Synergy

FROM COORDINATOR’S DESK

It is indeed a proud privilege for me to get the appointment of the
coordinator of the Shekhawati Sahodaya Group. The concept of Sahodaya
itself is rooted in the spirit of coordination amongst the group of the local
schools willingly coming together to share and thus improve their inventive
pedagogical practices in school education. It is founded on the maxim of
‘rising together’. To ensure this ‘togetherness’ the job of a coordinator
becomes much more significant. I fully understand the magnitude of my
responsibility and am fully geared up to do my bit to ensure an effective
coordination and harmonization among the members of Shekhawati
Sahodaya family.

To ensure coordination among the members of any organization or group, effective communication plays a
crucial role. In this era of technological boom, we have plethora of effective e-tools to keep the members
informed and connected. Internet undoubtedly has revolutionized the modes of communication and
Shekhawati Sahodaya also has its website to ensure connectivity and coordination. What I personally feel is
(and hope readers will agree too) that despite unprecedented technological advancements in the arena of
communication the importance of the printed copy of an organizational newsletter has not receded a tad. All
organizations worth their name publish their newsletters and it bears a testimony to its usefulness and
effectiveness. Publishing a Shekhawati Sahodaya newsletter was one of the many plans I formulated after
assuming the charge of coordinator of this group and I got a vigorous ‘go ahead’ nod from the President and
the founding member of Shekhawati Sahodaya, Capt. Alokesh Sen, Principal Birla Public School, Pilani.

It gives me extreme pleasure to place the copy of the inaugural issue of The Synergy in your hands and hope
you will keep us posted with the events and activities taking place at your end to enrich the contents of the
subsequent issues of this annual bulletin of Shekhawati Sahodaya family. We also solicit your suggestions for
the improvement of this newsletter.

Happy reading and wish you God Speed.

Prayag Singh Rajpurohit
Coordinator
Shekhawati Sahodaya Complex

EDITORS

Mr. Jaskaran Singh and Ms Vipasha Speake
Birla Public School, Pilani

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

It gives me immense pleasure to greet the members of
Shekhawati Sahodaya fraternity through this inaugural issue of
The Synergy, the Shekhawati Sahodya Newsletter. ‘Sahodaya’ -
‘Rising Together’ . These words sound so soothing and give a
sense of belongingness and cooperation. Hats off to the person
who thought of christening the groups of neighborhood CBSE
schools to join hands to rise collectively as ‘Sahodaya’. The
concept of Sahodaya was given by CBSE way back in 1986 which was well documented in CBSE
publication titled “Freedom to learn and freedom to grow through Sahodaya School
Complexes”. But since it was on voluntary basis, it took some time (a lot of time in some cases)
to go down the throats of concerned community. With the passage of time its utility dawned
upon all the stakeholders.

I have no qualm in admitting that we, the Shekhawati Sahodaya group, also woke up late. We
took years, nay, decades to join hands to march ahead together in pursuit of excellence. As
they say, ‘better late than never, I am happy that member schools of Shekhawati Sahodaya
Complex are now working together as a team as envisaged by the brains behind the concept of
Sahodaya. Here I am reminded of someone’s creative twist to the word TEAM i.e. ‘Together
Everyone Achieves More’. There can be no second opinion about the appropriacy of this
explanation in context of Sahodayas. By sharing our innovative practices in the field of
education with other members of Shekhawati Sahodaya , we can give an impetus to our
professional growth and march towards excellence in school education.

Let’s always remember that “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.”(Henry Ford)I hope this newsletter; The Synergy, will play an
important role in further strengthening the bond that exists among the members of
Shekhawati Sahodya members. I congratulate the coordinator of Shekhawati Sahodaya, Mr
Prayag Singh Rajpurohit and his team for bringing out this inaugural issue.

Capt (IN) Alokesh Sen
President
SSSC, Juhunjhunu

DO WE KNOW? YES! LET’s KNOW IT AGAIN!

