2006-07 was continuation of the momentum initiated during the Diamond Jubilee revitalisation effort. The cooperation, collaboration, reflection and energy that was realised in the activities was continued. There was great enthusiasm among the students and the faculty. The well-wishers and supporters of Vidya Bhawan also contributed to the corpus and other resources. We have, however, a long way to go before we can consider ourselves secure and provide for the developmental needs of the organisation. Before I go into more details of the issues that we are thinking about, let me give an idea of what different institutions have been doing this year.            

For the Sr. Secondary School this was also a year of consolidation and re-structuring of the school system. Many new ideas were initiated, some of them closely resembling the experiments that have been done in Vidya Bhawan earlier as well but redefined in the context of present-day-needs and aspirations keeping in mind the educational and pedagogical understanding developed in the last couple of decades. In the Nursery and Primary sections, the school moved away from limited assessment focus and emphasis on textbooks to a greater use of worksheets and open ended learning situations. There were more teachers who were exploring group learning and allowing children the space to discover understanding and answers on their own. This, however, is just a beginning and we need to go a long distance in this direction. I also have to say, while many of us accept this principle, we find it difficult to actually work upon these in the classroom and the impression that visitors get is of not being able to see anything radically different. There is also a need to more clearly integrate activities with learning that would feed into classrooms. We need to evolve better worksheets to share them across the institutions and evolve a design so that they can be widely available. 

The school has also started considering the need to revise the evaluation processes. The tests that are taken, the paper given in them, the way of giving feed-back were reviewed and analysed. We hope to be able to modify many of the procedures over a period of time. The recognition that assessment is a feedback for the students, the teacher and the whole system has begun to be understood and we hope that more and more people in the school will gradually understand and help the evolution of more appropriate assessment system. Assessment for adding to learning, assessment as a means of changing children, giving them self-confidence and giving them tasks that they enjoy. In the same direction, systems for coordination between nursery and junior schools have been discussed and plans have been made to ensure that there is sufficient feedback that gets shared with the junior school when children from nursery school proceed to the higher classes. Similar sharing and coordinating needs to be evolved between junior school and the senior school as well. 

In continuation of our effort to make classroom processes more meaningful and to facilitate sharing of learning among teachers, subject groups of teachers have been set up. All the teachers teaching a subject cutting across the classes meet and share experiences. The purpose of this is to evolve a common understanding of teaching the subject, the possible mechanisms in it and how to move forward towards ensuring better quality in the classrooms. The activities of the school continue and are gradually becoming richer and deeper - as the faculty sees a greater linkage between these activities and classroom learning. There is more preparation and more sharing with students so that the benefit accruing is more. In sports, the teams of the school are doing well and many children are part of the District and State teams. To us, this is also important that most of the hostel children are in the ground in the evening under guidance of teachers and regular sports are organised for other students as well. 

There have been other developments in the school as well. We have begun offering computer science as an optional subject and have added more powerful and new computers to the school lab. Computer lab is also being set up in the Public School as well as in the Junior School and we are seeking animation CDs from many places to make our students enjoy learning while picking up confidence to use the computers. 

The inspection for the Sr. Secondary affiliation to the CBSE board has taken place and we have to get affiliation to the CBSE board for classes 11th and 12th as well. The Public School, I may point out, has been doing very well and the kind of personal attention and quality teaching taking place in the school has started attracting attention. We are looking to renovate the Junior School building and add to the Public School. For this the school faculty seeks your support and we are all hopeful that you will help us raise funds for these two crucial requirements apart from that of larger assembly space.

There were so many activities of importance in the year that I will not be able to mention all of them but I only mention a few important ones. The Anniversary Project this yeas was a joint programme with other institutions. The Vidya Bhawan school with its experience provided leadership and orientation to the schools to make this a historical event. The theme 'Vidya Bhawan an Eternal Challenge' was itself very challenging and I must congratulate the institutions in being able to present a qualitative idea that reflected the spirit of Vidya Bhawan. The school hosted a workshop in collaboration with NCERT and V.B. Education Resource Centre on 'Animation' and evolving software for children. The interesting part was that this workshop, involving students from many schools of Udaipur, was using students as the conceivers and developers of animation materials that could be used for interaction with children. An inter school debate was organised in collaboration with Dr. Mohan Sinha Mehta Memorial Trust and a seminar for pre-primary and primary teachers organised on 'Teaching-Learning Process'. 

