Integral Education

The International Women’s Day, an annual worldwide focal point in the movement for women’s rights, was celebrated by students of Anantapur Campus (the women’s only campus at SSSIHL), Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning.

The programme (highlighting the 2020 theme of Each for Equal) commenced with the description of the history of International Women’s Day followed by a role play, where students presented the lives and contribution of iconic women of Vedic, medieval and modern ages. The roles played included Gargi, Draupadi, Savithri, Jhansi Rani, Wangari Mathai, Kiron Bedi, Ophra Winfrey, Muniba Mazari, Malala and Kalpana Chawla.

They highlighted the struggles, turmoil, pain and sleepless nights these women had on their path to glory, which were overcome by their indomitable spirit, resolute courage and determined willpower.

A video presentation on Hellen Keller and Marie Curie was followed by Bhagawan Baba’s Discourse on ‘Women in Society’.

#InternationalWomensDay #EachforEqual #SSSIHL

The students and staff of the Anantapur Campus hostel have adopted a leper colony situated in the outskirts of the town of Anantapur since 1986, with the objective of making the inmates of the colony as self-sufficient as possible.

Project Love Stream is a long-standing example of service in action and how a little love and care has the power to create long lasting benefits to generations of families. It has helped transform the lives of twenty-five socially marginalized families.

The colony that consisted of 10-12 huts in 1986 now has twenty neat little houses. The creatively raised capital has funded water pumps, stationery items, food supplies and even fifty trees so that they can sell their own fruits and earn an income. As a result, almost every family now has its own bank account.

Practicing human values, bhajan singing, educating the inhabitants in various ways- these are some of the ways that the warden and students have taken time out to help the lepers with.

The long-term objective is to make the families as self-sufficient as possible.

As part of the project, each year, the students of the Campus made a variety of handicrafts like cards, bookmarks, rakhis and friendship bands. These are then sold to the inmates of the hostel and the amount thus raised is utilized to buy provisions for the residents of the leper colony on a monthly basis. They also help with their basic requirements like provision of water connections, bathroom doors and fodder for the cows maintained by them.

Each academic year, the staff and students do service activities such as distributing blankets to the residents, getting them provisions, etc.

The project has had a long-lasting impact on generations of students for over thirty years now.

#SSSIHLIntegralEducation #SSSIHL

By the Grace and Blessings of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and the active support of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, starting early 2019, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning Alumni have initiated several Seva activities in and around Prasanthi Nilayam. The frequency of the activities has increased from two weekends a month to every weekend starting November 2019.

This has allowed hundreds of alumni (over the past year) to come to Prasanthi Nilayam and participate in these service activities whenever their schedule allows.

The activities — in the areas of Sanitation, Maintenance, Medical and Grama Seva (village service) — are conducted in close collaborations with officials in the ashram and the hospitals.

In addition to their regular ashram seva activities, on 25 and 26 January 2020, 45 members, including alumni and doctors, participated in service that included health camps for two villages near Penukonda.

#SSSIHL #SSSIHLAlumni #SSSIHLIntegralEducation

On 21 January 2020, the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Anantapur Campus, organized a special programme (in continuation of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations) to posthumously felicitate Late Ms. Anima Mukherjee madam, the second Principal of the erstwhile Sri Sathya Sai Arts and Science College for women, Anantapur.

Dr. Dipankar Banerjee, the nephew of Late Ms. Anima Mukherjee madam, received a plaque and a shawl from Prof. (Dr.) C B Sanjeevi, Vice-Chancellor, SSSIHL. Prof. V. Sakuntala, who represented the members of the Core Committee of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations at the Campus in 2018, along with Prof. B Sai Giridhar, Registrar, SSSIHL and Sri Sanjay Sahni, Controller of Examinations, SSSIHL, were also present at this special occasion.

A new Health Care Centre at the Anantapur Campus, SSSIHL which will cater to sick students of the Campus, is now operational. It consists of regular beds, hospital-type beds, a doctor’s examination room and a dispensary with basic medicines

Created in the loving memory of the Late Ms. Anima Mukherjee madam (the second Principal of the erstwhile Sri Sathya Sai Arts and Science College for women, Anantapur) from the funds donated by her family, the Centre was inaugurated on 21 January, 2020, by Prof. (Dr.) C B Sanjeevi, Vice-Chancellor, SSSIHL, and Dr. Dipankar Banerjee, nephew of Late Ms. Anima Mukherjee.

The event was attended by Prof. B Sai Giridhar, Registrar, SSSIHL and Sri Sanjay Sahni, Controller of Examinations, SSSIHL. Dr. Narasimhan, Superintendent, Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital, and Director, Sri Sathya Sai Mobile Hospital, Dr. Swetha, Visiting Doctor, Amaravathi Multispecialty Hospital, and Dr. Harshitha, an alumnus who is practicing in Anantapur, were also present on the occasion.

#SSSIHL

11-15 January 2020

The Sri Sathya Sai Educational Institutions held the main event of the Annual Sports & Cultural Meet on 11 January 2020 at Sri Sathya Sai Hill View Stadium, Prasanthi Nilayam, Andhra Pradesh, India.

The event is a culmination of various sports, cultural and fine arts competitions held at all campuses of the University and other Sai educational institutions throughout the academic year. The Sri Sathya Sai educational institutions include all the four campuses of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Sri Sathya Sai Primary and Higher Secondary School, Smt. Eswaramma High School and Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences (SSSIHMS) College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences.

It showcases an array of physical and cultural presentations by over 3000 students of the institutions spread across two sessions, morning and evening. Preparations, which began a month in advance, involved hundreds of practice hours by all students and teachers at each institution.

