Chinmaya Vidyalayas

Chinmaya Vidyalayas are a group of schools operated by the Central Chinmaya Mission Trust (CCMT), founded by Swami Chinmayananda and currently headed by Swami Tejomayananda. There are more than 80 such schools in 12 states across India, and one in Trinidad. They emphasise the learning of scriptures.

Emblem and flag

The image on the information box above is the emblem of Chinmaya Vidyalaya.

The lamp in India always represents Knowledge. The mythical swan is said to have the ability to separate milk from water. The swan in the emblem represents the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, matter and spirit. Knowledge helps us make the right choices and reach the highest.

On the right below the information box is the flag of Chinmaya Vidyalayas.

The globe stands for a universal outlook.

CCMT Education Cell

The CCMT Education Cell is the governing body of the Chinmaya Education Movement, and is headquartered at 'Chinmaya Gardens' in Coimbatore, India. It was created to monitor, integrate, streamline, upgrade, standardise, and facilitate the efficient and effective maintenance and growth of all Chinmaya Educational Institutions.

Director, CVP

Swamini Vimalananda is a member of the Educational Cell and is the Director of the CVP, which has a holistic approach to education. She has introduced the programme in over 2500 schools and colleges in India through various seminars and workshops and is actively involved in its implementation in all the Chinmaya Educational Institutions.

History

First Chinmaya Vidyalaya

Swami Chinmayananda was on his first global tour. The queen of Vengunad, Radha Devi, was the president of Chinmaya Misison, Kollengode in Kerala. There was a request to start a school. A part of the palace was offered and so the Chinmaya Education Movement (CEM) was flagged off with the inauguration of a nursery school on May 20, 1965, with royal patronage by Shri KPS Menon (ex-ambassador to Russia). The Chinmaya nursery school, as expected, grew and Swami Chinmayananda himself inaugurated the primary school on June 17, 1969, in a separate building near the palace. It has over time become a higher secondary school, with 555 students, a staff of thirty-seven, and structure and infrastructure.

Growth of Chinmaya Vidyalayas Over the Years

In 1966, Swami Chinmayananda first mentioned in a casual conversation that Chennai should have a Chinmaya Vidyalaya, and the first of the seven Chinmaya Vidyalayas was inaugurated in October 1968 by the famous Bharatanatyam dancer Rukmini Devi Arundale. These Vidyalayas are considered amongst the best in this metropolitan city.

Within the next twenty-five years, between the mid-sixties to 1980, twenty-four more Vidyalayas were established all over India, with eleven in Kerala, five Tamil Nadu, two each in Karnataka, Jharkhand and Odisha, one in Andhra Pradesh and one in the metropolitan city of New Delhi.

Constructed in 1979, CV Delhi educated its first students in a small building, shifting later to its present site of nearly four acres in the sophisticated South Delhi suburb of Vasant Vihar. It was Swami Jyotirmayananda of Chinmaya Mission Delhi, with his sweat and toil, which brought together man and material and forded through the political corridors of Delhi to give concrete shape to this Chinmaya Vidyalaya.

Between the years 1980 to 2013, more than fifty Vidyalayas were set up all over India. A notable one is the Chinmaya Hari Har Vidyalaya, Ellayapalle, in Andhra Pradesh. Started by Swamini Sharadapriyananda, a dynamic lawyer, Gandhian and freedom-fighter turned sannyaasini and one of the senior-most disciples of Swami Chinmayananda, her passion was to serve the poorest of poor, giving them not only material succour but also spiritual solace. Today (end 2012) there are the 80 Chinmaya Vidyalayas with over 75,000 students all over India.

Chinmaya Vidyalaya in Trinidad

Swami Chinmayananda first visited Trinidad in May 1965. A Chinmaya Mission centre was established by Swami Prakashananda (a native of Trinidad) in 1997. The first Chinmaya Vidyalaya outside of India was inaugurated in 2003.

List of Chinmaya Vidyalayas

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1. Chinmaya Vidyalaya Nauni
2. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Nileshwar
3. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kanhangad
4. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Bokaro
5. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kannur
6. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Taliparamba
7. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Payyannur
8. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Badiadka
9. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kozhikode
10. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Rourkela, Odisha
11. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vazhuthacaud
12. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Tirupati
13. Chinamya Vidyalaya, Hindupur
14. Chinmaya International Residential School
15. Chinmaya Mission College, Kolazhy
16. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kunnumpuram, Thiruvananthapuram
17. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Attukal, Thiruvananthapuram
18. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Naruvamoodu, Thiruvananthapuram
19. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kattakkada
20. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kollam
21. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Tattamangalam
22. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kollengode
23. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kolar,karnataka
24. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kundanbagh, Hyderabad
25. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Jamshedpur
26. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kilpauk, Chennai
27. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Anna Nagar, Chennai
28. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Virugambakkam, Chennai
29. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Rajapalayam
30. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kadambadi, Nagapattinam
31. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Tripunithura, Ernakulam
32. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vaduthala
33. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Pallavur

Notes

External links

1. Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Rajalapalayam
2. Schools and Colleges of Chinmaya Mission
3. Chinmaya Vidyalaya Nauni