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Ladies and Gentlemen : I welcome you to this 30th Annual General Meeting of your Institute and present before you the Audited Accounts for the year ended 31st March 2005 for your approval.
"We shall call it Lakshmi's House and it will be the Home of Grace"- The Mother wrote in February, 1968. The reference was to the temple that today houses Sri Aurobindo's relics, the home of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture.
What had been conceived in 1968 is now a reality: The Institute and Lakshmi's House have justly and truly assumed the character of a formidable educational, cultural, social and research institution. Today is a very special day. The Annual General Meeting is held on the birthday of our Founder Chairman, Shri P. K. Bhattacharya. Today is his birth centenary. His vision is our guiding force.
On April 24, 2004, the Mother's final arrival in Pondicherry was celebrated. There was 'Darshan Meditation' around the shrine, eminent artist Smt. Sikha Basu offered a recital of devotional songs followed by distribution of message and lunch prasad.
On 15th August, Sri Aurobindo 132nd Birth Anniversary was observed. There was 'Darshan Meditation' around the shrine. Eminent artist Dr. Sarmila Bose offered devotional songs at the Hall of Light followed by distribution of message and lunch prasad. An exhibition of paintings and drawings at Galerie La Mère was inaugurated in the evening.
A life-size bronze statue of Sri Aurobindo, sculptured by Shri Niranjan Pradhan, was installed at the Darshan Room of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture on 15th August 2004.
On 24th November 2004, Sri Aurobindo's 'Siddhi Day' was celebrated and a steady flow of devotees came to pay their respect. Darshan Meditation was arranged. Devotional songs were offered by Smt. Swastika Mukhopadhyay.
On 21st February 2005, the Mother's Birthday was celebrated. After meditation, Smt. Alpana Roy presented devotional songs.
On 4th April 2004, Sri Aurobindo's arrival at Pondicherry was celebrated. Meditation was organised around the Shrine.
Sri Aurobindo's Relics Enshrining Anniversary was observed on June 24, 2004. Solo artist, Smt. Nupurchanda Ghosh offered devotional songs.
Special Meditations were organised to celebrate Mahashtami on 21.10.04, Bijoya Dasami on 23.10.04, Laxmipuja on 27.10.04 and Kalipuja on 11.11.04.
On 17th November 2004, the Mother's withdrawal from the physical body was observed with great respect. Accordingly, Meditation was arranged in the morning.
On 5th December 2004, Sri Aurobindo's withdrawal from the physical body was observed with great respect. Special meditation was arranged around the Shrine.
On 9th December 2004, Sri Aurobindo's Mahasamadhi Day was observed. Meditation was arranged around the Shrine.
On January 01, 2005 there was a Special Meditation in the morning followed by Solo Recital by Smt. Sanjida Khatun from Bangladesh, renowned exponent of Rabindra Sangeet.
On March 29, 2005, the Mother's first arrival in Pondicherry was celebrated. Dr Pratap Chandra Chunder spoke on the Mother's first arrival in Pondicherry. Smt. Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay offered devotional songs on the occasion.
Collective Meditation is arranged around Sri Aurobindo's Shrine twice daily.
Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture has been a centre for cultural activities since long. Artists from various disciplines have assembled at the Institute at different times to perform and to teach. A home away from home for them, they have not only enriched the lives of the people at the Institute but have come away enriched themselves. At the Institute, cultural activities are seen not only as a means of self expression but also of expressing god of life - a vibrant, colourful adoration of god.
Our Cultural Unit, offering classes in music, dance and painting had 430 students. The dance and music classes are being conducted by well known and eminent artists. Consequent to the sad demise of Smt. Roma Mondal, Shri Ashish Bhattacharya and Smt. Promita Mullick have joined our faculty.
The Institute runs language classes in French and English.
The French class, continuing for over 26 years, has met with widespread acclaim. More than 15 students on average per month have attended the French classes in the last academic session.
Spoken English classes were conducted as before. An average of 20 students per month attended this class.
Yoga classes were conducted under the guidance of Mr. Universe Manotosh Roy. Enthusiasm for participation in Yogasana continues as before. The student strength in the past year has been around 35 on an average per month. Classes are held once a week (Wednesday).
Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture has a well-stocked library with books on Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. The library is functioning smoothly. Apart from the Mother and Sri Aurobindo's works, books on religion, literature, philosophy are available as background study for a better understanding of Sri Aurobindo and Mother's writings. Estimated total no. of these books is more than 8400. There is a good collection of reference books and a number of rare books. One qualified Librarian and two associates see to the efficient running of the library. We have already computerised the whole data base and compartmentalised it. Library now remains open all days of the week from 9.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. except Sunday. We have started issuing our books with the help of the computer. Interaction with the members and their suggestions are taken on a regular basis. The Library has more than 459 members on its rolls. More than 40 members visit the library daily.
Publication - Books & Journals
Basudhara has had a facelift which is widely appreciated and is now published twice a year on 15th August and 21st February.
Two important books were published by the Institute during the year. 'Sri Aurobindo Katha' is a collection of essays by Shri Amalesh Bhattacharyya comprising of different articles on Sri Aurobindo. The Institute also reprinted 'Sei Kobe' by Amrita. Both the books were released by Dr. Pratap Chandra Chunder in a special function on March 29, 2005. Shri Arabinda Basu from Pondicherry also attended the function.
ASPIRATION - Annual Cultural Programme
Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture hosted 'ASPIRATION' - annual cultural festival. Smt. Suchitra Mitra inaugurated the celebrations and Shri Batti, Trustee, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry was the Chief Guest on the occasion. The cultural programmes started with a Kathak dance by Smt. Moly Roy, Vocal Recitals were offered by Shri Pandit Arun Bhaduri, Shri Arshad Ali Khan and Shri Sandipan Samajpati and Sarod Recital was by Shri Partho Sarothy.