Results this year for all the board classes were very good and almost all the students who appeared barring 1 or 2 got through the board exams. This is very good but we are now looking towards the next challenge, which is to improve these results even more and also ensure that all the students appearing in the board exams get at least a first division. The percentage of first division this year was around 70% for all the board classes. It may be worth mentioning a few things about the V.B. Public School as well. We have gradually increased the strength in the school and systems are gradually emerging and consolidating. The sharing between the two senior schools in the campus is mutually energizing a lot of new ideas, which are being explored in the Public School. Parent-teacher communication is one of the major areas of work for the next couple of years for the school and we want to use the forum to communicate ideas of Vidya Bhawan as well as to sharpen our understanding of the perception of the community about education. 

The Basic School is an experiment in finding elements of more meaningful education. Education that is complete and has the use of mind and hands, Education that is based on the environment, culture and experience of the child. The effort of rediscovering basic education and revitalizing the institution so as to be able provide leadership to this important dimension continues. We have moved forward in many ways in this along with the Resource Centre. The school organised a workshop and a national seminar on Basic Education this year. A national forum has been set up. The effort of the resource centre with the Basic School has been nationally recognised. There is, however, a long journey ahead as we seek to build our confidence and capability in being able to take up the challenge ahead. The challenge is of providing ideas as to how trades can be more clearly integrated with cognitive concepts learning and programmes that can be taken up by the school in the community and by students within the school to increase their participation and contribution. There were many attempts in this direction including the attempt to make rural women literate and have the school to consider this to be a part of its responsibility. Camps have been organised in the village as well as in the school to expose the village communities to the ideas that the school wants to strive towards and to expose children to possibilities of working with their own communities. Many children from other organisations participated in the summer camp for exposure to different trades, to the library and to interesting ways of learning some subjects. 

There have been major efforts to define meaningful learning and to move away from textbook based rote learning. Worksheets have been developed and alternative lessons experimented with. The teachers of the school have started writing in journals and they also presented papers in the seminar on Basic Education. Many of these papers have been republished by other organisations looking to find a way forward in this direction. Clubs for teachers and students have been formed for different subjects and they have held  meetings and camps. There is a need to work towards discovering more interesting ideas for these groups to really become leaders and help develop a deeper climate in the school in relation to this area. One of the problems of the school is resources and it is being sustained by extended financial support. It is also helped by those who have been helping sustain the quality of the schools. We seek support to develop our resources in order to provide quality education to students from the rural community. Transport arrangements for bringing students to the schools from nearby villages have been initiated because of the heavy traffic on the road and consequent danger involved in small children having to come to the school walking. We hope that this will facilitate more students adjoining the school. 

The results for the school, however, cause concern. Overall the pass percentage in the school were much better than the last year but I feel that the school can do much better. It has extremely good faculty and resources and the teachers have been engaged with the best minds in education. There is no reason why they should not be able to share all this with students. I hope that in the next few years the effort of the teachers, the students and others who have been with the school would start showing even more clear results I look towards to happen. I may also mention that the school along with the Resource Centre has brought lot of publications that are attracting attention. In a recently held national consultation, it was decided that this journal would be made a journal for the network to begin with and material in Gujarati would also be included in it. The institution has accepted this challenge with pride and it is now up to the school and the Resource Centre to take this challenge in the full spirit and to show that meaningful education requires very clearly elements of basic education like mother tongue, use of hands and doing things by taking up some social and community responsibility and fulfilling it with discipline and competence.  

The Jhamar Kotra School also had a good year of exciting changes. The RSMML agreed to build more infrastructure so that there could be a larger library and computer lab. They have also agreed to provide new computers so as to upgrade the lab. Exploration of better methods of teaching-learning such that students' participation increases and they have the opportunity to work with their hands and in groups, is in progress. There have been internal workshops and interactions to streamline the use of these ideas in classrooms. Some of the activities, however, have suffered because a few teachers have found better opportunities elsewhere and school is looking towards finding an appropriate new leader as well as include teachers to carry forward the momentum that has begun. The result of the schools were better than in the last year but we can still do better. The efforts initiated in this direction are continuing and internal discussions throwing up new ideas. Compared to the size and its location, the participation of the school in sports and other activities has been exceptional. Apart from Volley Ball, Table Tennis and Football, the school has cricket tournaments among its students. In Volley Ball and T.T. it is however recognized as a major force and continuously does well in tournaments.   

