance in the Science seminar 2013 conducted by the Directorate of School Education in collaboration with BITM Kolkata. The theme of the year was Water co-operation: Issues and Challenges.

Performance of VKVs in the District Level:

State Level Result:

There were 12 participants from different districts for the State level event. 9 out of 12 participants were from VKVs.  The final result is given below.

Shri. K. Jaishankar who was asked to attend the event has given elaborate feedback about the performance of our students. The same would be sending to schools for the reference.

Cluster level Principals meeting of Papum Pare Cluster:
The Meeting was held in VKV- Itanagar on 29th August 2013. All the principals of Papum Pare cluster along with the second in- charges of the schools were present in the meeting. The presence of Mananeeya Pravinji enhanced the grandeur of the meeting. Action taken report of the previous meeting, reporting of the various activities conducted so far, planning for the rest of the session and discussion on Mid day meal scheme,  SVSSS activities for the rest of the session, strengthening of communication, Academic monitoring  and finalising the action points were the important  points discussed in the meeting.

Trustee Meeting:
Trustee Board meeting of Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalayas Aruanchal Pradesh Trust was conducted on 16 August, 2013. Mananeeya Balakrishnanji, Vice President of Vivekananda Kendra, Mananeeya Bhanudasji,General Secretary ,Mananeeya  Pravinji, Joint General secretary of VK , Dr. Joram Begiji, Dr.Tejum Paduji and Shri. Jatan Puluji were present.  The trustees analysed the annual performance of the Vidyalayas, sanctioned the financial budget for the current session and also approved audit report of the last financial year.

The trustees have suggested various measures for the overall development of the Vidyalayas. While appreciating the dedicated works rendered by the teachers, the trustees have decided to start health insurance to all the regular employees shortly.

Activities in connection with the SVSSS:
Yuva Sammelan: - It was a wonderful experience for me to address the Yuva Sammelan Organised for the trainees of the Police Training Centre at Banderdewa under the beautiful canopy of teak forest in PTC campus on 23rd August 2013. Sri Tasso Sira, DFO Banderdewa and the Convener, SVSSS and T.Ringu, Principal PTC Banderdewa were the other speakers.  600 youth along 35 Police Officers, teachers & SVSSS School Ayojan Samiti members of VKV PTC Banderdewa were present for the programme. The rapt attention of Youth, who are going to be the custodian of law in our state, towards the speeches delivered was notable thing about the programme.

Kishori Vikash Shibir: - Snehavardhini Group of VKV- Oyan (which included 2 members of School SVSSS Ayojan Samiti) conducted the shibir on 31st August 2013. 67 Girls attended the whole day Shibir. Dr. Y.R.Darang, a leading Doctor of District Hospital, Pasighat and Km.Mompi Dey, Lawyer in the Additional District and session court, Pasighat were the distinguished resource persons for the Shibir. It was a motivating expecience for me to take 3 sessions to the enthusiastic and highly receptive young girls and their escort teachers. The entire programme was organised by the Snehavardhini members who went to register the names of the participants, arranged the resource persons, decorated the venue, and prepared the agenda etc. Two of them (Smt. Jisha Ajay Kumar & Smt. Rashmi Unnikrishnan) had taken sessions on SVSSS and Steps to be adopted to become a Shining Star.

Vimarsh: - VKV- Kuporijo conducted a seminar on the relevance of Swamiji’s thoughts in day to day life on 10th August 2013 at Kuporijo. 180 people and 45 students attended the seminar. There were paper presentation by Sri.Tahang Taggu, IAS, D.C, Daporijo, Sri Tabin Siga,-ADC Dumporijo; Sri Shami Timba, District Planning Officer, Sri. Jumni Ligu, ADEO, Daporijo. Lardik Kare, General Secretary, Tagin Cultural Society were the moderators of the programme.

Celebrations:-

Janmastami and Raksha Bandhan:
Janmastami and Raksha Bandhan were celebrated in all the Vidyalayas with great pomp and show. I was present in the Janmashtami celebration of VKV- Nirjuli in which 900 parents attended the programme. The teachers and students went to the neighboring areas to tie rakhis and give the message of Raksha Bandhan. Teachers and students of VKV- Itanagar went to Rajbhavan to tie rakhis to His Excellency Retd Lt. General Nirbhay Sharma.

Independence Day celebrations:- 
The Independence Day Celebration at VKVAPT, Dibrugarh was marked by the presence of Kendra elders like Mananeeya Balakrishnanji and Mananeeya Bhanudasji. Mananeeya Balakrishnanji hoisted and unfurled the flag and delivered a vigorous speech on the occasion.

VKVs Oyan,Jirdin,Yikgkiong,Kuporijo,Ziro,Koloriang,Itangar,Banderdewa, Niausa, Tafrogam, Roing, Amliang, Kitpi Tawang were part of the District level celebrations at the respective District Head Quarters and the other schools in sub divisional/circle /administrative head quarters. VKV- Nirjuli and Vivek Vihar organized grand programme in school itself. Prof. D. Pal, Director of NERIST was the chief guest in the programme conducted in Nirjuli. March past, band display, PT display, pole Malkhamb etc won the hearts of the people at various places. VKV- Ziro conducted a science in exhibition in the stalls allotted for them in General Ground

Parents’ meetings:-
VKV- Banderdewa conducted the parents’ meeting for class IX & X students’ parents on 23.08.2013. 89 parents attended the meeting. Shri. Unnikrishnan, Education officer, VKVAPT took one session on CCE to orient the parents in order to ensure their role in the process. I could address them on the topic “The role of parents in educational activities”.  The three- hour meeting was well received by the parents and their feedback was quite positive and encouraging to all the teachers.  VKV- Kuporijo conducted parents meeting for primary class students’ parents. 73 parents attended the meeting. The meeting focused on the problems faced by the students, role of parents and the measures planned by the schools for weak students. Sri Thimpu Maying, President ATA, U/Subansiri was the special guest for the meeting.

Prerana Shibir: - The shibir meant for the Class VII day- scholars’ students exposes the participants to the experience of systematic daily routine, to stay together with their class mates, to give motivation to excel in studies and to lead value based life at this very important period of their life. The shibir was conducted in VKV- Kharsang, VKV Itanagar, Yazali and Nirjuli. The details of the camps are given below: