Vidya Bhavan, working for 90 years, developed many innovations in the field of education
Founded in 1931, Vidya Bhawan is one of the oldest educational establishments in Udaipur. For more than 90 years, Vidya Bhawan has been imparting innovative education to its students, while focusing on value-based education, co-education, education for responsible citizenship, environmental education, sustainable agriculture, sports, music, fine arts, skill development and so on. Today VB is a group of ten institutions directly serving over 4,000 students and indirectly serving several tens of thousands more, thousands of farmers, and over 550 staff members. These institutions include multiple Schools (the oldest, Senior Secondary School; the Basic School dedicated to the rural population; and the Public School), an Education Resource Centre for developing and implementing schooling innovations, Teacher Education Colleges (the older Govindram Seksaria Teachers' College and the newer Gandhian Institute of Educational Studies), a Polytechnic, a post graduate level Rural Institute, a Krishi Vigyan Kendra for connecting farmers with science and innovation, and a Prakriti Sadhana Kendra to ecological conservation and study.
During the pandemic, the Vidya Bhawan institutions were also closed and all the teaching institutions of Vidya Bhawan started teaching its students online. Vidya Bhawan assembled a team of experts who designed strategies to make the online classes more effective. As there was no setup for imparting online education prior to the pandemic, the required equipment and other tools were provided to all the teaching institutions. We also understood that the teaching materials and the teaching methodologies would be different for the online education. Accordingly, our experts at the Education Resource Centre (VBERC) developed tools and methodologies to ensure that online education was as effective as possible. Regular online classes continued during all the phases of the lockdown at all of Vidya Bhawan institutions. Vidya Bhawan did not remove any member of its staff and they kept on drawing their regular salaries and allowances during the pandemic period.
However, in order to understand effectiveness of online education the Society surveyed all its existing students and found that the monthly income of the guardians of more than two-third of the existing students was less than Rs 15,000/- which was further reduced due to the pandemic. (Findings of the survey were published in the Frontline magazine and the Indian Express newspaper). The survey indicated that many of the students would not be able to continue their education during the pandemic. In order to avoid this situation, Vidya Bhawan Society appealed to its well-wishers and collected Rs. 4.25 crores through which the scholarships were provided to more than 1500 students. As a result, they could continue their studies and there were no dropouts due to financial difficulties. In addition, the students whose guardians died due to Covid-19 have been assured of free education until class 12.
We have also realized that some of the students could not take adequate advantage of online education due to different circumstance. Bridge courses have been organized for such students after reopening of schools and colleges. We also felt that the pandemic and the consequent lockdowns affected mental health of several of our students and their guardians at the mental level. Our Wellness team has been organizing various programs to help such students, their guardians as well as teachers. The programs are open for all, and will continue throughout the academic session.
Sports and extracurricular activities have always been integral part of the education provided by Vidya Bhawan institutions. They, however, could not be continued during the pandemic. After resumption of the physical classes, our students have started participating in various competitions. The Hockey teams of Vidya Bahwan Sr. Secondary School won all the four district championships in their categories. Out of these, 28 players participated in State level competitions. One student, Ashish Masar, captained the Udaipur district team while Hina and Ashish were selected for State Level Hockey Academy. Similarly, the students won 14 Gold medals at Gymnastic. Two of such students were selected for National level competitions.
Neelam Dangi of Vidya Bhawan Rural Institute (VBRI) received Strong Woman Award for weightlifting and powerlifting, while Bhawana Gameti was conferred with Best Woman Player Award at Rugby at the State level. The VBRI also won University championship in men’s volleyball, women and men archery and women’s weightlifting. Four students of VBRI represented All India American Football team.
