Secretary's Report 2005-06

Darshan Days & Other important dates

Collective Meditation

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.

The Institute regularly organises attractive cultural programmes. Eminent artists of Kolkata and elsewhere offer solo or group performances quite often.

02.Feb.2006 - Joya di's Birthday Celebrations

Aspiration 2006 - annual celebration of culture

Galerie La Mère

Galerie La Mère hosted a number of exhibitions during this period.

Parama 2006

Exhibition by lady artists inaugurated on The Mother's Birthday

Ramananda 2006

Solo Exhibition of Shri Ramananda Bandyopadhyay dedicated to Joya di on her birth anniversary

La Mère Annual, 2006

Durga 2005

Theme of this exhibition is Goddess Durga

Freedom 2005

Exhibition inaugurated on Sri Aurobindo's Birthday

Other Exhibitions

Photographic exhibition on Pradyot da

This was to commemorate Pradyot da's Birth Centenary

A preview exhibition of paintings and drawings by Shri Hiran Mitra Inauguration by Shri Sankha Ghosh

Shakti Centre and Others

Shakti Centre session starts from June. Students performed well in examinations conducted by Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad and Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh. 52 students appeared for the Prayaga Sangeet Samiti examinations - of which 41 got 1st division and 63 students appeared for the Pracheen Kala Kendra examinations - of which 53 got distinction and 6 received 1st division.

On the Foundation Day of the Centre, November 14, 2005, the students prayed 'Make of us the hero warriors…' around the Shrine. Students of the drawing class were taken to Galerie La Mère allowing the 'young artists' to develop an appreciation of the work of other eminent artists.

The Centre is proud to have a talented student Mitrabho Guha, who is just 5 years old. He is not only a good synthesizer player but also a very good chess player. His name featured in Ganashakti - a local newspaper.

The Annual Cultural Programme by the students of Shakti Centre was held on January 5 and 6, 2006. Sanjukta Panigrahi Memorial Dance Competition was held on January 14, 2006. Maya Mitra Memorial Instrumental Music Competition was held on January 15, 2006 and Sanjukta Panigrahi Memorial Dance Competition was held on January 21, 2006. Prizes and gifts were distributed.

Other programmes organised by the Institute during the year

On 17th June, 'Kavisandhi' was held in the Hall of Light. The Programme was jointly organized with Sahitya Akademi. Prof. Jayanta Mahapatra recited some of his choicest poems and kept the audience spell bound.

On 5th July, a Cultural evening was held with songs of Atulprasad Sen, Rajanikanto Sen, Dwijendralal Roy and Dilip Kumar Roy.

On 9th July, the 110th Birth Anniversary of Srimat Anirban was observed. Prof. Supriya Bhattacharya of Kalyani University spoke on the Vedas.

Birth Anniversary of Dwijendralal Roy was observed on 19th July. Dr. Govindagopal Mukhopadhyay spoke on the occasion. Many important artists including the students of the Institute participated.

Birth Anniversary of Rajanikanto Sen was observed on 26th July. It was jointly organized with Madhura, Calcutta. Shri Dilip Kumar Roy spoke on the occasion. Many important artists including the students of the Institute participated.

Birth Anniversary of Atulprasad Sen was observed on 20th October in Calcutta. Shri Sushil Chattopadhyay spoke on the occasion. Many important artists including the students of the Institute participated.

Birth Anniversary of Dilip Kumar Roy was observed on 20th January. Dr. Sudhir Chakraborty spoke on the occasion. Many important artists including the students of the Institute participated.

Other programmes organised in collaboration

"Special Orations" was introduced from this year in collaboration with Management Centre for Human Values, IIM Calcutta. Prof. Swapan Mazumdar spoke on "Humanism, Technology and Globalisation" on 2nd Spetember. Prof. Anuradha Chanda was the Chairperson.
Prof. Ramchandra Gandhi spoke on "Self and Violence" in the Second Oration on 16th December. Prof. Amiya Dev chaired the meeting.

Indira Devi Chowdhurani Memorial Lecture was introduced in collaboration with Indira, Calcutta. Prof. Sudhir Chakraborty delivered the inaugural Lecture on 30th September at Hall of Light. Shri Nirendranath Chakraborty presided over the occasion.

Yoga Classes

Yoga classes were conducted under the guidance of Trainer, Mr. Monoj Roy , son of Late Mr. Universe Manotosh Roy. Enthusiasm for participation in Yogasana continues as before. The student strength in the past year has been around 41 on an average per month. Classes are held once a week (Wednesday).