Rabindra Jayanti was celebrated on May 9, 2004 at 6.00 p.m. A number of eminent Rabindra Sangeet Artists performed on that auspicious evening. It was held under the direction of Smt. Roma Mondal.
Regular discourses organised by the Institute during the year
Regular classes and discourses were held.
Classes held on 'The Four Aids' by Prof. Biswanath Roy on every Friday of the month.
Dr. Sikha Mukherjee spoke on the 'Gita' on the last Saturday of the month.
Classes were held on the 'Veda' every second Saturday of almost every month by Smt. Roma Choudhury.
Other programmes organised by the Institute during the year
Bengali New Year's Day was celebrated on 14.4.04. Meditation was arranged around the Shrine (with the tape-recorded voice of Shri P.K. Bhattacharya) at 10 a.m. Smt. Pramita Mallick offered a recital on devotional songs on the occasion.
The Institute paid homage to eminent composers Atulprasad Sen, Rajanikanta Sen, Dwijendralal Roy and Dilip Kumar Roy on 05.07.04. Under the direction of Smt. Swastika Mukhopadhyay, many renowned artists offered devotional songs, on the occasion. Dr Gobinda Gopal Mukhopadhyay was the Chief Guest and Shri Dilip Roy spoke on the occasion.
110th Birth Anniversary of Srimat Anirban was observed on 9.7.04 near the Shrine. Smt. Bani Basu was the Chief Guest and key speaker.
A Talk on 'Jhulanpurnima' by Smt. Arundhati Roy Chowdhury was organised on 24.8.04.
On 8th September, 118th Birth Anniversary of Mahamohopadhyay Dr Gopinath Kaviraj was observed.
On 30.9.04 'Kathakata on Pitripaksha' was offered by Smt. Arundhati Roychowdhury.
A 'Special Poetry Session' of eminent poet, Shri Alok Ranjan Dasgupta was held on 1.10.04 at Hall of Light.
Kathakatha on 'Mahalaya - Debi Pranam' was held on 13.10.04 by Smt. Arundhati Roychowdhury
A Talk on 'Raspurnima' was delivered on 26.11.04 by Smt. Arundhati Roychowdhury.
A Memorial Meeting for Smt. Roma Mondal was held at Lakshmi's House on 18.12.04. Her students sang songs apart from solo recitals by Rajashree Bhattacharya, Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay and Abhirup Guha Thakurata. Shri Subhas Chowdhury spoke on the occasion.
A Talk on 'Gita Jayanti' was delivered on 5.1.05 by Smt. Arundhati Roychowdhury.
Gopinath Kaviraj Memorial lecture was delivered by Dr S.K. Chakravborty on 21.1.05.
A Talk on 'Gita Mahatmya' by Smt. Arundhati Roy Chowdhury was delivered on 11.02.05.
One of the most attractive Art Galleries in Kolkata, 'Galerie La Mère' is so named to pay tribute to the Mother and was opened in homage to her wonderful artistic sensibilities. An eminent painter herself in the early 20th century in Paris, she belonged to the famous Impressionist School.
The art gallery situated in the premises of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture hosts a number of exhibitions of painting by renowned painters of Bengal, through-out the year. The gallery remains open for visitors everyday between 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Galerie La Mère hosted a number of exhibitions during this period.
La Mère Annual, 2005 was inaugurated on January 07, 2005 and continued till January 22, 2005. It is the 10th Anniversary Exhibition of Galerie La Mère which was established on this very date in the year 1995. Following artists participated in the exhibition: Amal Chakladar, Amit Sarkar, Amitava Banerjee, Amitava Dhar, Atin Basak, B. R. Panesar, Biswarup Datta, Chanchal Mukehrjee, Chandra Bhattacharjee, Ditpti Chakraborty, Goutam Basu, Goutam Chowdhury, Hiran Mitra, Isha Mohammad, Kanchan Dasgupta, Kishore Chatterjee, Krishna Bandyopadhyay, Manoj Datta, Munindra Rajbongshi, Paritosh Sen, Parthapratim Deb, Pinaki Barua, Pradip Rakhit, Rabin Mondal, Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Ramlal Dhar, Samindrantah Majumdar, Samir Aich, Sanatan Dinda, Sanat Kar, Sekhar Roy, Sohini Dhar, Soumitra Kar, Subrato Gangopadhyay, Suhas Royand Wasim Kapoor.
Solo Exhibition of Shri Ramananda Bandyopadhyay
Solo exhibition of Shri Ramananda Bandyopadhyay was held on February 02, 2005. The exhibition is organised in the memory of Smt. Joya Mitter, Late Secretary of the Institute. The exhibition continued till February 14 2005. It was attended by many viewers.
Parama - Exhibition by Lady Artists
'Parama' - an exhibition by lady artists was inaugurated on February 21, 2005. The exhibition is organized on the Birth Anniversary of The Mother. The exhibition continued till March 06, 2005. Following artists participated in the exhibition:
Anita Roychowdhury, Anjali Sengupta, Arati Das, Arpita Basu, Arunima Chowdhury, Bageshree Datta, Ballari Mukherjee, Bhaswati Das, Chandrima Roy, Dipti Chakraborty, Krishna Bandyopadhyay, Madhumati Sen, Monami Chowdhury, Santosh Rohatgi, Shakila, Shanu Lahiri, Shibani Sengupta, Sheila Kapoor, Shyamshree Basu, Sohini Dhar, Sutapa Khan, Suktisubhra Pradhan, Suvomita Dinda, Tandra Chanda, Swati Mukherjee, Tapati Sarkar, Uma Siddhanta and Veena Bhargav.