To conclude, the performance of the schools has been better on many fronts. There is more openness for discussions and a greater spirit of learning. We still, however, have a long way to go. 

The Teacher Training College has initiated discussions to work towards different kinds of teaching-learning process in the institutions. The process aims at providing greater opportunities for students to learn on their own, in groups and focus less on lectures. The block teaching practice as well as lesson plans have been redesigned for deeper experience rather than merely displaying teaching skills. In a sense we are moving towards focusing on the student learners in the classroom of the Teacher Training College and of the practice schools. The College also started classes for primary teachers and we have now students in the second year. This makes the college a comprehensive institute of teacher education. Discussions are on to consider possibilities of joining hands with the Rural Institute and ensuring teacher preparation programmes that have a strong foundation in some subjects. The institution has been given a special batch of students keeping in mind its capability to scaffold the learning of those from the backward circumstances with a need for greater exposure and confidence. Two seminars were organised in collaboration with the Resource Centre and Rural Institute. The results for the exams have been exceptionally good and we are looking to improve the institution further through the kind of initiatives that have been started.  Mr. S.C. Behar has been interacting with the faculty and that may help add not just ideas but concrete steps to the revitalization of the institution. 

The Polytechnic is gradually acquiring its full strength as students moved up in those diplomas which have been started recently. There is a lot of development in the institution as new labs are being made and infrastructure to upgrade the workshops also being procured. Facilities for sports have been set up and the presence in the village through the Community Polytechnic Wing strengthened. The institution was selected as one of the few in Rajasthan from where ideas regarding the technical education were sought by the National Commission headed by Prof. Kasturi Ranjan.  

In collaboration with Aajeevika Bureau, the institution is evolving programmes that can facilitate more useful capacities for tribal youth. These courses not only provide them training in a trade but also build capacities to read and write besides giving them orientation on life issues. All this shared with the youth, gives them greater self-confidence. For the first time this year, placement campus interviews prior to the completion of the course were held. Around half of the graduating students were able to find a job even before they had finished the course. The Polytechnic needs to strengthen its linkage with corporate sector and provide activities and training that would help their students be more suitable for industry and for entrepreneurial work.  

This was the Golden Jubilee year for the Rural Institute as well as for the Polytechnic. The NAAC committee, which visited the institution, awarded it a B++ grade. The college was also short listed by the Commissioner of College Education, Rajasthan, as an Institute to be developed as a model college under the State government scheme. Under this scheme, the college would provide leadership to other colleges in terms of standards and ideas. This would of course need to be funded by the Govt.  

The post graduate courses started by the college continue and the interest in them has increased. The government, although agreeing to the fact that it owes a lot of money to the society for the college, has not yet released the money and there is no sign of that happening soon. The other demands arising from the request of the retired employees arising from the policy of the government have started pouring in and there is no clear position of the government on these issues. It is surprising that the institution which caters education to the rural poor and which provides good education to them is starved for support.  

To illustrate this point, let me present you activities that were undertaken by the college this year. The college organised a state level debate for colleges for Rajasthan, an extension lecture, a national seminar on 'Higher Education–at Cross Roads', in collaboration with the IASEs, an international seminar on 'Science Education in collaboration with the Resource Centre and IASE, a Gramin Vikas Mela' and many other activities for students. The college is performing very well in sports, particularly in Volley Ball, Chess, and weight lifting and had very good results in the exams as well. New courses like Statistics and Information Technology have also been added at the B.Sc. level. The institution is seeking to develop linkage with other institutions and move towards becoming an institution that provides the rural youth of the country richer education that is more related to their experience. Both IASE and RI are helping reach good education to the rural areas and to those who can not give their entire day to the college through the IGNOU distance learning center. The two institutions are planning to begin some courses in collaboration soon. 