We are sure that all the targeted readers of this newsletter are familiar with Sahodaya and
Shekhawati Sahodaya Complex. Nevertheless, we deemed it apposite to present some
information about these in this inaugural issue of this newsletter. (Editor)

SAHODAYA

Sahodaya, a concept literally meaning ‘Rising Together’ came into being in the year 1986, to
facilitate synergy of ideas among the schools of CBSE family aimed at achieving excellence in
education. A Sahodaya School Complex is a group of neighborhood schools voluntarily
coming together to share their innovative practices in all aspects of school education including
curriculum design, evaluation and pedagogy and also providing support services for teachers
and students. It is indeed an interactive platform for schools to deliberate upon the different
policies and guidelines of the Board and provide effective feedback on their implementation to
establish new benchmarks of quality. There is no doubt that much more knowledge is
generated when a team or group committed to a common goal undertakes the task of re-
modeling and re-fashioning in a spirit of caring and sharing. Thus Sahodaya introduces the
relevance of co-operative learning and collaborative networking. This is further facilitated by
the annual Sahodaya Conference held every year to critically examine the relevant issues and
evolve a viable and effective framework of action.
At present there are around 130 Sahodaya School Complexes active across the country with a
network involving over 2500 schools. This unique movement has provided an opportunity to
institutions to become proactive and enterprising in varied fields of school education.
The diverse array of activities carried out by SSC’s include the following:

(a) Orientation programmes, seminars and workshops for teachers/students/Principals on
various themes.

(b) Joint programmes for home examinations, sports and cultural activities, inter school
competitions, exhibitions etc.

(c) Discussion on implementation of circulars and guidelines issued by the Board from time
to time.

(d) Taking up community development projects on adolescence education programme, road
safety, consumer awareness, peace education etc.

Shekhawati Sahodaya Schools Complex

The Shekhawati Sahodaya Schools Complex, Pilani which was officially inaugurated on July
2012, is an independent academic body consisting of 21 CBSE affiliated schools in
Jhunjunu, Sikar and Churu districts under patronage and guidance of Central Board of
Secondary Education. Capt (IN) Alokesh Sen, Principal Birla Public School, Pilani who is
presently its President, took the initiative to form this group which was appropriately named
as Shekhawati Sahodaya Complex since majority of its member schools are located in the
Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. This group of schools is envisioned to enhance mutual
respect, co-operation and assistance among CBSE Schools of Shekhawati region.

Since its inception, Shekhawati Sahodaya Complex is doing a wonderful job in organizing
myriads of activities for the teachers and students of the member schools. These activities
were undertaken earlier too but in seclusion of their own individual schools. The Shekhawati
Sahodaya Group during last three years has conducted different activities like workshops for
capacity building of teachers, Patriotic dance competitions, debates, poster making
competitions.etc. Glimpses of some of these activities have been encapsulated in this
inaugural issue of Shekhawati Sahodaya Schools Complex newsletter, The Synergy.

There are plans afoot to undertake collaborative activities in the areas like Curriculum design,
evaluation techniques, community programmes, students support, C.C.E. , information
technology, quality improvement among teachers, educational research, implementation of
right to education, career counseling, stress management, common test papers development,
students exchange programmes and other plethora of pedagogical issues aimed at improving
school education.

The Synergy wishes all the best to Shekhawati Sahodaya and hope that it will take long strides
towards its destination i.e. pursuit of excellence.

Workshops/ Activities

WORKSHOP ON "CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMME FOR TEACHERS"
A capacity building

workshop for Shekhawati
Sahodaya teachers was organized
from 24 Jun to 28 Jun 13 in Birla
Public School premises. The
resource persons were from
NCERT and RIE who were highly
qualified and specialized in their
respective subjects. The conduct
of this collaborative workshop was
a unique and pioneering event in
the context of Shekhawati
Sahodaya Complex. Principal Capt. (IN) Alokesh Sen, President Shekhawati Sahodaya and
Principal Birla Public School, Pilani also gave a presentation on ‘Quality improvement in
curriculum’ which was rated as very informative and useful by the participants.

A presentation by the Director BET, Maj. Gen. (Retd.) S.S. Nair, AVSM on Art, Craft, Science and
Skills of Teaching & Inclusive Education’ made this workshop all the more enriching
experience. In his closing address the Director highly appreciated the way the workshop was
conducted.