Joint Exhibition with Alliance française de Calcutta
An exhibition of photographs of Alain Danielou, an eminent photographer and Indophile was jointly organised with Alain Danielou Francaise de Calcutta on July 30, 2004. There were nearly thirty five (35) photographs on ancient Indian cultural traditions. Shri Paritosh Sen inaugurated the exhibition and Shri Ramananda Bandyopadhyay was Guest of Honour.
Painting Exhibition "Freedom" at Galerie La Mère started on 15th August was inaugurated by Shri Avijit Majumdar at 6 p.m. and Shri Ramananda Bandyopadhyay was Guest of Honour. The exhibition continued till 31st August 2004. The names of the contributing artists were as follows :
Amal Chakladar, Amit Sarkar, Amitava Banerjee, Amitava Dhar, Atin Basak, B. R. Paneasar, Bipin Goswami, Biswarup Datta, Chandra Bhattacharjee, Debabrata Chakraborti, Goutam Chowdhury, Hiran Mitra Isha Mohammed, Koshore Chatterjee, Krishna Bandyopadhyay, Manoj Mitra, Niranjan Pradhan, Noor Ali, Paritosh Sen, Parthapratim Deb, Rabin Mondal, Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Ramlal Dhar, Ritendra Roy, Sanatan Dinda, Shyamal Datta Roy, Sohini Dhar, Suvomita Dinda, Suhas Roy, Suktisubhra Pradhan, Tapan Mitra, Tapan Ghosh and Wasim Kapoor.
The exhibition was inaugurated on October 13, 2004 and continued till November 06, 2004. Janab Tohid Hossain, Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh High Commission, inaugurated the exhibition. Following artists participated in the exhibition:
Amal Chakladar, Amit Sarkar, Amitava Banerjee, Arunima Chowdhury, Bageshree Datta, Bijoy Chakraborty, Biswarup Datta, Chanchal Mukherjee, Chandra Bhattacharjee, Debabrata Chakraborty, Dipti Chakraborty, Isha Mohammad, Krishna Bandyopadhyay, Manoj Mitra, Manoj Datta, Narayan chandra Sinha, Panchugopal Datta, Rabin Mondal, Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Samir Aich, Sanatan Dinda, Sekhar Roy, Shanu Lakiri, Suktisubhra Pradhan, Uma Siddhanta, Suvomita Dinda, Shyamal Datta Roy, Tapan Ghosh and Wasim Kapoor.
Providing education to children is one of the most important activities of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture. The major problem in Education in India is that it is far too theoretical; there is hardly any application of the knowledge that is acquired in the class room.
Both Sri Aurobindo and the Mother considered education a very important part of life and their ideals can help in the complete education of any human being. Some of their thoughts are given below:
The Future Foundation School lays equal stress on academics and co-curricular activities. This helps the child to develop initiative, behave responsibly and achieve poise and confidence.
Award for Teachers:
IL&FSETS (Schoolnet) had an Inter-school contest on the occasion of Teachers' Day. Jhuma Sinha of our school won the 2nd prize.
This year also students participated in many competitions, both Inter-School and Intra-School.
June - 'All Year Science Quiz (2003-04)' organized by B.I.T.M. -Sayantan Chakraborty, Dhiman Bhattacharjee and Aritra Basu (IX) won the third prize.
Award for Sports :
T K S Lakshmi of Class XII participated in the Women's Basketball Association of West Bengal and won an award.
Award in Art - Painting :
The British Council held a Young Learners Art Competition 2004 in which Nirnoy Roy of our School was the winner in the 9-11 years' age group.
Award in Dance and Music :
A team from The Future Foundation School won the first position in Dance in PERCEPTION '05 held by Apeejay School.
Awards in Elocution, Creative Writing etc. :
Our school participated in the 'Annual Inter-School Essay Writing Competition held on 19.8.04 at Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya.
Shrimoyee Ganguly - V won the 3rd prize in the junior level.
Ayantika Sen - XI won the 1st prize in the senior level.
Award for Excellence :
Souvik Sinha Roy of Class XI was selected for the National Scholarship by National Council for Educational Research and Training.
After school, games are organised in the school compound. These include Basketball, Football, Kho-kho, Volley-ball, Badminton, Table Tennis etc. Inter-House Tournaments are being organized regularly.
On 15.10.04 at the Bosco Ping Pong tournament 2004, the participants were Soumya Subhra Basu and Debayan Sinha of Class X and Soubhik Chakraborty of Class IX. Our school was the runners up
Summer camp was organised at LORETO HOUSE for three weeks between 17.5.04 and 04.06.04. Some of our students participated in the camp for Basketball.
05.02.04 and 06.02.04
The Annual Sports (Junior & Senior School) took place at the Rabindra Sarovar Stadium. Among the various events, mention may be made of the Yogasana drill, the 50 m. flat race, the colour paint race and the tennycoit race in which Classes III & IV participated with a lot of energy & enthusiasm.
Of the Senior School events (Classes V-XII), the rhythmic drill and Surya Namaskar were much appreciated. The 4 X 50 metres relay race was introduced for the first time in Class V. Among the other house activities, few novel items were introduced. The boys started a 200 metres race comprising of the 4 following events - namely the 50 metres race, the side run race, 2 partners with 2 balls race and the horse running race. The girls followed suit with the exception of the last item i.e. the horse running race which was replaced by a simple 50 metres race.