The Krishi Vigyan Kendra undertook trainings for farmers including for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe farmers, experimented with the Ratan Jyot plantation, tested soil and water samples in its lab to advise the farmers and is conserving horticulture plans and cotton in the nursery. There are many partners and projects that are being explored. These include the partnership with Delhi University, Environmental Centre for working on the Beed proposals. Also partnership with the Home Science college, with ICAR, Environmental Ministry etc. to improve the knowledge availability with the farmer. The rain in the last two years has also increased the possibility of the kind of work that the K.V.K. can do both on its own land as well as with farmers. The 'Vikas mela' organised this year was a major effort for the KVK and there is a team emerging in the institution that is somewhat committed to the improvement and transformation.  

The Institute of Local Self Government continued its orientation courses with the support of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust as well as Mint in Germany. The training and publications continued to be received with interest and the melas at the village level brought a lot of participation. The Institute organised a two-day conference on Panchayati Raj and Mahila Leadership. This programme was in collaboration with the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj as well as National Commission for Women, Seva Mandir and Vidya Bhawan Education Resource Centre. The seminar had elected representatives from all over Rajasthan.  

We are looking towards finding leadership for the team and to infuse it in people such that it can make its continuity possible for a long time.  

The Cellulosic Waste Project Unit continued production of papers of different kinds and is gradually developing better quality and better products. It has increased its capacity as well as space available for building. Among the more important things, is the launching of molted paper as well marble and leather paper.

This was the closing year of the Diamond Jubilee celebration even though the work that got triggered during the Diamond Jubilee year would become a constant feature of our work. There is a whole host of programmes that were organised by different institutions I can not give details of each of them. I only want to mention the ones, which were of important in bringing together institutions of Vidya Bhawan as well as placing ourselves on wider canvas in Udaipur and in India. 

We had many distinguished visitors this year. These include the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, the Hon'ble Governor of Rajasthan, the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in the Central Govt., the Minister for Environment and Forest in the Central Govt., the Hon'ble Minister in Prime Minister's Office, the Minister for Home Affairs in Rajasthan, the Minister for Panchayati Raj in the Rajasthan Govt., Minister of State for Technical Education among others. Distinguished academicians Prof. Rajendra Singh, Prof. Rama Kant Agnihotri, Prof. Goverdhan Mehta, Prof. Tanmoy Bhattacharya, Shri S.C. Behar, Prof. Michael Mathew, Dr. Sadhna Saxena, Prof. C.R. Babu, Prof. V.S. Varma etc. participated in activities of Vidya Bhawan. We had many State level competitions. These include debates, sport tournaments, essay writing, contests as well as drama competitions. 

There were three important seminars organised. One was an international seminar on 'Science Education'. It brought together distinguished personalities from across the world, who are thinking about science education. The other seminar on Basic Education brought focus on the relevance of basic education in today's context. Apart from this, recently we had a seminar on 'Higher Education-at Cross Roads'. Each institution invites people to come and speak to the students and faculty but a few involved all the institutions and other people in Udaipur. These include lectures by Prof. Manmohan Singh (Prime Minister of India), Prof. Rajendra Singh,  Shri M.L. Mehta and Mr. Mukhopadhyay. 

The interaction among institutions increased. They worked together to evolve a first common Vanshala and then anniversary project. The anniversary project on 'Vidya Bhawan: An Eternal Challenge' forced people to think about what institutions mean and what are the challenges in front of them. In the July function, all the institutions presented their vision of Vidya Bhawan in the form of a presentable item. For some it was a dance, others a skit and the rest as a play. The effort that went into producing it and the kind of discussions it brought amongst different institutions has been extremely satisfying and encouraging. Sports activities amongst students and staff of Vidya Bhawan institutions were started and I hope that in future this interaction and activity will become deeper. As I said, Diamond Jubilee celebrations are over but the agenda that we set out and the promises that we had made at the end of 75 years would continue to inspire us in the years ahead as well.

The Education Resource Centre has had an important year. The Centre at Jaipur expanded and took on extremely challenging tasks in collaboration with Azim Premji Foundation and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). Learning Guarantee Programme in two districts of Rajasthan has stared. Education Centre is emerging as an example of partnership between Vidya Bhawan and Azim Premji Foundation. This is in addition to the partnerships that the Centre already had with SIG-ICICI Banks, Eklavya and Digantar in Chhattisgarh. The organisation also set up partnership with Gyanshala (Ahmedabad) and undertook intervention in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation schools, for which the negotiation and ground work was done by Gyanshala. Faculty members of the Acharya Narendra Dev College were also involved in the effort and we are hoping to initiate some work in Delhi as well with them. The remarkable collaboration between Azim Premji Foundation, Vidya Bhawan and SSA has brought forth many new possibilities and challenges. The negotiations with the SSA have been intense and difficult.  