WORKSHOP ON ROCKET SCIENCE

A workshop was organized on ‘Rocket
Science’ from 03 Apr to 06 April 12
which was inaugurated by the then
Director BET Col. V.N.Ratnakar.
The workshop organized by the
Department of Science & Technology,
Rajasthan; provided the students an
opportunity to study about Rockets
and learn its functions and making of
the prototype of rockets in an
interesting way.

Mr. Rajendra Rana and Mr. M.P.Deomwari (Retd) scientist from Vikram Sarabhai Space Center
and Mr. Anil Prajapati were the resource persons. During the workshop students made the
rockets which were displayed on the final day of the workshop and were highly appreciated.

WORKSHOP ON MATHEMATICS

A workshop on history of Mathematics
was organized in Birla Public School on
from 17 to 18 Apr 2012. Dr.
V.N.Dhalukhandi , Director Museum
inaugurated the workshop. Dr. G.S.Bhalla,
the USA based renowned mathematician
was the resource person. 35 teachers
from Sahodaya Schools attended the
workshop.

WORKSHOP ON PHYSICS

A physics workshop titled ‘Anveshika’ based on the maxim ‘Learning by doing’ was organized
by BET in Birla Public School on 08 Sept 12. Col. V.N.Ratnakar, the then Director BET
inaugurated the workshop.

30 teachers from different schools of Shekhawati Saodaya attended the workshop. Students
displayed their exhibit on ‘Electricity & Magnetism’. Dr. R.K.Awasthi and Mr.Manoranjan
Kumar were the resource persons for the workshop.

Goings-on: 2014-15

Interschool Patriotic Dance Competition

Saturday 30 Aug 14 witnessed

scintillating Patriotic Dance

Performances in the premises of Modi

School Lakshmangarh, Sikar; under the

aegis of Shekhawati School Complex.

This interschool Patriotic Dance

Competition was titled ‘Rashtra

Vandan’. The selection of background

songs and befitting choreography

stirred the patriotic cords among the

audience. The dancers reverberated

the school complex with their thundering performance and danced their way to the victory

podium.

Interschool Poster making
Competition

Shekhawati Sahodaya Interschool
Poster making Competition was held
in the campus of Birla Shishu Vihar,
Pilani on 21 Nov 14. The buzz created
gave an air of excellence showcased
by the 13 schools in vicinity. The
children were given an opportunity to
give a flight to their fancy and
articulated their creative ideas in the
form of drawings and slogan on the
given topics. Ananya Paul and Ruchika
of Birla Shishu Vihar bagged the first
and second position respectively.
Shivangi Swami of Haridevi Jutharam
Senior Secondary School bagged the
third position and carried the overall
trophy. The consolation prize was given to Mukul from Dundlod Vidyapeeth, Dundlod.

Inter School English Debate Competition

Birla Balika Vidyapeeth organized an Inter School English Debate Competition on 15th

November 2014 under the aegis of Shekhawati Sahodaya Schools Complex. The topic was
‘Organ Transplantation is Ethical’. 11 schools of Shekhawati Sahodaya participated in this
competition. The coveted rolling trophy was lifted by Birla Balika Vidyapeeth .

In the individual category Aditi Priya and Oorjita Shahi of Birla Balika Vidyapeeth won the First
and Second position respectively. Close on their heels was Namita Barwar of Jhunjhunu
Academy who was adjudged third winner. Prof. Jitendra Panwar, Prof. K J Rangra and Prof.
Mehrotra, eminent faculty members of BITS, Pilani were the judges for the event.

Hindi debate competition (Senior Category):

A Hindi Debate competition was organized for the Senior category at Dundlod Vidhyapeeth on
31 July 2014. Debaters from 12 schools of Shekhawati Sahodaya participated in this
competition. Exhibiting better debating skills students of Birla School, Pilani lifted the trophy.
Nishkarsh Gujaral of Birla Public School, Namita Barwad of Jhunjhunu Academy and Akshat
Bhatnagar of Birla School Pilani stood first,second and third respectively. Dr. Anil Sharma, Dr.
Anupam Sharma and Dr. Sudha Jajodia were the Judges for the evening. The chief guest on the
occasion was Col. Kuldeep Singh, Commanding Officer NCC Sikar.