Soumya Shubhro Basu, Debayan Sinha and Soubhik Chakraborty were runners-up in the Inter School Table Tennis Tournament held at Hirendra Leela Patnavis School. The girls also reached the quarter finals.
25.08.04 - 28.08.04
All Bengal Table Tennis Association organized the Patterson Memorial
Table Tennis Championship - 2004. The boys team from our school
comprising of Soumyo Shubhro Basu and Debayan Sinha went till the semifinal stage. In the boy's singles event Soumyo Shubhro Basu reached till the semifinals.
20.12.04 - 31.12.04
Mini Olympics were held at Rabindra Sarovar and our school stood first
in Kho-kho which was participated by both boys & girls. The boys were the
champions in other events like march past, kiddies games, badminton and sports quiz.
On 31st August 2004 School Fete was organised marking the beginning of the birth centenary of our Founder Chairman, Late Shri Pradyot Kumar Bhattacharya. It was Tuesday and the fete continued from 9 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. Sweets were distributed to students and the teachers. Games and food stalls were also organised.
As a part of Founder's Centenary Year Celebration, and to incorporate awareness on 'health', a seminar was organised on October 12, 2004 at our school on the "Ill effects of Smoking and Tobacco." Eminent personalities like Dr Saroj Gupta, Dr Arnab Gupta, Dr Gautam Bhattacharjee conducted the seminar and spoke at the said event.
A number of inter-school competitions were held, some of which are given below :
19.11.04 - Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy
07.12.04 - Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark
09.12.04 - Annual All India Elocution Competition
The participants were:
Aryarishi Paul - Bengali - Class VI
Pratiti - English - Class VIII
R. Vaishnavi - Hindi - Class VIII
Samik Mitra - Bengali - Class VIII
Shreenita Ghosh - English - Class X
Anasua Goswami - English - Class VI was awarded a prize in the above Elocution competition.
A special Refresher Course "Shot-in-the Arms" for Primary School Teachers was conducted by the Teachers' Centre at Loreto House. The duration of the course was 9 days from September 02,2004 to September 30, 2004. About a dozen schools and 50 teachers had attended the workshop. Subjects discussed were English language usage, Arithmetic, Professionalism, EVS, Craft, Science and Evaluation. A number of our Teachers, viz. Rina Mukherjee, Monimonjusha Ghosh, Pasham Chatterjee and Rokeya Ali attended the course. The Resource Persons were Ayesha Das, Shivani Iyenger, Uma Ahmed and Sonali Lahiri.
Schoolnet conducted a workshop on Thematic Approach conducted by Pooja Roy Gangopadhyay on December 13, 2004. Arun Nursery and the Junior Teachers of The Future Foundation School attended the workshop.
A Bangla workshop was held on November 5, 2004 which was attended by Tamali Dasgupta, Chumki Mitra and Srilekha Mazumder.
Another workshop on "Language Usage" was held on November 16, 18 and 19, 2004. The Resource Person was Ayesha Das. Teachers of Arun Nursery and Teachers of Classes I & II of The Future Foundation School attended the workshop.
Training Programmes were held in the Council's Kolkata Office during June 2004 - September, 2004. There were 10 teachers who participated in these programmes from The Future Foundation School.
Teachers of Arun Nursery and The Future Foundation School formed a Study Circle for studying and implementing Sri Aurobindo's philosophy of education in their regular teaching. The Study Circle comprised of 8 groups each dealing with a specific age group of students.
The Study Circle met once every two months. Each chapter from the book A System of National Education by Sri Aurobindo was studied and the groups made presentations on how they implemented the philosophy in their classrooms.
The topics discussed were :
Annual Concert of The Future Foundation School and Arun Nursery School was held on 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th & 14th January 2005 between 6 p.m. and 8.00 p.m. All the cultural programmes were attended by parents and invitees.
On 2nd February 2005, the birthday of our Founder Principal, Smt. Joya Mitter was celebrated. In the morning assembly, Classes VI, VII, VIII, IX and XI assembled together for the morning prayer. Ayantika Sen XI B, Arijit Roy XI B and Camelia Debnath XI B recounted touching reminiscences of their dear "Ma'am' in English and Bangla which bore the indelible marks of love and respect. Mrs. Rakhi Mukherjee and Mrs. Anuradha Roy Chowdhury recalled the days with 'Joyadi'. The programme came to an end with the concluding song
"Aguner Parashmani" and distribution of sweets and special cards (to commemorate the birthday of our Founder, Shri Pradyot Kumar Bhattacharya, who is depicted as the "King of the Jungle" - 'The Lion'. It also had reproductions of the Mother's messages to him). Classes III - IX participated in an Inter-House Flower arrangement competition which was a feast for the eyes.
An art exhibition by Shri Ramananda Bandyopadhyay was inaugurated at
Galerie La Mère.
In the late morning assembly for Classes I - V, the students and teachers assembled in the auditorium for prayer. The programme started with an opening song. Amrita Basu (VIII-B) lovingly remembered and spoke about 'Ma'am'. The teachers, Mrs. Monimanusha Ghosh, Mrs Arpita Biswas and Mrs. Jhulan Bhattacharya paid homage.
On 7th February 2005, in the Investiture Ceremony, the Cultural Sports Secretaries, the House Vice Captains & Captains were selected. Classes X & XIII received mementoes from the school at their farewell.
On 13th February, 2005 Saraswati Puja was organized by Class XI. All teachers and students were invited. There was an art competition in the Junior School as well as different cultural programmes.
On 21st February 2005, Mother's birthday was celebrated. The ground floor corridor (in front of the Hall of Harmony) was decorated with charts prepared by the students & teachers.
The Birth Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo and Independence Day was celebrated on 15th August with enthusiasm. The day started with garlanding of Sri Aurobindo's newly built bronze statue followed by hoisting of the Mother's flag and the National flag. This was followed by March Past, Dance and Drill Display by the students. The junior students filed past in colourful clothes. The 'Joya Mitter Memorial Prize' for the Best All Rounder students was distributed.
Teachers' Day was celebrated belatedly on 30th September. Teachers were delighted to see and enjoy the programmes staged by the students followed by delicious food arranged by them.
Children's Day was celebrated on November 10, 2004 as November 11, 2004 was a Sunday. Children of Arun Nursery and Classes I & II were brought to the field, they were looking extremely happy. It was their teachers who were ready to entertain them. The story, "The enormous turnip" was staged by the teachers wearing masks. When all the teachers pulled each other and fell down on the stage, children burst into peals of laughter. Teachers also danced to the song "Jadu" and the children simultaneously started, dancing to the rhythmic tune. The teachers of Classes I & II enacted a short Bengali play titled 'Raja & Toontooni', which was well appreciated.
In the second session, middle and senior students gathered in the Hall of Light. The programme started with Raka Das greeting the children and reading out a passage from the book "Letters from a Father to his Daughter" written by Pt.
Jawaharlal Nehru. This was followed by teachers entertaining the children by singing songs in English, Bengali and Hindi. Children enjoyed Bhangra and Gujarati dance with performances. A short drama was put up by the teachers. Lastly an interesting Antakshari competition was held between teachers and students. After a neck to neck competition, the children scored a thumping win over the teachers and they were given mementoes. Students were given snacks and gifts at the end of function.
Career Counselling has been started in the school for four years now for students of Classes IX to XII. It has helped them a lot by giving them a chance to identify their aptitudes correctly and eventually have a bright and successful career. Between April to December 2004, the students attended a number of seminars, workshops, individual and joint counseling sessions with parents.
Saturday School is working from 9 a.m. to 12 noon with focus on Co-Curricular Activities from Class III to IX (options are Western Vocal, Synthesizer, Photography, Clay Modelling, Chess, Quiz & Dramatics.
A display of the CCA activities was organized in January 2005 as part of the School's Annual celebrations which takes place during Aspiration. The students of photography & clay modelling put up an exhibition of photographs & clay models. The students of Chess had an open chess tournament.
A quizzing session was held for students of the Quiz Class - who were divided into two groups - Juniors and Seniors. Juniors were from Classes III to V and Seniors were from Classes VI to VIII. Western Vocal Students and Dramatics students put up a wonderful show for their parents which comprised of songs and dramatisation of 'Lion King'.
May : Seagull Arts & Media Resource Centre presented three of Manjula Padmanabhan's dramatic monologues "Hidden Fires". The programme was sponsored by Spicmacay Club of The Future Foundation School. All the Teachers and students of Classes IX to XII attended the programme which was held on May 11, 2004 at the Hall of Light in our school.
July : Annual Science Exhibition for the senior school and Project Display for the junior school were held. The theme for the science exhibition was "Looking Beyond". The subject of the models ranged from DNA and gene therapy to Transformation of energy, Futuristic Architecture and Mathematics. The project exhibition hosted by the junior school saw a colourful display of projects based on themes ranging from 'Me and my surroundings' to 'Books', 'Time', 'Relationships' for Classes I to V which integrated in the motto of "Self Discovery".The Chief Guest for the occasion was The Deputy Secretary to the Council for The Indian School Certificate Examinations (East Zone), Mr. G. Arathoon .
Seagull Bookstore Pvt. Ltd. organised a special event in commemoration
of birth centenary of Graham Greene. 56 students attended a special
screening of a Film 'The Quiet American'.
Children in the Primary School are taught through a thematic approach. A particular theme is explored through the various subjects such as languages, environmental studies and mathematics. In this way through the in-depth study of a theme all the subjects are integrated and there are no artificial divisions in the child's learning. Learning & social skills as well as important concepts are developed in children through this method. We have found that the children who have been exposed to this method of teaching have developed tremendous self- confidence, awareness, thinking skills and learning readiness.
Class I - some of the theme topics were All around me, Holidays, Monsoon, Myself, Food, Colours, Shopping, Durga Puja, Movements, Days, Games and Story time.
Class II - topics covered were My classroom & school, Our school garden, Rainy season, Food, Water, Durga Puja, Our Country's Birthday (Independence Day), Cricket, Friendship and Insects.
Class III - topics include Names and Olympics.
Class IV - theme topics were Olympics, Solar System and Farming.
Class V - were given theme topics such as Olympics, Trees and Animals.
Class VI - theme topics were Relationships and Rivers.
From the above we may note that theme topics may have been the same for different classes e.g. Olympics but the gradation of presentation was different depending on the ability of the children and their skills.
On the occasion of the Founder's Birth Centenary, The Future Foundation launched a new course on "Life Skills". The teaching of life skills starts with the youngest children and nothing is too small to be included in the curriculum. The content of the syllabus varies according to the age of the children. For example, at the juniormost level, one of the things that the children learn is to tie their shoelaces. Later on they learn how to keep their shoes clean. The immediate outcome of this has been that children come to school with clean shoes and are able to tie their own shoelaces. The young children have also learnt the best way to pack their school bags and that they are now not dependent on their parents for this. They have also learnt about care and maintenance of their clothes, including laundry, starching, ironing and stain removal. They have also learnt to mend their clothes, including hemming and putting on buttons as well as to fold them and put them away neatly. We are finding that the children now come to school in better-maintained uniforms. Through all this, they have also learnt about the basics of hygiene. Elementary first aid has also been taught to them. Measuring temperature, reading blood pressure, head wash in case of fever, first aid for cuts, burns, fainting and tying of slings are taught. As a concomitant of all these topics, the children have been taught how to plan their time. This helps them in their daily lives as also during periods of stress such as examination time. We have also included social skills and the basics of etiquette in the teaching of life skills.
