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Saraswati Vidya Niketan: Transforming the delivery of education in Guyana
Saraswati Vidya Niketan, a Hindu school located at Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara, has been helping to transform the delivery of education in Guyana for over a decade. It began operations in 2002, and has cemented a place for itself in the field.
The school was founded by Swami Aksharananda, PhD Hindu Philosophy (Univ. of Wisconsin, USA). Swami is also the principal of the educational institutional.
The school has a population of about 400 students deriving from various religious and ethnic backgrounds.
It is registered as a non-governmental organization. The schools motto is: Speak Truth. Practice Dharma. Never Abandon Studies.
Swami Aksharananda, Founder and Principal of SVN
According to Swami, Indian civilization and culture has long held the view that we really cannot teach anyone and that all knowledge is already inherent in the individual soul.
The student, then, must be the focus of learning, not the teacher or the curriculum. With this in mind, SVN has embarked on a philosophy of education that is concerned with the overall development of the student.
Swami firmly believes that Guyana’s education system, a legacy of our colonial past, is severely one-sided in that while it emphasizes Western and Judeo-Christian values, it de-emphasizes the role of the traditional Indian culture inherited by the Indian child.
And that in this post-colonial society still dominated by Christian values.
Saraswati Vidya Niketan occupies a spawning Campus where a Temple is also situated
Indian children grow up to be not only diffident, but also ashamed of their cultural heritage. Swami says that this puts Indian children at a disadvantage and hampers their intellectual, emotional and spiritual development.
Because of this imbalance in the education system, the very task of nation building is retarded as evidenced in so many areas of the society. The SVN seeks to remedy this imbalance with an appropriate cultural input in the school curriculum.
Over the years, SVN has been producing top performers at national and regional examinations.
This is in respect to the National Grade Six Examination (NGSA), Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE).
A total of 20 CSEC subjects are offered, while over 15 CAPE subjects are available for students to choose from.
Last year, the school’s top CAPE performer was Vamanadev Hiralall, who also emerged as the country’s top student after achieving an accumulated 13 grade one and three grade two passes.
Hiralall, who was then 18, attained passes in Units 1 and 2 of Pure Mathematics, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Information Technology, and Unit 1 of Communication Studies and Caribbean Studies.
He was recently awarded the Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship to pursue studies in the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto.
In 2013, Rafena Mustapha, a former student of SVN was among the region’s top students, who were awarded by CXC for her outstanding performance in humanities at CSEC.
That same year Mustapha emerged as the school’s best CSEC performer earning 15 distinctions. She then went on to achieve 10 subjects at the CAPE level. She, too, earned a scholarship this time to pursue studies in the USA.
SVN is committed to giving back to its top students through scholarships to pursue studies in the USA.
So far, six students have benefited from this programme.
One of the features of SVN is its unique emphasis on discipline administered with care and compassion. In brief, Saraswati Vidya Niketan is a ‘different’ and ‘unique’ school.
The values of the school are universal and can be followed anywhere by anyone.
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