Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith & 125th Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s Chicago Addresses.
Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith, Purulia organized a number of functions and programmes between 5 October and 10 October 2018 as part of the concluding phase of its year-long Diamond Jubilee Celebration and to mark the 125th Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s Chicago Addresses with due solemnity and grandeur.
On 5 October 2018 the inaugural function of the concluding phase of the Diamond Jubilee Celebration of Vidyapith and its Biennial Exhibition was held. It was presided over by Swami Balabhadrananda, Assistant General Secretary, Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission. Swami Shivapradananda, Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Baranagar was also present on the occasion.
On 6 and 7 October a special Diamond Jubilee Reunion was held in which many alumni from different parts of West Bengal and outside attended. Among the distinguished alumni who took part in the celebration were Justice Sri N. Kotiswar Singh, former Acting Chief Justice of Manipur High Court and Sri Mriganka Mahato, Member of Parliament of Purulia Constituency, took part in the celebration. Swami Balabhadrananda and Swami Shivapradananda addressed the ex-students and the present students among others on this occasion.
On the evening of 6 October noted Saxophonist of Kolkata Sri Michael Banerjee presented a very entertaining musical programme.
On the morning of 7 October a motivational session was held in which some distinguished alumni addressed the present students, guardians and other guests and shared their story of success- recalling how Vidyapith had a big role in it.
In the afternoon there was a seminar cum elocution competition for students of various schools of Purulia on the topic “The Education System You Wish”. 592 students, teachers and guardians from 25 institutions took part in this seminar. Swami Shastrajnananda , Principal, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandir, Belur Math presided over this seminar. Sri Swapan Bandyopadhyay, Co-ordinator, Kalyan was the Chief Guest. In the evening there was a cultural programme by the former students of the Vidyapith. It was followed by an enchanting musical performance by Sri Gourav Das on Harmonica.
On 8 October there was a cultural programme presented by the students of different Free-Coaching Centres run by Vidyapith. The programme was highly appreciated by all. Swami Ishtavratananda of Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Narendrapur presided over the function. In the evening there was a students’ drama named ‘Yugacharya Shankar’.
The highlight of the morning session on 9 October was a programme of Rabindrasangeet presented by noted Rabindrasangeet exponent Rahul Mitra of Kolkata. He is also an ex-student of Vidyapith (1980 batch).
In the afternoon session there was a seminar for college students on the theme “Inculcation of values through modern education”. Swami Vedapurushananda, Belur Math and Prof. Sugata Marjit, noted economist, and former Vice- Chancellor of Calcutta University spoke on the occasion. Students and teachers from different colleges attended the programme.
In the evening a cultural programme was organized in which Prof. Sugata Marjit sang classical songs while Sri Subhrasankar Das, Radio & TV artiste sang folk songs and regaled the audience.
On 10 October, the last day of the six-day long festivity a Teachers’ Seminar was organized in which 481 teachers from 94 educational institutions in and around Purulia town took part enthusiastically. Swami Divyananda, Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha & Trustee of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math presided over the meeting. Swami Suparnananda , Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Gol Park graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. The meeting was also addressed by Prof. Goutam Bandyopadhyay of Ramakrishna Mission Shikshanamandira, Belur Math, Sri Sakti Prasad Mishra, Professor, Nivedita Chair, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Gol Park, Kolkata and Dr. Joydeep Ghosh, Dept. of Bengali, Jadavpur University. Prior to this Seminar a Diamond Jubilee Memorial Open-air Stage was inaugurated in the Vidyapith campus by Swami Suparnananda.
The Biennial Exhibition of Vidyapith which was highly praised by all the visitors, remained open on all the six days.
The Celebrations concluded with a Teachers’ drama presented by the teachers and staff of Vidyapith in the evening.
Illumination of different units of the Vidyapith on this occasion was a great attraction to the visitors who came from different parts of the country.