Process over outcome
The Annual Sports & Cultural Meet brings to the fore several qualities of human excellence in students. With only a few weeks to perfect their presentations, and with academics and other daily pursuits, students have to make every minute of preparation count. Very quickly, students need to have clarity of their outcomes, work in teams with unity (often with colleagues they have never worked with before), surmount the mental and physical obstacles that may seem impossible, and so on.

All this is accomplished on a shoestring budget that leaves the teams to make their final props and other event items with available and existing resources at the hostel. It not only helps them be thrifty, but forces them to think out of the box and bring in an element of creativity that challenges their current model of the world and pushes their comfort zones.

This process is one of several ways through which the conscious experiment of man-making and character building at Sai educational institutions truly succeeds. It prepares SSSIHL students to navigate the toughest of situations without sacrificing their values. At the same time, it helps build strong inner qualities such as a sense of unity and teamwork, determination, discipline and hard work.

The cherry on the cake, however, is the immense love students have for Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, their Divine Master. For Sai students, the entire gamut of the Annual Sports and Cultural Meet boils down to this singular focus. Bhagawan Baba—with His Divine vision—reciprocates this and makes sure that these pure feelings of Love are translated into the pursuit of excellence in every facet of the students’ evolution.

As He often said, The End of Culture is Perfection

Sports Meet Presentations
11 Jan 2020

Anantapur, Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Muddenahalli Campuses presentations:
Aerials, Human Pyramids, Graceful Rythmic Drill, Luminous Display, Bike Stunts: Ascenders, Hip-hop Dancers, Roller Skating: 24 Inliners, Drums: Big Bang, Kalari Commandos, Sumos, Hipsters, Impavidos Reborn, Shotokan Warriors, Saibots, Acrophiles, Dynamic Jugglers, Acroyoga, Hidden Hands and Cowboys.

Cultural Meet Presentations
12-15 Jan 2020

• Drama presentation by students of the Brindavan Campus: Sant Ramdev
• Drama presentation by students of the Muddenahalli Campus: Mine to Thine
• Drama presentation by students of the Prasanthi Nilayam Campus: Sarvam Krishnamayam

Prize Distribution Ceremony
15 Jan 2020

The Prize Distribution Ceremony celebrated the excellent performances in sports and cultural events during the Annual Sports and Cultural Meet and during the academic year 2019/20 by students of each Sai educational institution. 

Followed by a series of talks by a teacher and students from each SSSIHL campus highlighting the significance of the event, prizes and cups were awarded to the students of all Sai educational institutions that excelled in individual and team events for sports, cultural and fine arts performances at their respective establishments. The ceremony ended with a Divine Benediction by Bhagawan Baba.

Athletic Champions 2019/20

• Tokalapalli Adireddy Gari Vandana (Postgraduate, Anantapur Campus)
• Kesavani Netheti (Undergraduate, Anantapur Campus)
• Thota Sujendra (Postgraduate, Prasanthi Nilayam Campus)
• Sridhar Sola (Undergraduate, Prasanthi Nilayam Campus)
• Saurabh Suman (Brindavan Campus)
• Samir Kumar Majhi (Muddenahalli Campus)

Cultural Champions 2019/20

• Pokuri Sai Punitha (Postgraduate, Anantapur Campus)
• Ketki Tripathi (Undergraduate, Anantapur Campus)
• Charan Sai Ramireddi (Postgraduate, Prasanthi Nilayam Campus)
• Vedant Monger (Undergraduate, Prasanthi Nilayam Campus)
• S Sai Shriram (Brindavan Campus)
• Bhatt Janak Ashwin (Muddenahalli Campus)

Fine Arts Champions 2019/20

• Sumani Rai (Postgraduate, Anantapur Campus)
• Pragati Gupta (Undergraduate, Anantapur Campus)

#GramaSeva
Initiate. Serve. Love. Repeat.

Teams of students, doctoral research scholars and teachers visited all the three villages again to continue their work from the previous academic year.

At the village of Narsimpalli, students and teachers responded to the requests of village folk in providing upgradations to the existing dilapidated government school. They began with essential plumbing work (taps, pipelines, etc.) and worked with the village mason and others to facilitate further work. Later on, in December 2019, students mapped and geotagged major areas of the village (for cartographic reasons and identification of issues). In addition, they undertook the restoration of the Anganwadi (rural child care centre): A complete paint job, installation of new toilets, cleaning the septic tank, installation of an overhead water tank (1000 liters) and new electrical wiring for all the rooms (with energy-conserving LED light fittings).

At Bonthalapalli, students took on the challenge of reducing unemployment of the village youth. They highlighted the need for better skills to get actively employed. After conducting thorough interviews of the twenty unemployed youth of the village and assessing their current educational qualifications, skill sets, etc., they then went back with consolidated data and actively worked with them to teach the required set of soft skills, thus enhancing their employability.

At Marlapalli, under the Education module, students of Std. IV-VI were trained in basic reading skills. Students of Std. VII were involved in a host of Mathematical activities. Other activities include making of Bank books, learning basic music skills and Yoga asanas. Separately, medical data of 78 village elders was collected and students of the M.Tech. in Computer Science programme employed their data mining skills and came up with a follow-up plan (including predictive measures) for the next action steps.

Love All, Serve All, as our Revered Founder Chancellor always taught us.

#SSSIHLService #SSSIHLIntegralEducation

For some years now, on the morning of 25 December, the students of the Muddenahalli Campus visit Muddenahalli village for Christmas celebrations. They begin with nagar sankeertan from the hostel, and make their way to the village. They then offer lighted candles to the children who participate in the bhajan session held at the local Hanuman temple. After the prayers, all the village children are offered chocolates as Christmas gifts, giving a lot of joy and pleasure to both the village kids as well as the students themselves.

#SSSIHLIntegralEducation #SSSIHL