The Sri Sankara Vidyashramam School achieved a highly praiseworthy first by starting Chennai’s inaugural Heritage Club on 21st July 2003. It has 30 members from classes VIII and IX.
The club was declared open by Deborah Thyagarajan, president of DakshinaChitra and founder of the Madras Craft Foundation. According to the school’s Principal, Kalpalatha Mohan, the heritage club will seek “to promote an awareness of the rich cultural heritage of India.” The Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School of Adyar has also followed suit by starting its own heritage club. The clubs, sponsored by the Indian
National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), will carry out activities like heritage walks, field trips, quizzes and lectures, all aimed at nurturing greater awareness of our legacy.
On 3rd August, members of the club joined Pudhu Vellam, an NGO, in celebrating the Aadi Perukku festival at the ancient Marundeeswarar temple tank of Tiruvanmiyur. Taken on a conducted tour of this famous heritage site, they learned the history of the temple.
The Sankara Vidyashramam continued to produce excellent results both in examinations and co-curricular activities. The school obtained 100% results in the Standard X matriculation examination for the tenth consecutive year, and 98% in the Standard XII examination in March 2003.
Other highlights:
The school received the Best School award from Minister of Education Semmalai at a function organised by the Association of Matriculation Schools. The school’s Interact Club was selected the Second Best Interact Club in the city by the Rotary Club of Madras District 3230.
The school won the Bank of Baroda Rolling Trophy from the Madras Voluntary Blood Bank for mobilizing the highest number of blood donors at a Blood Donation Camp. The school’s Music Club won prizes at a number of competitions.
Sanskrit teacher honoured : Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School’s N Panchapakesan, a postgraduate Sanskrit teacher for over 23 years, recently received the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) award for teachers. A communiqué from the school praises Panchapakesan as a role model for other teachers. An author of several text books in Sanskrit, Panchapakesan “has richly contributed to the development of the communicative approach to the teaching of Sanskrit in CBSE and textual and support material for teachers.
N Panchapakesan receiving his award from Union Human Resources Minister Murli Manohar Joshi.