Regular discourses organised during the year

The following classes and discourses were held on a regular basis:

• Classes on 'The Four Aids' by Prof. Biswanath Roy on the first Friday of every month.
• Dr. Sikha Mukherjee spoke on the 'Gita' on the last Saturday of every month.
• Classes on the 'Veda' every second Saturday of (almost every) month by Smt. Roma Choudhury.
• Regular Discourses once every month by Smt. Arundhati Roychowdhury.

Language Classes

The Institute runs language classes in French and English.

Library

Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture has a well-stocked library with books on Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. Total strength is 524 members. Some books on Sri Aurobindo and fiction were purchased during the Book Fair.

Rabindranath's Birthday Celebration

Rabindra Jayanti was celebrated on May 9, 2005.

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.

The school believes that Value Education, co-curricular activities and physical Education are no less important than academic pursuits. Participation in co-curricular activity classes and clubs, where applicable, and Value Education and Physical Education classes is mandatory.

Award Winners:

The regional rounds of the 2nd ASISC India Quiz Contest - 2005, was hosted by The Future Foundation School on October 1, 2005 at the request of ASISC, West Bengal Chapter and Mr. Parnab Mukherjee, one of the leading quiz masters in the country conducted the Quiz. The same was well attended by 25 Schools along with their respective Principals and Teachers. Akshay Kumar of the Sub Junior Group and Priyadarshika Das of Senior Group qualified for the Finals which was held at Varanasi on October 22, 2005 and October 23, 2005. Priyadarshika Das stood 2nd in West Bengal.

Games:

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.

From 18.4.2005 to 31.4.2005 we participated in the TTIS 5-a-side Football tournament held at the CCFC grounds.

28.7.2005 and 29.7.2005 - Don Bosco Fest 2005 was organised by Don Bosco School. Soumya Subhra Basu, Debayan Sinha and Samyadeep Sengupta were champions in the Table Tennis tournament. We reached the quarter-finals in the Chess competition.

17.11.2005 - West Bengal State Championship Table Tennis. Soumya Subhra Basu won the District Championship for under 19.

On 18.11.2005 the School participated in the ASISC Inter-school 5-a-side Football tournament at Central Park (Salt Lake).

On 10.12.2005 the 1st Regional "Kho-Kho" tournament for the Girls was organised by ASISC WB Chapter. Pranavananda Vidyamandir, Dugapur was the Host School. Our school participated in it and got third position.

On 15.12.2005 and 16.12.2005 Akshar School organised a "Friendly" Basketball Match on the West Bengal Basketball Association grounds. Our school participated in it on 15.12.2005.

On 2.2.2006 to 6.2.2006 West Bengal Schools Sports Association organized a table tennis tournament at J & K. Soumya Subhra Basu participated in it and won the 2nd position in National School Games in the Boys under 19.

Fete:

The School Fete was held on August 31, 2005, our Founder Chairman's Birthday. The Games played were Carrom, dart competitions, fishing etc. - the eating stalls were laden with delicious and mouth-watering items.

Inter-School Activities

Our school, participated in The Albert Barrow Memorial All-India Inter-School Creative Writing Competition 2005 organised by CISCE on 20th June, 2005. Tripta Roy's (Class XII) essay on 'When Political Parties Fight, The Country Suffers' was adjudged one of the 10 best essays. This was published in the journal "Interdependence for Progress", brought out by the Albert Barrow Memorial.

24th June, 2005: Four students from Class XI B, namely Abhijit Bose, Anubhav Mukherjee, Priyadarshika Das and Debtanay Laha qualified for the semifinals in the Jacoz'05 at St. James.

5th & 7th October, 2005 at Kalamandir : "Our Lady - Queen of the Mission" School organised a Fest 'Chioros Quro'. Indi Pop Music - Sreejoyee Dutta Class XII stood 2nd. Medal won by Arunima Dey Class XII. In Medley -Debaditya Dasgupta Class XII stood 2nd. Medal won by Arunima Dey XII. Poetry Writing in English - Tripta Roy Class XII stood 2nd.

2nd and 3rd November, 2005 : South Point School held a Fest 'Ullas'. Tulika Patra and Akreeti Jyoti Class V won the 2nd position.