The story of chess at Vidya Bhawan Public School has been highly remarkable. A program named ‘Chess in School’ was initiated at the Public School in 2015. As chess is a relatively expensive sport in terms of coaching and participation in various competitions which is a difficult proposition for Vidya Bhawan students. The school appointed a competent chess coach and sponsored the students to take part in various competitions. All the expenses of such participation was borne by Vidya Bhawan. The students responded extremely well to the initiative by winning the competitions at district, state and national levels. During the pandemic, the students continued to be coached online. They were also encouraged to take part in online chess competitions, in which Vrashank Sharma of Class 10 at VB Public School won Silver Medal in under 17 Asian School Championship and the Silver Medal in the under 14 National Championship. Vrashank also won Over the Board Rajasthan Junior Chess Championship and also Rajasthan Senior Chess Championship and has been selected for the National Championship to represent Rajasthan. Dakshita Chauhan of class 9 has won under 16, under 14 and under 12 State championships. Vrashank has been declared as best active player in Rajasthan while Dakshita has been declared as the best female active player in Rajasthan in June, 2022 by International Chess Federation (FIDE). Another student, Charvi Patidar, of class 9th obtained silver medals in under 20, under 16 and under 14 State Chess Championships.
Vidya Bhawan Public School has got an exceptional music teacher who has encouraged the students to form their own band, named, ‘3 Octave Band’. The students at the school are taught vocal music and various instruments like the drums, congo, bongo, guitar, harmonium, table and synthesizer. The band has won several school, district and zonal competitions, and has also participated in the international events. Music has brought a lot of positivity and has improved levels of creativity of the entire student body by several notches.
In addition to the 4,000 students studying at its institutions, Vidya Bhawan also works with the students of rural schools of 5 districts of Rajasthan under the programs called 'Shiksha Sambal' and 'Shiksha Samvardhan’. Through these programs we have reached out to more than 18,000 students in 85 government schools of Udaipur, Rajsamand, Ajmer, Bhilwara and Chittorgarh districts. Through these programs Vidya Bhawan is improving the quality of education in subjects particularly, Maths, English and Science at these schools. Vidya Bhawan also develops reading habits of the students by establishing libraries in the school villages, and brings the local community and parents closer to school and education of their wards.
During the pandemic, Vidya Bhawan Education Resource Centre (VBERC) organized online study forums and regular home visits for nearly 7,000 students of classes 9th and 10th of these schools. In addition, residential summer and winter camps are organized for the selected students from 8th, 10th and 12th classes where they are not only given academic inputs but are also encouraged to participate in regular sport activities and various cultural and environmental activities. They are also provided some useful skills by the experts in these camps such as carpentry, art and craft, computer skills and theatre. Through the winter camps of 2021, attempts were made to bridge the learning gaps of 1800 class 10 students. The students received intensive inputs and were taught by 40 student volunteers from Delhi University and some from IISER, Mohali. The volunteers in their feedback mentioned that the experience opened their eyes to the reality of the education scenario in rural areas beyond the metro cities. A 30-day camp for 300 residential students and over 1500 non-residential students is currently on in various campuses of Vidya Bhawan.
Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) published an article on the new assessment methods developed by VBERC for assessing the progress of students studying online. VBERC has earlier worked with NCERT, and Bihar and Andhra Pradesh SCERTs, to design and improve the curricular reforms. VBERC also engaged in largescale capacity building and teachers’ training programs in Chhattisgarh and Bihar states by training over 10,000 teachers. VBERC has developed for NCERT Mathematics textbooks and textbooks in Language, Maths and Science for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan states. VBERC also conducted research on various aspects of education in collaboration with Leads University, Manchester Metropolitan University, UNICEF and IIM Udaipur. VBERC has also developed innovative pre-school level language learning material for Seva Mandir, Science modules for Care India, textbooks for Macmillan India and study packages for Room to Read (2021). More than 1300 Aanganwadi Workers in 5 rural blocks (Kotra, Jhadol, Girwa, Mawli and Sarada) of Southern Rajasthan were trained on pre-school curriculum and learning strategies. Learning assessment tools were also developed for these workers, which are being widely used now.
Students of Vidya Bhawan Public School participated in INSPIRE (Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research) awards. Prakrati Sharma of class 9 won a cash price of Rs. 10,000/- for her project.
