Jadan School - Shree Vishwa Deep Gurukul Senior Secondary School

Information about what is going on in Shree Vishwa Deep Gurukul Maheshwaranand Ashram School, a charitable school established for needy village students by Paramhans Swami Maheshwaranand Puri ji Maharaj in Pali District, Rajasthan (India). The school gives a focus to girls education. Jadan School is a Senior Secondary Hindi Medium school affiliated with the Rajasthan Board offering Science, Commerce and Arts Faculties.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Enjoying

The last days of the school year are hot and difficult. This year we used the time for games, art, singing, sports and remembering the traditional and simple games that children used to play before there was a television with cartoons in every house. It was really good fun.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Concentration

They may only be in 2nd class at school but when it comes to doing henna work the concentration of these young artists is first class!!

Friday, March 23, 2012

New Year and Navratri

Happy New Year!!!

Friday the 23^rd March marked the start of the new calendar year according to the Indian Calendar. So welcome to Vikram Samvat 2069!!!

It is a day which also signifies the start of Vasant Navratri, a nine day festival devoted to the goddesses Laxmi, Saraswati and Durga.

Our students started to celebrate the day early by going around their villages before school with their teachers and greeting passers by, wishing them a happy new year, giving them a tilak (red mark on the forehead as a sign of respect and auspiciousness) and also giving them a small piece of sweet so that the year ahead may also be the same. It is a practice which slowly fades away and there were several comments from village elders about how happy they were seeing our students maintain this beautiful tradition.

Students were also urged yesterday to make sure when they wake up this morning that they pay special attention to how they start the day. Teachers insisted that especially today the students should wake early, bathe and make their morning worship with full concentration. Then, still in the early morning they made sure to do ½ and hours study, making the atmosphere and direction for the year ahead.

After coming to school the students, teachers, doctors and staff from the hospital and members of the ashram from throughout the world joined together at the Shiv Mandir in Jadan Ashram for puja and prayers for the Navratri festival and to wish everyone a happy new year.

From all of us here in Jadan have a great year ahead and enjoy!!!!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

The future has arrived

Sorry about the quality of the photo and the fact it was taken just after all the students left for the weekend. Suddenly I realised that exciting things are happening in school and I forgot to put it on the blog (too busy in the excitement).
What the photo may show you is how our classrooms in school now look. As you can see there is an interactive whiteboard with a projector and a traditional blackboard. What you can't see is that the projector is attached to a computer (it is behind the board locked so that small hands can't reach it) and that that computer is attached to a network with the most amazing software for teaching and explaining the courses the children have from KG till 12th. All in English, Hindi and 10 other languages (Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati etc). Also locked away are a keyboard and webcamera.
It has been a pretty exciting time. It was clear from the time when we decided to install the equipment that the children would enjoy. What I couldn't have imagined is how the teachers have taken to it. At first there was nervousness - keep in mind several staff had never used a computer before!!! Then as their training started there was reluctance from some and instant immersion from other staff. Slowly those who were new to the computer world have taken to it like ducks to water. Now they are exploring possibilities that even the company didn't think of!! (yesterday I saw a teacher had taken a photo of one of the girls with the webcam, put it up on the projector and they were learning the names of the parts of the face from her photo!)
We have installed the above screens in 20 of our classrooms (stretching the budget borders to the limit!) and the students are taking turns to be in those rooms. Our school is the first school in the district of Pali to work with such technology.
If anyone is interested in the system we are using the website of the company is www.educomp.com
Enjoy!!

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Welcome

Dear Friends and Family,

In the Indian tradition they have an ancient saying “Vasudeva kutumbhakam” – the whole world is one family. It is a truth that if realized would solve a lot of problems. We invite you to join us in being part of the amazing development unfolding here in Rajasthan.

In 2001 Shree Vishwa Deep Gurukul Maheshwaranand Ashram started a school for the local village children. The school started with 140 students and went up to 5^th class. It was makeshift and bodgy but it fulfilled our aim which was to give the children a better education than they get in the village. The idea of starting a school stemmed from the realization of the poor standard of education available locally and the lack of opportunities for students to get quality education.

Now in 2014 thanks to the help of our Guruji, His Ashrams throughout the world and a host of generous donors from all corners of the globe we have a school that has 1350 students going up till class 12^th. In November 2007 we opened a new school building where we can fit 900 students and in 2008 had to extend it! It is the only school offering science and commerce subjects in 12^th class within a 20km radius with fully equipped labs and a great teaching staff.

