Vivekananda Educational Society (VES) is a registered non profit, service organization which owns and operates several schools located in the vicinity of Chennai. It has 20 schools in and around

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and one residential school, which are affiliated to Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan. It was registered as a society in 1972 by a group of persons associated with the

Vivekananda Rock Memorial Vivekananda Rock Memorial is a monument and popular tourist attraction in Kanyakumari, India's southernmost tip. The memorial stands on one of the two rocks located about 500 meters off mainland of Vavathurai. It was built in 1970 in honour of ...

. The society has 20,000 students attending its schools everyday across the city. This society is currently headed by Shri N. Gopalaswami who was a former

Chief Election Commissioner of India The Chief Election Commissioner of India heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national and state legislatures and of President and Vice-President. This power of t ...

known to be a person sticking to principles.

Beginnings

Both the Society and the Trust have their roots form the

and

Vivekananda Kendra __NOTOC__ Vivekananda Kendra is a Hindu nationalist social service and "nation-building" organisation, claiming to represent the heritage of Swami Vivekananda. Closely affiliated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the organisation is based near t ...

of Kanyakumari. The society was started by like-minded persons inspired by teachings of

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...

. The first school to be established was ''Sri Ram Dayal Kemka Vivekananda Vidyalaya'', set up in the locality of'' Ellai Amman Koil Street'',

Thiruvottiyur Tiruvottriyur (Thiruvottiyur or TVT) is a neighbourhood in North Chennai, administered by the Greater Chennai Corporation. It is part of the Tondiarpet division, located to the north of Chennai. It is one of the fifteen administrative zones in ...

in 1972. Agricultural land which was present in abundance, at that time was converted for educational purposes.but this failed to happen on the46 th year.

Education System

Most of the schools in the society follow the

Central Board of Secondary Education The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India. Established in 1929 by a resolution of the government, the Board ...

curriculum. 2 schools follow the Tamil Nadu Board after high school. This could be due to more students preferring the state board for the increasing their chances of getting into regional colleges. Students are generally willing to switch schools for this purpose. The Vivekananda Educational Trust was set up in 1991 to establish State board schools in comparatively underdeveloped regions. They follow the matriculation curriculum for ease of teaching and because it would be easier to follow for students hailing from middle- and lower-middle-class families. The trust has 5 schools in

Thiruninravur Thirunindravur is a neighbourhood situated on the western part of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is located around 29 km from Chennai Central railway station. Thirunindravur comes under Chennai Metropolitan Area. The neighbourhood is serv ...

Minjur Minjur is a town located in the outskirts of North Chennai, India. It is located in the Thiruvallur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Minjur is called 'Vada Kanchi' meaning North Kanchipuram. The town has two famous temples for Shiva ...

, Periasekkadu ( Manali), Mudichur and Vallur.

Cultural Activities

Bhajan Bhajan refers to any devotional song with a religious theme or spiritual ideas, specifically among Indian religions, in any language. The term bhajanam (Sanskrit: भजनम्) means ''reverence'' and originates from the root word ''bhaj'' ...

s are held in schools every Friday evening. Competitions like breaking the pot, poetry competitions, dance dramas are held on

Krishna Jayanthi Krishna Janmashtami , also known simply as Krishnashtami, Janmashtami, or Gokulashtami, is an annual Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. According to the Hindu lunisolar calendar, it is observed ...

. Students are trained to dance for the recorded songs in Indian classical and folk forms, while others are trained to play roles in the skits representing

Hindu mythology Hindu mythology is the body of myths and literature attributed to, and espoused by, the adherents of the Hindu religion, found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like ''Mahabharata'' and ''Ramayana'', the Puranas, and reg ...

. Other events besides the Culturals include the Sports Day celebration in January and the Annual day Celebration in February or March. Other functions celebrated are

Guru Poornima Guru Purnima (Poornima) is a tradition dedicated to all the spiritual and academic Gurus, who are evolved or enlightened humans, ready to share their wisdom, based on Karma Yoga. It is celebrated as a festival in India, Nepal and Bhutan by Hi ...

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

Republic Day Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics. List January 1 January in Slovak Republic The day of creation of Slovak republic. A national holiday since 1993. Officially cal ...

, Mahakavi Bharatiyar day,

Jayanti and

Teacher's Day Teachers' Day is a special day for the appreciation of teachers, and may include celebrations to honor them for their special contributions in a particular field area, or the community tone in education. This is the primary reason why countries ce ...

.but these made many culturalists due to non academic activities.

Sports

Sports played in the schools belonging to the society include

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

, chess, carrom

kho kho Kho kho or kho-kho is a traditional Indian sport that dates back to ancient India. It is the second most popular traditional tag game in the Indian subcontinent after kabaddi. Kho kho is played on a rectangular court with a central lane connec ...

, kabadi,

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

throwball Throwball is a non-contact ball sport played across a net between two teams of nine players on a rectangular court. Throwball is popular in Asia, especially on the Indian subcontinent, and was first played in India as a women's sport in Chenn ...

etc. Inter school sports meets across the major schools in the society are held every year. Many regional sports meet especially kho kho and kabadi are held in these schools. The society's schools has produced teams who have participated in the national level in kho kho.

Three Day Camp

It is general practice to send pupils from various schools of the society, especially those at a middle school level for a three-day training camp in any one of the various schools present. This camp is voluntary but is generally attended by a majority of students. These camps follow the training methodology similar to RSS's Varg camps but is of a much shorter duration. Stories of saints, national heroes are told to students along with an overview of Upanishads and Vedas. It generally has two major sessions of one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Learning opportunities include getting to know about

Yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

and Surya Namaskara along with sports like cricket, football, badminton etc. Vedic Maths, better known as Speed Math is also taught along with traditional arts like garland weaving etc.

List of schools

Its major schools include * Sri Ram Dayal Khemka Vivekananda Vidyalaya Junior College * Smt. Ramkuwar Devi Fomra Vivekananda Vidyalaya *Smt. Kasturba Nimchand Shah P. Muthyalu Chetty Vivekananda Vidyalaya Junior College *Smt. Narbada Devi J Agarwal Vivekananda Vidyalaya Junior College * Dr.Nalli Kuppuswami Vivekananda Vidyalaya Junior College *G.K. Shetty Vivekananda Vidyalaya Junior College *G.R.Thangamaligai Mahalakshmi Vivekananda Vidyalaya *Sreevatsa Viswanathan Vivekananda Vidyalaya Junior College *Vivekananda Vidya Kala Ashram Rotary Central Vivekananda Vidyalaya *Round Table 30 Vivekananda Vidyalaya *ongc public school, Neravy, Karaikal

External links

Vivekananda Educational SocietyVivekananda Educational TrustVivekananda Kendra

References

{{coord missing, Tamil Nadu Schools in Chennai Educational organisations based in India Vidya Bharati schools Educational institutions established in 1972 1972 establishments in Tamil Nadu