Vidya Bhawan Polytechnic College is the oldest Polytechnic of Rajasthan which provides Diploma courses in Civil, Electrical, Electronics, Computer Science and Information Technology, post diploma course in Polymer and Rubber Science and certificate course in Mechatronics in addition to various part time skill development courses. Polytechnic has world class, state of the art, Saraswati Mechatronics Centre, established in collaboration with Saraswati Singhal Foundation and BOSCH Company.
VB Polytechnic was adjudged as Outstanding Technical Institute of Northern Region by the MHRD (now Ministry of Education), Government of India. It has also received Best CDTP (Community Development through Polytechnic) Scheme Implementing Institution and the Best ISTE (Indian Society for Technical Education) Student Chapter of Rajasthan. The Polytechnic is engaged in research on Sanitation, Water Resource Management and Waste Management in collaboration with national and international agencies. It has developed a Septic Tank Manual for proper design, construction and maintenance of septic tanks, which has been adopted by Udaipur Nagar Nigam. The Polytechnic is working with sewer workers of Udaipur and conducting training on safety measures during sewer/septic tank cleaning so as to minimize the health risks. The Polytechnic is instrumental in initiating and accelerating the process for the establishment of Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant for the Udaipur City, which is going to be operational soon. It is leading a research program on integrated water resource management of Ahar river basin supported by the Government of Denmark. Moreover, the all India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has selected Vidya Bhawan Polytechnic to prepare the roadmap for conservation of lakes of India. It is the only Polytechnic in the country selected for this cause. The Polytechnic has the record of best campus placement among all Polytechnic colleges in the State.
Vidya Bhawan Rural Institute has a Rovers Unit of which four students have received state level awards. The NSS and Rovers at the college have adopted Bhilon Ka Bedla village where they are implementing various social and educational projects.
Vidya Bhawan is implementing a program named Unchi Udaan with the financial help of Hindustan Zinc Ltd. Under the program class 9 students belonging to the disadvantaged communities are brought from different areas to Vidya Bhawan for four years of free residential coaching for engineering entrance examinations. So far, three batches consisting of 78 students have passed out, of which 58 students have been admitted in various engineering colleges and are studying there currently. Four students are in different IITs and 3 are in different NIITs. Seventeen students are studying at Rajasthan's top engineering college, MBM Jodhpur, and 10 children are studying TTE, Udaipur. Currently, 130 students enrolled in the program are residing in Vidya Bhawan hostels and studying at Vidya Bhawan school.
Vidya Bhawan has also initiated a program named, Apana Sapana where the students of class 11 are admitted and trained for various engineering entrance examinations. There are several students at Vidya Bhawan and in other schools who cannot afford costly fees of the coaching centers. This program is designed for such students where in addition to preparation of engineering entrance examinations they are trained on skill enhancement in English language, computer, communication, presentation, personality development and sports. In the first batch of the program there are 32 students out of which 16 students are from Vidya Bhawan schools, 14 are from government schools and 2 students are from other private schools.
In another program, the school had brought 50 children from Jhadol and Kotda tribal belts. These were either school drop outs or were not responding to the teaching at their local schools. They are supported by Colgate Ltd. for studying at Vidya Bhawan school and are residing at Vidya Bhawan hostels. Of these children, 40 have already passed class 12 examination. They were also taught Hockey as a sport. Eight of such children went up to state level while one girl child was selected for State Level Hockey academy.
In addition to implementing various government programs for the farmers, Vidya Bhawan Krishi Vigyan Kendra is engaged in a Nutrition Improvement Program with the tribal women of Salumbar and Gogunda blocks by involving them in vegetable cultivation, while providing them with seeds and training. So far 320 women have benefited from the program. Similarly, in order to increase incomes of tribal families, 16,000 chicks of Kadaknath and Ankaleshwar varieties were distributed in 2022. So far, 700 families have been benefited from the program. Similarly, 111 goats of Sirohi variety were provided in the year 2022 in order to promote goatary and improve variety of goats in the area. So far, 175 households have availed the benefits of the program.
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