Most of the teaching/learning is through practical work. We have acquired a lot of equipment for these practical classes and the timetable has been adjusted in order to accommodate these classes. Life skills is also integrated with other subjects. Thus, while children learn about bio-degradable waste in environmental education, this learning is consolidated through practical work in the life skills classes. They have also learnt about consumer education and how to become a conscious consumer.
After learning how to launder their own socks and hankies, the children were very keen to do this at home. They then faced objections from their parents and we discovered that through this teaching/learning programme that we also had to counsel parents on helping their children to become responsible and independent.
Life skills are taught in this manner from Classes I to X.
In Classes XI and XII, we are conducting workshops on issues such as handling of relationships, sex education and substance abuse.
School Newsletter is being published 4 times in a year and is sent free of cost to parents. It carries information about all activities carried out during the year 2004-2005.
School Magazine "Vision" is published annually and given to the parents free of cost.
Merit-cum-Means Scholarship are offered to deserving students. There are 5 students who are totally free and 7 students who pay half of the fees. The session fee has been waived for 1 student.
Other Scholarships that are offered by the school are:
Bandana Sen Memorial Award - Rs.2000/-
This award has been instituted by Dr Sankar Sen in memory of his wife. It is awarded to two girl students, one from the outgoing ICSE & the other from the outgoing ISC batch. It is awarded to girls who were not only good in academics but also excelled in extra-curricular activities and whose conduct was good and who have been in this school for a minimum of three consecutive years.
ICSE - Ambalika Guha - 1000/-
ISC - Sohini Bhattacharya - 1000/-
Krishnabandu Das Memorial Award - Rs.600/-
Souvik Sinha Roy - Highest in Maths & Science
Camelia Debnath - Highest in Maths amongst girls.
These two awards have been instituted by Shri Soumen Das in memory of his parents.
Dyumanbhai Memorial Award - Rs.1000/-.
Monali Thakur - ISC for Integral Excellence.
This award has been instituted by Prof. Chamanlal Gupta and Smt. Shipra Gupta for a student of outgoing class XII for integral Excellence.
Pradyot Kumar Bhattacharya Memorial Award - Rs. 1000/-.
Arka Adhikary - Best all-rounder
This award has been instituted by Shri Rathindra Kumar Mitter in memory of our Founder Chairman Shri Pradyot Kumar Bhattacharyya for the best all-round student of ICSE-2004.
Binapani Memorial Award - Rs.1000/-.
Aryamitra Kar - for topping ISC
This award has been instituted by Smt. Bithika Guha in memory of her mother for the student topping the ISC examinations in 2004-05.
Deepayan Dutta Memorial Award - Rs.1000/-.
Souvik Sinha Roy - for topping ICSE
This award has been instituted in memory of Deepayan Dutta, an ex-student of our school by his parents.
| Subject | TFFS % | All India % |
| English | 22.58 | 6.98 |
| Bengali | 3.92 | 5.38 |
| Hindi | 9.09 | 12.80 |
| History, Civics & Geography | 12.90 | 7.47 |
| Mathematics | 31.67 | 11.20 |
| Science | 35.00 | 6.63 |
| Arts | 0.00 | 15.73 |
| Economics | 0.00 | 2.80 |
| Environmental Science | 0.00 | 0.32 |
| Computer Applications | 73.08 | 21.39 |
| Economic applications | 0.00 | 9.50 |
| Subject | TFFS % | All India % |
| English | 37.14 | 6.58 |
| Bengali | 7.14 | 5.59 |
| Hindi | 0.00 | 9.85 |
| English Literature | 0.00 | 4.31 |
| History | 6.25 | 3.72 |
| Geography | 9.09 | 4.47 |
| Economics | 0.00 | 5.52 |
| Mathematics | 19.25 | 12.28 |
| Physics | 8.11 | 4.43 |
| Chemistry | 16.22 | 6.28 |
| Biology | 0.00 | 5.18 |
| Computer Science | 9.09 | 11.60 |
Like previous years, an educational trip to Pondicherry was organised for 72 students of classes IX & XI. They were accompanied by 6 teachers. The trip was about 10 days from November 25, 2004 to December 05, 2004.
On 25.11.2004 school children visited Ushagram. The trip was educative and informative. Students gained adequate knowledge and enjoyed it and learnt a lot from this educational trip.
Interact Club is the school wing of The Rotary Club and functions with civic minded students of class VI onward, who are willing to serve the community. They carry on different social projects.
13.4.04 : A programme was held on 13.4.04 to motivate and entrust responsibilities to new Interactors. The function began with a classical dance performance and a play depicting the Life of Sri Aurobindo in prison and concluded with a folk dance performance by the Interactors. This was followed by an oath taking installation ceremony of new board members.
7.5.04 : 18 Interactors and 5 teachers visited Navanir to celebrate Rabindra Jayanti with 43 grandmas. They presented songs, dance and recitation. They also distributed food packets.
13.5.04 : The President of Rotary Club handed over a cheque of Rs.1000/- to Co-ordinator Mrs Sharmila Ghosh for an impressive performance of ICFFS at a Ceremony at Tollygunge Club
14.05.04 : Interactors organised a Canteen sale to generate funds for the club to develop team spirit.
14.05.04 : Interactors accompanied by teachers visited the orphanage in Lake View Road to donate baby tin food-Lactogen.
