Educational Activities

Swamiji exhorted one and all – “Go from village to village, do good to the humanity and to world at large. Go to hell yourself to buy salvation for others. When death is certain it is better to die for a good cause”. Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Manasadwip passionately took up this ideal for the uplift of the backward class. The Ashrama gave priority to the dissemination of education among the masses in Sagardwip. Several non-formal schools under Ashrama management started one after one to function in line with the ideal of Swami Vivekananda.

The Ashrama is rendering valuable services for the development of community awareness through spreading education among the masses. The Ashrama, at present, runs the following institutions within its premises.

A High School (V to X) for Boys:

A] Infrastructure: A High School is run by the Ashrama recognized by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. About 882 students are taught by 14 full-time teachers, 11 part-time teachers and 4 non-teaching staffs (3 full-time and 1 part-time). Along with the regular subjects, Indian Culture and Moral Education are taught here in order to help our boys to form a sound moral character. Besides this, Computer Application has been introduced in our School curriculum so that our students can keep pace with the modern educational system. We also have a N.C.C. unit under 39 Bengal Battalion.

B] Help to Poor and Meritorious Students:  We get financial help from different institutions, persons for scholarship to the poor and meritorious students:

C] Performance:  The Performance of our boys in the Madhyamik Pariksha (Secondary Examination) conducted by the WBBSE in the last 5 years was as follows :

Moreover, at least 2 or 3 students of class VIII get the National Scholarship almost every year. Some of our boys take part in different Sports and Cultural meets held in the block, district and state also.

A Junior Basic School for Boys

It is the first school directly run by our Ashrama, and it is the mother school of all the educational institutions under the shadow of our Ashrama. Swami Ishtanandaji Maharaj, popularly known as Rakhal Maharaj, set up this mother school with great effort to remove the darkness of illiteracy with the torch of education in the year 1928. The school received recognition as free primary school from the Govt. of West Bengal in 1942 and since then it has been named as Manasadwip Ramakrishna Mission Junior Basic School.

Here students are taught up to class IV. At the beginning as per Govt. order, the students could study here up to class V. Later on the high school was set up and class V was shifted to the high school. At present 198 students come to read here. The school is meant for boys only. There are two male teachers and one female teacher, all approved by the Govt., in the school. Apart from this, a teacher has been appointed by the Ashrama Authority for the betterment of the students and their studies.

The progress of the students is quite good. The students of class IV sit for the scholarship examination and often get scholarships. They participate in athletics and gymnastics in the Sub-Division and District level sports competition and win prizes. Their performance in football and cricket is also satisfactory. In the school Annual Function and other cultural programmes the students take part and entertain the audience with their songs, recitations, Bratachari, drama etc. The school observes Independence Day, Republic Day, Teachers’ Day and the birthdays of great souls of our country with proper dignity and enthusiasm. Students take part in some social works like Polio Vaccination Programme, Sarbasiksha Abhijan etc. Students take active part in gardening, drawing and some other creative works. They spontaneously feel keen interest in keeping their school and Ashrama premises clean and tidy. 

A Special Cadre Primary Schools for Girls: We have a special cadre Girls’ Primary School. Its roll strength is 151. There are only three permanent teachers approved by the Govt. and one honorary teacher appointed by the Ashrama on temporary basis to impart education to our girl students. The students attend school more or less regularly in spite of their extreme poverty & other constrains. Besides study, our girl students take part in different sports and athletics meets from school level to District level & State level too. They also take part in singing, dancing, recitation, drama etc. in our annual cultural function and observe national days, birthdays of the great men of our country with Boys’ Primary & High School. They also appear in Primary Final Scholarship examination for class IV.

Coaching Centre for the students of SC, ST & Backward class: The Ashrama has been conducting coaching centre, non-formal school and Special Coaching Centre at different places of Sagar Island and some other areas of Sundarbans. The details are as follows: