There is an air of wishing New Year everywhere! In our country there are many new year day.  Some of them are   Ugadi, Rongali Bihu, Gudi Padwa, Puthandu, Vishu, Navreh, Vishuva Sankranti, Cheti Chand, Chaitti etc. All these celebrations have the common things like sharing of joy having religious significance and a unique message for each. Even though the present New Year Celebration in January has one important aspect that is the sharing of Joy, we can add many more dimensions to it to make it more meaningful.

This occasion can also be utilized by making new resolutions, fresh commitments and look forth at new beginnings. Let us all refresh our commitment towards the activities we have undertaken and also to begin taking initiatives to bring improvement wherever it is required.

The just ended month has witnessed various activities in all the schools. Let us take a glance of some of the important activities:-

VKV shines in National Children’s Science Congress
The project of Millo Dacha of VKV Roing secured A+ in the National level competition and found place in the best 20 projects selected in the National Level Children’s Science Congress held at Bangalore from 27th to 31st December 2014.

Kr. Chau Jeyhoung Jenowof VKV Amliang has won special award for the best Poster presentation in the National Level.

Congratulations to both of them.

Total 8 students from various VKVs of Arunachal Pradesh participated in the National level Children’s Science Congress held at Bangalore from 27th to 31st December 2014.

Successful completion of ‘Vigyan Yatra’

Vigyan Yatra which was jointly flagged off by Dr.Joram Begiji, Prant Pramukh of Vivekananda Kendra and Shri. Bodo Yirang, Director of Elementary Education, Government of Aruanchal Pradesh on 31st October 2014 successfully completed after benefitting thousands of students and teachers.

The details

The purposeful journey which started on 31st October till 30th December was successful because of whole hearted participation of enthusiastic teachers like Sri Rajib Prasad, Shri. K.K.Subramanian, Sri Krishna Tamang, Sri Ashok Singh, Sri Man Bahadur Cherty, Sri Harka Poon, Sri T Shritharan and Sri Ramayan Choudhary and five special Resource person sof ‘Vigyan Vahini’ an NGO from Pune under the leadership of Sri.Sharad Godse. Shri Ananda Mohan Mishra, Principal VKV Ziro also contributed by coordinating the activities of the Yatra.

VKV Ziro participated in the all India Taj Wellness Program
17 students from VKV Ziro participated in the first ever Taj Wellness Program held on 5th and 7th December 2014 in Sur Sadan, Agra and Prelude Public School, Agra. The program was highly beneficial for the students as many experts from different fields illuminated the students. 1100 students from 15 states of India participated in the program. Ms. Neha Sharma, Deputy Director Examination, CBSE exhorted the children to take care of overall wellness and informed them about the Board’s emphasis on yoga.   Dr P. Prasanna Raj, Chairperson, Additional Secretary in Medical Council of India; Dr. Amod Barker, a consulting psychiatrist from Pune; Dr. Sonica Krishan, Ayurvedic Consultant and Holistic Coach, Author, Speaker and Facilitator, Health Writer, Columnist; Mr. Jimmy Mody, Reiki Master & Pranic Healer from Mumbai; Mr. Kunal Sharma, a fitness expert from Mumbai; Yogini Sharma, who works on “Healing through Art’etc were some of the speakers illuminating the students. In addition to the lecture sessions, there were Cultural Programs, Group Discussion etc.

Half Yearly Principal Meet
The half yearly Principal Meet, 2014 was convened on 19th and 20th December at VKVAPT Administrative Office, Dibrugarh.  Mananeeya Sri. D. Bhanudasji, General Secretary, VRM and VK, Kanyakumari was present throughout the meeting.

The two days Meet has given much inputs to the Principals on various topic. Sri. D. Bhanudasji has proposed many methods of infusing ideology into our children and karyakartas and stressed that change should happen within and the real source of strength lies within.  In his inaugural and concluding speeches also he focused on many vital ideologies of Vivekananda Kendra and made everyone revisit the real image of a Kendra Karyakarta as a prime mover of social change and on the process making our life successful. He also took a very important session on Accounting in which he focused on the Accounting as a manmaking tool. Sri Pravinji highlighted on the ways to celebrate Eknathji’s Jayanti in a befitting manner. He suggested various tasks for the consolidation and strengthening of the works of Vivekananda Kendra in Arunachal Pradesh and urged everyone to put their utmost effort for the same. In addition to these, there were sessions on Admission Policy of VKVAPT and Essentials of Academic Monitoring by Sri. P.M. Unnikrishnan, Education Officer.  A detail power point presentation on the activities conducted so far was also presented by Sri R Krishna Kumar, Cluster in- Charge, Lohit and Tirap Cluster.

Orientation Camp for Selected Hindi Teachers
An orientation camp for the selected Hindi teachers of VKVs of Arunachal Pradesh was conducted from 23rd to 26th December 2014 in VKV Jairampur.  Sri S.P Verma, Director, Vidya Institute of Training and Development Meerut and Professor M.D.Mishra from BKSKS College, Begunsarai, Bihar were the main Resource persons for the camp. A total number of 47 teachers attended the camp.

Inputs were given in various areas like different activities as a part of CCE and the evaluation criteria, how to be an effective teacher, aspects of Language teaching etc.

Orientation Camp for Selected Mathematics Teachers
An orientation camp for the selected mathematics teachers was conducted in VKV Itanagar from 30th December to 1st January 2015. Smt. Rohini Govilkarji and Smt. Vrinda Joglekar, Head of the Dept. of statistics, Hislop College Nagpur were the Resource persons for the Camp. Sri Pravin Dabholkar, Joint General Secretary, VK Kanyakumari and Secretary VKVs North East graced the inaugural session.

Many topics like Factor, HCF, Different Equations, Probability, and Statistics were the highlights of the training workshop which were conducted with many new activities and power point presentation. The teachers got involved in brain storming sessions and shared their experiences of teaching the subjects in the school innovatively. Sri P M Unnikrishnan, Education Officer, who was present in both the inaugural and the concluding sessions, exhorted the teachers to create an ambience of Mathematics in the schools.

Participation in Training Workshop

Workshop for Biology Teachers
4 selected Biology teachers attended a training workshop on Hydroponics and Vermicomposting at Arunachal Pradesh Science Centre, Itanagar from 13th to 17th December conducted by the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh.

Teachers’ Orientation Workshop for Physics and Chemistry Teachers  
10 selected Physics and Chemistry teachers participated in two days teachers’ Orientation Workshop organized by Arunachal Pradesh State Council for Science and Technology at Itanagar from 9th to 10th December 2014.Dr.B.N.Das, visiting Professor, Presidency College, Kolkota and Dr. Arindam Rana, Associate professor City College Kolkata were the Resource persons for the training.

Both the Resource persons took sessions on various topics of Chemistry and Physics of CBSE Class IX and X syllabuses with own made models. The training was very helpful as it encouraged teachers to deal with topics with experiments and models which can be prepared with easily available materials.

Extending facility to complete Internship
Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalayas extended its facilities to the students of Azim Premji University, Bangalore to complete their internship by undertaking individual research projects on the academic topics.  6 students have successfully completed the projects on various topics like ‘Constructivism and teaching and learning of Social Science: An observation of class IX’, ‘Understanding Livelihoods of tribal village in Arunachal Pradesh and linking it to contextual teaching/learning’ etc.

Gyan Setu Programme
VKVs in collaboration with Gyan Setu volunteers have successfully conducted 15 Science Workshops in various Government schools of the state.  Gyan Setu is a program in which student volunteers from reputed university like Azim Premji University, premiere Engineering colleges etc visit remote schools to augment science learning through hands-on activities. VKV Niausa, Ziro, Koloriang and Jirdin have made the logistic arrangements for the volunteers to conduct the activities in various government schools.

Ganit (Maths) Week Celebration

VKV Itanagar celebrated Ganit Week from 17 to 22 December. As a part of the celebration many activities were conducted in the school during the week. The highlights are given below:

Prizes were distributed to the winners of various competitions. The celebration has helped to create awareness and interest on Mathematics in the school.

Prajnya Vikas Written Test
A large number of students participated in the Prajnya Vikas Written Test 2014 held on 10 December 2014. The participation details have been given below:

The Inter VKV rankings of the Test are as under

The performances of the schools in different categories have been analyzed and a detail Report has been sent to the schools for improvement in the coming years.   The school level as well as inter VKV level winners will receive prizes.

Career Counseling Program
VKVAPT organized Career Counseling Program for the students to enable them to know various career options, their strengths and other important issues.Sri SP Verma, Director, Vidya Institute of Training and Development conducted the program from 25 December to 29 December 2014. As a part of the program Aptitude Test was conducted among the students the result of which will be sent to the schools soon. The details of the program are given below:

Gita Jayanti celebrations
VKV Kuporijo and Banderdewa have conducted special pogramme in connection with Gita Jayanti celebrations.Stage programme in Sanskrit, preparing handwritten Sanskrit Dictionary, discourse on Gita etc were some of the special programme conducted by VKV   Kuporijo.  VKV Banderdewa also held Gita Parivar Sammelan on 21 December in which 50 parents attended.

There are many purposeful programmes like Utsarg Samaroh, Matrupooja etc ahead. All the schools would be preparing well for Swamiji’s Jayanti celebration.  The team would be working round the clock to make  various programmes successful and to give a unique schooling experience to students and also to educate all who are directly or indirectly associated with us.  I am sure the various carefully selected programmes along with normal class room teaching would definitely bring academic excellence in our schools. Thus, the academic excellence not only remains to be the ability to perform, achieve, and excel in scholastic activities but also for the development of one’s intellectual capacities and skills in the service of humanity.

Let us invoke the blessings of Thakur Sri Ramakrishna, Maa Sarada, Veera Sanyasi Swami Vivekananda and Mananeeya Eknathji to undertake the endeavour with utmost dedication and sincerity.
Convey my love and regards to all.

Joint Secretary

The co-operative effort of all results in a collective energy which is most essential for the successful progress towards the goal of the organization.

Mananeeya Eknathji Ranade.