20.06.04, 18.07.04, 17.10.04, 21.11.04 : Interactors accompanied by a teacher assisted the Rotarians in the 'Naba Disha' project at the Charu Market Police Station.
21.06.04 : 12 Interactors accompanied by 6 teachers visited a school for the socially backward children to celebrate 'Rath Yatra'.
29.06.04 : Students of Class VI along with teachers visited Shanti Nagar slum and distributed Pheneol, Dettol, Zeoline, etc. and informed them of our forthcoming activities.
13.07.04 : Art contest was held for the slum children on 13.07.04. Thereafter snacks were served to them. Students of Classes VI & VIII were involved in this activity.
30.08.04 : Interactors celebrated 'Raksha Bandhan' with the inmates of 'Cheshire Homes'.
16.10.04 : On account of Durga Puja, members of Interact Club distributed clothes and sweets to the slum dwellers on 16.10.04.
31.10.04 : A Medical Camp was organised by Dr. Asish Bhattacharya and the Interactors at Baganbari slum on 30.10.04.
11.10.04 : Slum children came to watch a programme staged by our teachers.
10.11.04 : Class III distributed snacks and sweets, prepared by themselves, to the slum children on 24.11.04 in memory of Sri Aurobindo's, "Siddhi Day".
25.11.04 : Interactors met Municipal Commissioner, Sri Debasish Som and secured approval of construction of toilets at Baganbari slum. Interactors have followed up on the construction work since and the same was completed on
30.11.04 : Interactors of Classes VI & VII visited Victoria Memorial accompanied by 17 slum children. Snacks and sweets were provided to the slum children by them.
25.01.05 : 20 inmates of Navanir accompanied by 8 students and 6 teachers visited 'Belur Math'.
29.01.05 : The Future Foundation School was awarded the Certificate of Merit & Merit Award and a cheque for Rs.3000/- on 29.01.05 at Science City Centre in the Better Kolkata Contest 2004-05 organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce.
15.02.05 : Each member chose to interact with one granny with whom he/she will maintain an everlasting relationship.
In the first week of December Interactors donated woolen garments to the poor living on the pavements.
For raising funds for these activities the club carries out various fund-raising activities like - setting up food canteens, selling old newspapers, craft sales etc.
Interactors collected a cup of rice and a cup of pulses from teachers and students and when a substantial amount was gathered, the same was donated to different charitable organisations.
The school joined hands with Spicmacay Society for development of Indian Classical Music & Dance.
13.04.04 : Orientation of new students.
04.05.04 : Visit to Sri Aurobindo PARICHAY Gallery
11.05.04 : Workshop on MONOLOGUE by Srabasti Basu
26.06.04 : Workshop on GOURIONRITYA by a senior student
29.06.04 : Satabdi Acharya
03.07.04 : State Convention at St. Thomas Day School.
13.07.04 : Workshop on BHARATNATYAM by Guru Kalamandalam Venkit.
14.08.04 : Special prayer and programme on Sri AUROBINDO by The Future Foundation School during the Saturday state meeting.
22.09.04 to 8.10.04 : Virasat
Folk dance by the GOTIPUAS
SAROD by Dr. Rajib Chakraborty
HINDUSTANI VOCAL by Sri Waseem Ahmad Khan
BHARATNATYAM by Smt. Chitra Visveswaran
Closing ceremony with FOLK dance, Purulia Chou
16.10.04 : Screening of "GOLD RUSH".
Workshop Series
18.12.04 : Hindustani classical music by Sri Sounak Chatterjee
08.01.05 : Dance by Sri Sanjay Bhattacharya
15.01.05 : Craft by Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar teachers
22.01.05 : Appreciation of performing arts by Sri. Arijit Ray, Sri. Swapan Bhattacharya & Sri. Ronnen Chakraborty.
22.01.05 : Theatre by Sri. Swapan Bhattacharya & Sri. Ronnen Chakraborty
29.01.05 : Theatre by Sri. Indrasish Lahiri
12.02.05 : Tabla by Sri Sajal Karmakar
18.01.05 Farewell programme and lunch for outgoing class XII students.
THIS SESSION THE FUTURE FOUNDATION SCHOOL WAS THE VENUE OF ALL STATE LEVEL MEETINGS AND THE SCHOOL WAS IN CHARGE OF PUBLICITY FOR KOLKATA CHAPTER.
21.09.04 : Students from from classes III to VIII participated in the Cadbury Bournvita Quiz Contest. Antarleena Roy of Class IV, Sarnab Bhattacharya of Class V and Arani Majumder of Class VIII became the Cadbury Confidence Champions of junior group, sub-junior group and senior group respectively.
The school has a very dynamic and alert nature club. The children along with their teachers are constantly planning and implementing new projects.
Protect and Conserve are the two mottos of the Nature Club of The Future Foundation School, also called 'The Earth Lovers.' For over a year now they have been busy with three main projects, namely Rain Water Harvesting, Vermicompost and Paper Recycling.
The following are some of their activities in brief for the year 2004-05 and details of some of the projects.
April 2004 -
'Earth Day' observed. Vermicompost started in school with the help of WWF.
June 2004 -
'World Environment Day' observed. Participated in programmes organized by Birla Industrial & Technological Museum. Our school was represented by Hiranmayee Ramani (XI) who stood 1st in the category 'Say it with Visuals'.
July 2004 -
Mr. Kushal Mukherjee founder of the NGO Prakriti Sangsad, gave a talk show on Hornbills as they are facing extinction.
