Celebrating 30 Years of Academic Excellence

Three decades is a significant for the then five-year-old kid to turn into a complete citizen by completing academics and settling down in a career and the family life as well. The educational institution that provided the primary and secondary schooling to the kid too can become a ‘complete’ institution in the span, provided it has the visionary management, hardworking employment and parents and children who can develop a strong personal bondage with the establishment. Nevertheless to say that Subha Niketan, a CBSE school from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, has all these qualities. By the time its first batch of students settled down well in their professional and personal lives and became complete citizens, the then small school metamorphosed into a complete and one of most reputed educational institutions in the coastal region.

Similar to the beginning of any other outstanding establishments of today, the beginning of Subha Niketan too was quite humble. It was all started with a single classroom, single teacher and single student!  At a time when education in the private sector was not to well-versed with the public, the new school became a cynosure of all eyes within no time. The school grew up along with the first batch of its students. Which means, by the time the first batch of students completed their class X, the school had 10 classes, besides equipping with library, laboratory, playground and other facilities.

The strong foundation has helped the institution grow leaps and bounds within no time from then and in letter and spirit there was no looking back for the school. “We are very happy to see the individual development of the students of our initial batches. They pursued higher education of their choice and settled down in respective careers. What I believe is the real success of our school lies in the success of each and every student to whom we imparted education,” says V. Subhashini, Correspondent of Subha Niketan.

Be it bringing changes in the interpersonal relations of the teachers and students (here in Subha Niketan, the students never call their teachers as madam!) or introducing novel concepts like ‘No Book Day’ (the day on which, students reach the school empty handed!!), they are all incorporated in the school’s culture in a phased manner. “School means not just a construction of bricks and mortar, but a revered place of learning. We are against imposing restrictions, as we believe the knowledge knew no bounds,” explains Ms. Subhashini, the woman behind the institution. ‘Svatanya,’ a film made by the school with its students and staff portraying the nation’s Independence struggle, is a classic example to showcase the values that are being inculcated among its pupils.

“We are changing with the times, but not at the cost of our value system. Not just the staff and students, but the parents too developed special bondage with the school and promoting it the world outside on our behalf,” smiles Janardhan Chowdary, Director of the school. Of course, there is a long way to go!!

For more details, visit us at http://www.subhaniketan.com/

A school day with a difference

Producing a patriotic film with students and staff to celebrate the school day is for sure a concept unheard of. It is not just expensive, but also time consuming, as the teachers and students need to strike a balance between the academics and the film shoot. Subha Niketan, a CBSE school from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, has proved that the tedious task can be completed successfully by exercising proper planning and execution and of course with due support from students, parents, teachers and staff. The school has produced a patriotic film ‘Svatanya’ of duration of 75 minutes and dubbed it into different languages. The entire school participated in the film production by sharing the collective responsibility in one way or the other. The teaching faculty sat on hours together to finalise the script, while the music teacher composed the tunes and provided the background score. The academic coordinator and the principal designed the sets and the karate teacher wielded the camera. Needless to say the choreography has been handled by the dance teacher. Of the 700 students pursuing from the kindergarten to the class X in the nearly three-decade-old school, over 300 children donned different roles, as the others participated in the production related jobs.

It was like a 12-day long picnic for the entire crew that involved in the shoot in locations ranging from the sprawling campus of the school, nearby gardens, historic Bhavanarayana Swamy temple at Sarpavaram, located a few yards away from the school, beautiful beach at Vakalapudi village on the city’s outskirts. The story was woven around several real life incidents that changed the fate of the nation about two centuries ago. From the entry of the British into the sub-continent to expand their business to the change of power from the British to the Indian leaders, all the important events were captured in an adept manner.

“Svatanya means independence in Sanskrit. Since the script is dealing with one of the most acclaimed freedom struggles all over the world, we have given this title. Our faculty and students have given their best to the project and we cannot forget the support extended by the children’s parents,” says V. Subhashini, Correspondent of the Subha Niketan. The project is not at all surprised the parents, as they are well aware that the activity-based CBSE School undertakes programmes beyond the slate. Be it observing two-minutes of silence in the morning and evening everyday or declaring every fourth Saturday as ‘no-book day,’ the school gets a special place in the hearts of its students. “Svatanya is one such initiative, where we tried to teach the entire history of Indian independence movement to all our students in a short and sweet manner,” says Janardhan Chowdary, director of the school.

“By the time we finished the shoot and screened the film for our students, all of them knew about the great movement and learned about the contributions of unsung heroes such as Sidhu, Birsa Munda, Bhaga Jatin, Udham Singh and Velu Thampi, who sacrificed their lives during the freedom struggle,” he adds.

With the school uploading the film to the Youtube, it got rave reviews from the viewers. Following requisitions from the parents and the patriots, special screenings were done on gigantic screens many a times. “This school day is very special in the history of Subha Niketan. Though we are away from the film song performances from the beginning and trying something different every year, we can proudly say ‘Svatanya’ is a beautiful feather in the cap of Subha Niketan,” points out Ms. Subhashini.

For more details, visit us at http://www.subhaniketan.com/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_UQjhAYxCa9D60AYxAA9Lw