KOCHI: Named after Swami Chinmayananda, Chinmaya Vidyalaya School, Thiruvananthapuram had its origin way back in 1969. In a bid to spread the message of the Bhagavad Gita, Chinmayananda had instructed his followers to start a network of schools. To integrate Chinmayananda’s teachings with the modern system of education, his follower A S Menon, the then director of the school, took the initiative to start the school.
The school took its infant steps as a pre-primary school and functioned in a thatched building behind the present structure. According to principal P M Ashalatha it is the oldest private school in the city. “Though several schools have started earlier, it’s the oldest private school here. Our school still follows the state syllabus and the development of the school took place in a gradual process”, she said. It was upgraded to a high school in 1995.
It later stretched itself further and in 2002-03 the higher secondary section with science stream was recognized by the government. Later commerce was added as an elective along with the science stream. In view of increasing demand for computer science, it was added as an elective subject from 2007. The golden jubilee celebrations will be held at Tagore Theatre. Supreme head of Chinmaya mission Swami Thejomayananda will be the chief guest.
Achievements
During the course of fifty years, the school got many memorable moments in scholastic and non-scholastic areas. The Vidyalaya was in the limelight when it posted the first rank in the SSLC examination in March 2003. It was in news again with a rich haul of ranks in 2004 SSLC exam. The students here emerged champions in the National Quiz on Economy and Financial Literacy in Mumbai in 2013-14. In 2002, one of the students here won the National Balasree awardee of 2002. The CCRT scholarship in visual art-painting and the 2009 Kendra Sangeetha Nataka Academy Award for the best junior accompanying artist are some other achievements.