15th to 17th December, 2005 : The Great TTIS Challenge was held at Swabhumi. In Creative Writing - Anasuya Goswami (Class VII) won the 1st prize in English. Arani Mazumder (Class VIII) won the 2nd prize in Bengali. In Flower Arrangement - Aishani Roy (Class IX) won the 2nd position.

17th and 18th December, 2005 : The TTIS Carnival was held at St. James School ground. This year the theme was 'The Circus' -TFFS put up a stall decorated by the arts & craft teachers helped by the students. The children participated in creative writing and elocution both in English, Bengali and Hindi. There was also an Art Competition.

25th, 26th November, 2005 : The Heritage School organised a Fest 'Abhivyakti' . Mask Making - Sambit Poddar (Class IV) & Rhitwika Rakshit (Class III) won the 1st position. E-Smart -Titash Ghosal (Class VI) & Yajnaseni Guha (Class V) won the 2nd position.

January : The 43rd Annual Inter School Essay Writing Competition 2005 was organised by Ramkrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Narendrapur. In the Junior Group - the topic given was 'Sarada Devi - The Universal Mother'. Spandan Banerjee (Class VI) won the 4th position in English.

23rd January: The United States Education Foundation in India (USEFI) organised a theatre competition "Thespians 2006" at the Lincoln Room of the American Centre, Kolkata. Eight students from our school participated and put up a Drama named 'Hidden Fires' by author Manjula Padmanabhan.

Workshop / Training:

Lions Club International held a Lions Quest Teacher's Training Workshop from 25th to 27th November, 2006. It was attended by TFFS Teachers - Ms. Gargi Banerjee, Ms. Indrani Chakraborty and Ms. Bijaya Basu Sarbadhikary.

History Unit at Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata organised a workshop on 'Clothing Histories' On 7th January, 2006 and another on 'Charting Modern Indian History Through Art' on 4th February 2006. Participating teachers were Madhuchhanda Banerjee and Lopamudra Dutta.

On 14th to 17th January 2006, a workshop on 'Black Box' exercises was organised by Seagull Arts & Media Resource Centre. Participating members were Ms Pompa Dass - Art Teacher - along with 2 students from Class IX: Aishani Roy and and Mayukh Ghosh.

Annual Concert:

The Annual Concert was held as part of "Aspiration 2006". On December 29, Classes I and II had their annual concert. December 30 - CCA display, music and drama. On December 31, the concert ended with Nursery & KG performance.

Celebrations :

2nd February 2006, the birthday of our Founder Principal, Smt. Joya Mitter was celebrated. The ground floor in front of the Hall of Harmony was decorated with beautiful floral arrangements. In the morning assembly, Classes VII to XI assembled for the morning prayer.

Career Counselling:

Career Counselling was started four years back and over that time, with the help of workshops we have strengthened our relationship with students and their parents. On February 9, 11, & 18, 2006, a workshop on 'Parenting Skills' was introduced for the first time with participation from the parents of children from Nursery to Class XI. Our School Counsellor, Mrs. Ruvena Sanyal, conducted this workshop. We hope to see the results in the coming months. Approximately 600 parents attended.

The workshop went off well and a parent of a student of Class VIII was so appreciative that he remarked that in the eight years his ward was in the school, this was the best gesture on part of the School. Everyone enjoyed the work-shop and put forth his/her views and suggestions.

Co-curricular Activities:

Co-curricular activities continue practically on almost all Saturdays during the session. There has been a welcome addition to the syllabus; we now offer "Visual Arts and Photography with Graphic designing". There are plans to start violin classes as an additional CCA class.

Special Exhibitions :

A Premier Schools Exhibition was held at the Ice Skating Rink from 3rd to 5th November 2005 - various schools both in and outside Kolkata attended it. There was a good turnout of visitors in the form of educationists, research workers, counselors etc. The response was enthusiastic and over whelming. TFFS was described as the 'most up- coming' school at present. Most queries were for Nursery, KG and Class I, especially as there were quite a few transfer cases for these classes. There were also queries for Classes VIII, IX and XI.

To celebrate the International Year of Physics, the students of The Future Foundation School organised an exhibition titled "Einstein, his theories and the effect thereof" on July 08, 2005 and July 09, 2005. Dr. Dipak Kumar Banerjee - Principal of Tribeni Tissues, Vidyapith and an eminent Physicist, inaugurated the exhibition. The exhibition included the views of Sri Aurobindo, The Mother and Einstein on Education, glimpses of Einstein's life, his trans-national personality and his achievements.