What has been beautiful to watch over the last years is the development of the students and teachers. The standard of education has increased dramatically. The staff have become not just employees but part of the movement, offering their time and hearts for the students. But most of all the beauty is seeing students who came with nothing blossoming and succeeding. One can only share an example:

There are two girls who joined the school in 2001. They came from a village with 4 houses, no electricity and a family that was completely illiterate. Neither of them could write their name and they joined 4^th class. In May 2007 they completed 8^th class and sat the examinations of the Government board (8^th class examinations are the first “big” examinations held across the whole state of Rajasthan, similar to the school certificate of 10^th class in Australia). I don’t know how to describe the beauty of the moment they received their results. They looked ……..and looked again. Asked someone else to check. Their eyes got bigger. Joy spread across their faces. Not only had they passed but they both scored in first division! It was special – beyond their dreams- bringing tears to their eyes (and ours).

There are so many stories and experiences that one would like to share but your time is short and we have to go to school! We hope that you will also join us.

We are constantly fighting to try and fulfill the demands of the local community. Everyone is welcome to join us on the journey. For example you can help with fundraising for buses or for construction works, by donating to pay for a child's education, for new computers, a new bus, playground equipment, supply of fresh water or with any other idea or opportunity which you may think will be helpful.

If anyone is interested to help please be in touch by email at jadan@yogaindailylife.org and we will give you details of how to send donations to our charitable society in India. Alternatively you can give it to one of the Yoga In Daily Life Centres throughout the world, giving it specifically for the Education Fund of Shree Vishwa Deep Gurukul Maheshwaranand Ashram.

They say “Bund bund se talab bhar jate he”. Drop by drop the dam becomes full. Our school is a drop in the ocean of the world's illiteracy. Each small donation is also only a drop in the dam of the cost of the school. But it all adds up. If you can help, thanks. If you feel it appropriate then please pass this site address on to a friend or put it up at your workplace. Any effort is welcome.

Lots of love

Enjoy

Links to slideshows/videos/you tube

Just click these links to see a slideshows of scenes from school throughout the years. The first one is shorter. The second one has more photos

http://picasaweb.google.com/jadanschool/JadanAshramSchool#slideshow

http://picasaweb.google.com/jadanschool/Jadanschool#slideshow

Some videos on You Tube.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=s879XXhfEl0
Swamiji talks about the School and Gyan Putra project

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=z734NqZuRLA
About the development of Jadan School

From the school animations. These animations were made by our students in a program with Twin Vision, an NGO doing wonderful work in England and throughout the world:
Lila Amrit http://blip.tv/file/1765845
Cravat Story http://blip.tv/file/1765830
Indian in London http://blip.tv/file/1765854
Water is Life http://blip.tv/file/1765876

Do you want to be a part of the journey?

Everyone is welcome to join us on the educational journey which is Jadan School. If you have any ideas of how you could contribute be in touch and we are happy to discuss them. Some examples of how you can help are:

* Help with funding the construction of the extension of the school building. It is a big project with each classroom costing on average 450, ooo rupees ( approx. 13000 aud or 7500 euro). Any help gets us closer to the goal.
* If you are a teacher overseas and would be interested in making some cultural exchange with our students we now have better internet access and would be interested.
* Over the years we have had kind groups and people send judo uniforms, sports equipments, science equipments, donations for furniture, encyclopedias, computer learning games, text books from syllabuses in other countries, cameras, toothbrushes (!!!!!)..........the list is long and varied. The only limit is imagination.
* All of our girl students and the boys who come from the poorest families are given scholarships under the Shree Deep Madhavanand Ashram Fellowship's Gyan Putra scheme. Gyan Putra means the child of knowledge and the scheme sponsors each child for their school fees and other expenses. For more information about this scheme see the website www.yogaindailylife.org .

* Hopefully you can enjoy this blog and share it with others. Any suggestions on what you would like to see or know more about from our blog page are more than welcome.

A thought

A while back an educationalist from a reputed school in Delhi visited our Ashram. He told a story of a visit that he had made to a village only a few weeks before in which he was thinking to set up a literacy program.
Whilst in the village he was talking with the local children and telling them of his plan to set up a small program and centre there. The children, to his suprise, said that they weren't interested. They then said:
"We don't want to go to a literacy program, we want to go to YOUR school, the one where you were educated".
What they wanted to say is that they just need a chance, an solid education with all the opportunities for learning that their middle class cousins in the city can get. And that when they get that chance they will take it with both hands and prove that they can change their situation, can change the future of their immediate families and can be ready to give their own children the chances that their parents didn't have.
Similarly our students are proving that when they get the chance to get a certain level of quality in education that anything is possible. The leaps that students have taken over the past few years is incredible. It is humbling and inspiring to see the way that they apply themselves to make the most of their chance. What can one do but enjoy watching their lives unfold and blossom.