Kids for Tigers' programme - an audio visual show on tigers was organized in the School
September 2004 -
Paper Recycling Centre started in the school. Waste paper was utilized to make paper bags. - Yet another project is the Paper Recycling which was started by the Nature Club members. The waste paper collected from the school is converted into pulp which is then recycled and used for various purposes like greeting cards, masks, trays, photo frames and bags. Waste segregation started in school ( Red Bin - Non Biodegradable wastes for KMC, Green Bin - Biodegradable wastes for Vermicompost, Blue Bin - Paper for recycling).
Visited Baganbari slum as a follow up to ensure that the inmates were disposing of garbage properly and maintaining the saplings planted by the Nature Club members.
October 2004
December 2004
- Another project the 'Earth Lovers' have done is to put all waste matter like fruit peels, dried leaves, flowers in a pit whereby the waste material is left to decompose with earthworms being released and this valuable manure is then utilised for the garden. It is one way of clearing all the garbage lying around and also makes the place neat and clean enhancing the beauty that already exists. One bucket of Vermicompost was recovered from the pit and used in the school garden.
January 2005
- A Bird-Watching trip was organized in Santragachhi for the school children.
- The Club participated in "Tiger Fest" at Loreto House School. The theme of the programme was 'Kids for Tigers' and the aim was to generate awareness on the necessity to save the tigers from extinction.
February 2005
- The Club members demonstrated the use of renewable energy by cooking in a solar cooker.
March 2005
- Bird Houses were set up on trees in the school premises so as to attract them and thus make it easy to see and study them.
For Prime Minister's Relief Fund donation worth Rs.26,500/- has been forwarded to the Council's office on 12.1.05 towards the contribution of the students of The Future Foundation School for Tsunami victims.
There are two libraries in our School. One for the Junior School and the other for the Senior School. In the Junior School library, apart from issuing and lending, language development classes also are held on regular basis. We are using the Junior library for generating interest among the students about books and information. Simultaneously, we are also trying to enrich their vocabulary.
The Senior School library, which is used by the students of Classes VI to XII, contains about 4500 books, a major share of which is reference books on Sciences and Applied Sciences. A regular one to one interaction and information dissemination is carried out for the students.
Founded in 1979, Health and Healing unit of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture aims at providing Integrated Health Services. This includes health cure, health care and health development.
Allopathy Medicine
Eminent doctors continue to provide services for treatment of patients on scheduled dates. The patients are treated on out patient basis. Needy patients have also been given free medicines (depending on availability of stock) collected from medical representatives of reputed pharmaceutical companies. In all 2545 patients have been treated with allopathic medicine in the unit. Number of patients treated in each specialised discipline are given below:
| Discipline | No. of patients |
| EYE | 370 |
| DENTAL | 723 |
| GENERAL MEDICINE | 377 |
| E.N.T. | 154 |
| PAEDIATRICS | 598 |
| GYNAECOLOGY | 137 |
| SKIN | 24 |
| ORTHOPAEDICS | 63 |
| CARDIOLOGY | 72 |
| UROLOGY and GENERAL SURGERY | 27 |
Intensive services are now being provided in dental section and so more and more people are now visiting us for dental treatment. This includes tooth extraction, tooth de-scaling, root-canal treatment apart from other dental problems.
To strengthen the services in medicine and cardiology, an ECG machine has been purchased in January and is being used for taking ECG of patients. During the period of February to March 2005, 10 ECGs were done.
X-ray machine, though old, has been used primarily for dental purposes. 129 X-rays have been taken during the year.
Two alternative disciplines in which doctors have continued to provide services are homeopathy and acupuncture. The no. of patients who availed of the services are as follows :
Homeopathy 96
Acupuncture 85
A free medical camp was organized on March 6, 2005 to give an opportunity to the people in the surrounding area for treatment of various health problems such as ENT, SKIN, EYE, Dental, Heart and General Health under the same roof within a short time. 100 patients visited the camp.
Health-check up of almost all the students of Arun Nursery School, and The Future Foundation School was done during the year. At first a general health check-up of the students was done by our General Physician. General Physician recommended some students for further check-up by Eye, ENT and Dental specialists. At the end a health report was prepared for each student and sent to the guardian for intimation and further follow up. Apart from this, emergency/accidental injuries of students were treated by doctors as and when necessary.
The Institute arranged immunisation of children in association with Govt. of West Bengal, Health and family Welfare department like previous years. This includes double antigen, triple-antigen, anti-tetanus, antipolio vaccinations. Hepatitis_B injection was also administered. Immunisation of 795 children was carried out during this year.
Following in the footsteps of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, a specially trained person teaches eye exercise.
Internship of International Medical Students
A team of 9 medical students from Virginia Medical Institute, Virginia Commonwealth University has undergone internship under our doctors. The objective was to see how Indian doctors provide health-care services to patients using minimum resources. First a team of two medical students came and examined the patients under guidance of our doctors for one week. This was followed by another 2 teams in subsequent two weeks. Two special medical camps involving our doctors in specialized disciplines were organized for all the nine team members. The international students have appreciated the health care services rendered by the Institute to the poor and needy people.
Sri Aurobindo Parichay Gallery
This is a must-see for all lovers of history and those who want to know more about the Indian freedom struggle. It remains open every day from 4-6 PM.
Communication
Relevant Information regarding the Institute is regularly sent to magazines like - CALCALLING, KOLKATA - This FORTNIGHT and also to the Tourism Department, West Bengal. The Parichay Gallery is listed with the must-sees of Kolkata, published by the Tourism Department Most events are covered by the Press and various Television channels.
The Institute conveys its heartfelt thanks to all individuals who directly or indirectly help in the efficient running of the various activities by actions and prayers.
Finally, it is The Mother, our Permanent President, who has the ultimate responsibility. May we be faithful.
Secretary's Report 2004-05