There have also been difficult times in all these partnerships but we feel that gradually the Centre is becoming more competent to deal with partnership issues and function with mutual respect. One of the biggest challenges in partnerships is to maintain quality of the work such that the partners respect or contribute in dealing with the work. With the present attitude of State governments to non-governmental organisations, it is of paramount importance to ensure that we are able to provide interaction that is found meaningful and we do not over-reach our role. It is this area that we need more capability in. 

The work in Jaipur has also extended to Baran, where Digantar is taking up quality improvement programme in collaboration with Vidya Bhwan and SIG of ICICI. A MoU to this effect was signed with the Rajasthan government. This again is a programme where different organisations would have to complement each other and bear apparent idio-cyncracies to provide an effective programme on the field. The work in Gujarat has strengthened in Surat under a strong team working there. 

One of the major tasks of the Resource Centre is to build its own capacity and of Vidya Bhawan institutions, particularly, schools. Many programmes in Vidya Bhawan during this year were organised with the support of the Resource Centre. All most all academic seminars and workshops observed participation from the Centre. The list of all these need not be given here. The Centre also works with the schools through the WATIS programme and the BER. This is not only to just make classroom processes more friendly for the child, less rote oriented but to initiate processes such that both teachers and students find more meaning in their work.  

Members of Resource Centre made presentation on many national forums and also organised national workshops and seminars to initiate processes of concerted thinking on crucial subjects. The Centre is looking towards a major partnership with the Vidya Bhawan Teachers Training College, particularly, in regard to the primary teacher training, for which a joint building is being constructed. The idea is that the building will host not just a teacher training section but also a part of the Resource Centre so as to bring greater synergy and provide a forum for initiating changes in pre-service training. The NFE certification is going on smoothly with material for the 3rd phase of certification being developed. We are looking for other organisations where we could initiate this course so as to benefit all those rural teachers who do not have access to programmes that can enhance their capability. 

The Resource Centre, in collaboration with schools and external experts is looking towards developing teaching learning materials for school children, we are beginning with computer applications and English. Drafts are being prepared and will be shared with experts before they are published. The purpose is to distribute it widely but will certainly use them in Vidya Bhawan schools. The reason we want to develop these materials is to add rural sensibility in them and to increase space for engagement of child. 

The Centre is growing and many new people have joined this year. More are likely to join soon both in Jaipur and in Udaipur. The office in Jaipur has been furnished better and is now fully functional on the project that is being taken up in collaboration with Premji Foundation. The Udaipur Resource Centre is building its seminar and workshop space, library as well as working space for team members. This is in addition to the Centre being developed with the Primary Teacher Training Centre of the Teachers College. 

To summarise, many new activities were initiated last year and many new partnerships formed. The Centre is looking towards keeping this momentum going.  

On the financial and management front, Vidya Bhawan and other grant-in-aid institutions are anxiously waiting for the stifling grant cut to be removed. The policy of the govt. in funding education in general and of grant-in-aid institutions in particular seems to be moving in a direction that is not reassuring. There is a need to move towards greater self reliance and pruning of expense. The government has also not responded to the suggestions regarding grant-in-aid rules to reduce the institutional commitment. The committee set up to discuss the issue has not even met once. We need to go towards wider fund raising possibilities. 

The Society needs a more comprehensive management structure and a coherent vision with leadership at the institutional level. With the work becoming more complex, it seems necessary to set up a team that would be able to guide and lead the institutions both in terms of processes, decision making as well as in terms of academic quality and becoming more relevant in the context of today's needs. We also need to explore linkages and partnerships that would challenge us and lead us to develop action plans that can be stuck to more effectively. The management of the resources both in terms of infusion of people, infusion of ideas and infusion of resources may need to be made more efficient and more professional. Each institutions needs to look towards building ways of meeting its recurring expenses along with a buffer for the likely increase in expanse and for residual expanse that may surface later.

 I am grateful to the support provided by all of you, the members of the Executive Committee, the members of Board of Control and look forward to continued support from every one. We particularly look forward to an increased support of all the General Council members and would look out for their active support and contribution.