Hindi debate competition : Junior Category:

A Hindi Debate Competition was
organized for Junior Category on 29 Aug
2014 at Nimawat Public School. The
young debaters impressed the audience
by their exemplary oratorical skills. Gopal
Sharma of Birla Public School and
Divyansh Goel of Nimawat Public School
stood first and second respectively. Rishila
Sharma of Haridevi Jutharam Senior
Secondary School and Apoorva Thakur of
Gurukul School Harsawa contended
themselves with the third position.

Patriotic Dance Competition-Jhunjhunu Academy

The day of 29 Nov’2014 saw a spectacular display of dance competition – Sarang 2015 a youth
festival which continued for two days. The schools under Jivem Education and Shekhawati
Sahodaya group participated in the event to make it the most unforgettable one. The
coordination was matchless. The audience could not help but tap their feet to the music.

Junior Science Quiz Competition

A ‘Junior Science Quiz Competition’ for the member schools of Sahodaya was organized at
HJSS, Pilani on 28 Feb 2015 . Eight schools participated in the event. Each school fielded
three participants. Two eminent young scientists, Mr. Vishant and Mr. N Purushottaman
designed the Quiz. Mr. Sunil Dudy, HoD, Physics Dept, HJSS was the overall in-charge of the
function.

In a neck to neck duel students of Birla
Balika Vidyapeeth, Pilani won the first position and Dalmiya Vidya Mandir, were the runners-
up . The quizmasters made the event interesting and educative putting to use their eloquence
and organizing skills.
The Chief Guest & Chairman, HJSS, Sri HV Birla gave away the prizes. While addressing the
audience he appreciated the efficient organization of the event. Miss Renu Saini, Senior
Teacher, Physics (HJSS) proposed the vote of thanks.

Member schools

S.No. Name of School Name of the Principal Email
1. Birla Balika Vidyapeeth ,Pilani Dr.(Mrs.) M.Kasturi [email protected]

2. Jhunjhunu Academy , Jhunjhunu Dr.Ravi Shankar Sharma [email protected]
3. Dalmia Vidyamandir, Chirawa Mr.Atul Wadhawan [email protected]
4. Dundlod Vidyapeeth, Dundlod Mr.S.C.Karnataka [email protected]
5. Birla Shishu Vihar,Pilani Mr.Pawan Vashishta [email protected]
6. Ceeri Vidya Mandir,Pilani Mr.Sunil Sharma [email protected]
7. Birla Public School,Pilani Capt.(IN)Alokesh sen [email protected]
8. Birla School,Pilani Mr Sanjay Srivastava [email protected]

9. Modi School , Laxmangarh Mrs.Renu Sehgal [email protected]
10. SM Nimawat Public School,Fathepur Mr.M.K.Panda [email protected]

Shekhawati Mr.R.P.Singh [email protected]
11. Gudha International School,
Mr.Vikas Choudhary [email protected]
Gudha Gaurji ,JJN Ms.Manju [email protected]
12. KBM Public School , Mandrela Dr .J.S.Kuntal [email protected]
13. Narendra Academy , Sultana
14. Hari Devi Jhuntaram Shishu Sadan Mr.Hem C.Pandey [email protected]
Mr.A.K.Jha [email protected]
(Sr.Sec.School) Pilani
15. Pilani Public School , Pilani Mr.Rohitashva Dudi [email protected]
16. Singhania Global Academy Palsana Mr.Ramesh Chandra Tyagi
Mrs Jaya [email protected]
17. Gurukul International School Mr M K Vashishta [email protected]
18. B.P.S Shiskshan , Rengus [email protected]
19. Mendelia Girls School Pilani
20. Ideal Public School, Rajgarh
21. Keshwanand Bharti, Bhadadar

Value oriented
school climate

Vocationalisation Professional
of education growth of
teachers

Educative Human Resource
Management Mobilization

Evaluation