Method of Teaching :

Children in the Primary School are being taught through a thematic approach. A particular theme is explored through various subjects such as languages, environmental studies and mathematics. In this way through an in-depth study of a theme, all the subjects are integrated and there are no artificial divisions in the child's learning.

Class I - the theme topics were "All around me" and "Food".
Class II - topics covered were "My school garden" and "Food".
Class III - topics include "Names", "Olympics" and "Flights".
Class IV - theme topics were "Books", "Olympics" and "Solar System".
Class V - were given theme topics such as "Times", "Olympics", "Trees", "Farming" and "Animals".
Class VI - theme topics were "Relationships" and "Rivers".

We should note that the theme topics might 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. Whilst Classes I to VI had thematic teaching, IV & V did projects where the different subjects were integrated. The Senior Classes had project based workshops and seminars.

Life Skills:

Life-skills continues to be taught in school. It is co-related to the topics/subjects taught. It helps the students not only in school but also in their home environments. The children are taught according to their age and capability - nothing is too small or unimportant to learn. Various topics are selected for different classes.

Class III to X - here the children are taught the basics in life according to their age group and class.The juniors are taught personal-cleanliness in the form of polishing shoes, washing their hands, keeping their class-rooms tidy, packing their bags and washing of their personal linen like socks & hankies.

The seniors are taught the five food groups and the different meals of the day. They are also taught about correct posture in class, handling sharp or pointed objects like knife, needle, appropriate conduct in a school uniform, Getting in and out of a car, purchase of consumer goods, making of beds at home, washing of plates, different methods of cooking, stitching, hemming etc Cooking tips have been introduced with special focus on the nutritive value of food, the cleanliness of the cooking area and utensils before and after cooking. The children developed awareness a keen awareness of their immediate environment and came up with questions/suggestions.

Scholarships :

Merit-cum-Means Scholarship was offered to deserving students.

Scholarships that are offered by the school are:

Bandana Sen Memorial Award - Rs.2000/- :Dr Sankar Sen has instituted this award in memory of his wife. It was awarded to two girl students, one from the out going ICSE & the other from the outgoing ISC batch.
ICSE - Ambalika Guha - 1000/-
ISC - Sohini Bhattacharya - 1000/-

Krishnabandu Das Memorial Award - Rs.600/ :These two awards have been instituted by Sri Soumen Das in memory of his parents.
Souvik Sinha Roy - Highest in Maths & Science
Camelia Debnath - Highest in Maths amongst girls.

Dyumanbhai Memorial Award - Rs.1000/- : Prof. Chamanlal Gupta and Smt. Shipra Gupta have instituted this award for a student of outgoing class XII for integral Excellence.
Monali Thakur - ISC for Integral Excellence.

Pradyot Kumar Bhattacharya Memorial Award - Rs. 1000/- : This award has been instituted by Sri Rathindra Kumar Mitter in memory of our Founder Chairman Sri Pradyot Kumar Bhattacharyya for the best all-round student of ICSE-2004.
Arka Adhikary - Best all-rounder

Binapani Memorial Award - Rs.1000/- : This award has been instituted by Smt. Bithika Guha in memory of her mother for the student topping the ISC examinations in 2004-2005.
Aryamitra Kar - for topping ISC

Deepayan Dutta Memorial Award - Rs.1000/- : This award has been instituted in memory of Deepayan Dutta, an ex-student of our school by his parents.
Souvik Sinha Roy - for topping ICSE

Trips :

An educational trip to Pondicherry was organised for 106 students of classes IX & XI. 7 teachers accompanied the students. The trip was about 8 days from November 27, 2005 to December 04, 2005.

On 23.11.2005 school children visited Ushagram. The trip was educative and informative. Students enjoyed themselves and learnt a lot from this educational trip.

Interact Club - Photos

17.7.2005: Medical campaign at police Station (Charu Market). Interactors accompanied by a teacher assisted the Rotarians in the 'Naba disha' project

8.8.2005: The members collected old school uniforms for distribution to "Swanirvar" who run a school for the socially backward children of "Shiksha Mitra".

August 9, 2005: 15 Interact members with 3 teachers and the Principal went to visit Smt Phulrenu Devi to pay a tribute to her on "Quit India Movement Day". Students presented a khadi saree, sweets, fruits and agarbati.

On 15.8.2006: The Interactors offered homage to Sri Aurobindo at the Presidency Jail. 30 members of the club along with 50 students of Class XII, the Principal and 20 teachers visited Alipore Presidency Jail. The children participated in dance and sung a song 'Akbar biday de ma gurai arshi' which brought tears to the eyes of the convicts. A student recited Sri Aurobindo's 15th August speech.

04.10.2005: 'World Elders Week' was celebrated. Members of the Interact Club went out of their way to entertain and bring cheer the old citizens of Behala Old-age Home. Students presented various performances, which were organised by 'HelpAge India' before the elderly citizens.

17 to 24 Nov, 2005: Members were engaged in developing teaching skills to the economically backward families. Prof. S Chakraborty from the Resource Centre of West Bengal, guided the children in their approach and the process of teaching adults.

9.12.2005: Members of the Club visited the Cancer Hospital and brought a smile on the faces of the young cancer victims. They presented a song and dance and distributed fruits & food packets to the inmates of the Hospital.

February 2, 2006: Interactors invited 10 grannies from "Navaneer" to visit our school. They wanted to share quality time on Valentine's Day with the grannies. The grannies were over whelmed to have an opportunity of paying homage to Sri Aurobindo at the Shrine, visiting Parichay gallery and Galerie La Mere. They were given hand made Valentine Cards, agarbati, food-packets and fruit juice. A program of poem recitation and songs was also held.

Spicmacay

Various programmes were organised during the year. A month long cultural programme - VIRASAT - was held. A craft workshop and exhibition cum sale was organised. The items made by the students varied from glass painting, flower-vases, handkerchiefs, greeting cards, 'dupattas' etc.- these activites helped in bringing out their artistic and creative talent.

Nature Club - Photos

The students and the teachers participated in a 'Virtual March' initiated by Green Peace International, as part of the anti-whaling campaign. Individual photographs of all the participants with placards were taken and subsequently uploaded on the web-site created specifically for this purpose. The aim of this activity was to protest the killing of whales in South Korea and generate awareness among the students about the dangers of commercial whaling and the significance of whales in the eco-system. The "Virtual March" was an effective way for the students to get involved in global conservation issues for the first time.

Earth Lovers joined hands with a local NGO called 'Friends of the Trees' to observe 'Forest Conservation Week' in July.The children spread awareness amongst the people at Tollygunge Metro Station. They highlighted the importance of trees and consequences of de-forestation through street theatre, songs, dances and recitation and display of placards and distribution of leaf-lets.

The Nature Club members had an interactive seesion with the then Mayor of Kolkata, Mr Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya in September. The children briefed him on the issue of the deplorable condition of N.S.C. Bose Road. An appeal in writing supported with photographs was submitted to the Mayor , which he accepted with the promise of prompt action.

In October, the members of the Nature Club started a Medicinal Plants Garden - they regularly till the soil, water the plants, remove weeds and apply vermicompost (obtained from Vermiculture). The plants being nurtured in the garden inlcude Aloe-vera, Basaka and Krishna Tulsi.

In the same month they had an audio-visual (slide show) set up by Sanctuary Complan Kids for Tiger coordinated by Loreto TTC. The main aim was the preservation of Tigers specially in the saving of Wildlife and the topic was SOS 'Save Our Stripes' Charts were prepared and Power Point slides were used.

The members of the Nature Club segregate the waste gathered in the school on a regular basis. Three bins are placed in the corridor in each floor of the school: Red for Non-biodegradable waste, Green for biodegradable waste and Blue for paper waste. Vermiculture is an eco-friendly method of converting biodegradable waste into organic fertilizer. This involves the construction of a vermi-compost pit and filling it with essential raw materials. Earthworms are added to the vermi-compost pit to aid the conversion. All biodegradable waste like flowers, fruit peels, left-overs etc, collected as an outcome of Waste-segregation is added to the Vermi-compost in the school. Paper-waste collected as an outcome of Waste-segregation is converted into pulp and recycled to make useful items like masks, pen-holders, vases, packets for re-use by the Ashram outlet etc.

The Future Foundation School was the first amongst schools to install a Rain-water harvesting system on 15th Oct 2004, thus imbibing the concept of water-conservation amongst students. This system is maintained on a regular basis and the stored water is used for watering the plants, washing utensils and other purposes.

Library

There are two libraries in our School - one for the Junior School and the other for the Senior School. In the Junior School library, in addition to issuing and lending books, language development classes are also held on regular basis. The attempt is to generate interest amongst the students in books and information and 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 percentage of which is books for reference work on Sciences and Applied Sciences. A regular one to one interaction and information dissemination is carried out here.