Highlights - September to December, 2008

Democracy day, Staff day, Children's Day and co-curricular activities - With September began the final session for the children at the school for the academic year 2008. In the school the first event in this month was the celebration of the Tibetan Democracy day during which a formal program was held in the auditorium with Tibetan cultural presentations and speeches from honorable guests. The next event to which all the staff members anxiously await was on the 5^th of September - THE STAFF DAY, a day when the children express their appreciation to the home parents, teachers, administrators, health staff and all other co-workers involved in working for them. The highlight of this day was the presentation of cultural items by children to entertain the staff members. November 14^th was the day for the children, which is also remembered as the Children's Day, the day to which all the children eagerly look forward. During this day we had some games with children. The inter house marathon race, inter house Tibetan and English Debate and Montessori English poetry recitation were also held during this period. Due to the unrest in Tibet in March this year, most of the celebrations were organized in a low profile.

International Day of the Older Person, October 1, 2008 - The School Captain's and Vice Captain's participated in the formal program of the international day of the Older Persons expressing their love and appreciation to the older generation by hosting a tea party. It was a proud moment for the Captains as the funds for the special tea party had been collected through voluntary donation from senior children of the school, who sacrificed their pocket money. From the office a small pocket money was gifted to all the grans. With the close bonding in the Tibetan family setup, the older persons are special and that is how they celebrated the day. The formal program ended with an emotional "Thank You" from Gran Dhargyal, who earlier greeted the school captain with scarves. After tea there was a cheerful interaction of students with the smiling elders. A similar program was held at the old people homes in Rajpur.

Seminar by School's Environment Club - "Plastic Consumption is Injurious to Mother Earth" was the theme for the annual seminar for year 2008 hosted by Environment Club on November 7. Renowned extremely active local environmentalist Mr. Sudhir Thapliyal, Mr. Vipin Kumar and Dr. Sunil Sanon participated as guest speakers throwing light on Plastic management, conservation of environment and health and waste mismanagement. Mr. Tsering Paljor, Senior teacher of Geography at School also spoke on the general environment awareness. Mr. Padamvir Singh(IAS), Joint Director of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie graced the occasion as Chief Guest and he was extremely pleased to see the school children shouldering much concern for Mother Earth. Earlier a painting competition was held at School on Environment awareness. The paintings were exhibited as part of the seminar and winners were rewarded with prizes. For audiences to take away home, a jute nylon bag costing only Rs. 10/- and with the words "SAY NO TO PLASTICS" was sold in attractive colors.  2^nd Inter School, Tibetan Dialectics Competition - The second Inter Tibetan School Dialectics competition contested by 11* Tibetan schools was held on 4 & 5 of November, 2008 at Tibetan Homes Foundation. This contest is a follow up of the first ever such contest which was held in October 2005 to mark the 70th birthday celebrations of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and was organized by Tibetan Homes Foundation, Mussoorie. The competition was held for two days and was for students from grade VII and VIII with two students from each class who form a team. A total of five learned monks from Drikung College, Dekyiling and Tibetan College at Sarah, Dharamsala are judges for the contest.  Gracing the occasion as Chief Guest for the opening ceremony was Venerable Gyatso, Khenpo of Sakya College, Rajpur. The final of the dialectics competition was a treat for all the audience as the contest was intense. In the end, it was TCV, Dharamsala (Upper) and TCV Suja bagging the first place in the grade VII and VIII category respectively. Speaking at the occasion after awarding the prizes to the winners, Honorable Kalon Thupten Lungrik appreciated the initiative of Tibetan Homes Foundation for organizing such an event. He highlighted the importance of the Tibetan Dialectics (Tsenyi) and said that this form of study is not just for monasteries and nunneries and that school children must study this traditional form of learning as the objective of this is training the mind with verbal debate and reasoning. A final farewell dinner was hosted in the Tsering Dolma auditorium with Kalon, dignitaries and the participating schools.       

19^th Anniversary celebrations of Noble Peace prize to His Holiness The Dalai Lama  - On 10^th December we celebrated the 19th anniversary of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to His Holiness The Dalai Lama. Very early in the morning the everyone gathered at the Dalai Hill, raised prayer flags and offered prayers for long life of His Holiness The Dalai Lama. This was followed with the formal program of the celebrations at CST basket court. The General Secretary of THF and Principal of CST addressed the gathering on the occasion. The children of the two schools followed it with colorful cultural presentations. The day was also marked with awarding of prizes from Department of Education, Dharamsala to 6 staff members of Tibetan Homes Foundation who had completed 25 years of service and also to the Best Boy and Girl of the two Schools.

Educational Tour December 13 to 22, 2008  - A total of 116 grade XI students with 4 staff members left for the annual educational tour on December 13th for a seven days outing. The group's program for this year was once again centered for Dharamsala and Delhi. Tibetan Children's Village (a sister concern working on the same lines as THF) in Dharamsala was the first stop of the tour and they were also the hosts in Dharamsala. The group was warmly welcomed by Mr. Phuntsog Namgyal, Director with his team consisting of Mr. Gyurmey and 15 young girls of the School. The Director On the first day the group visited the entire Upper Tibetan Children's Village and School, Norbulingka centre, Gyalwa Karmapa's monastery, the entire set up of the Central Tibetan Administration, Nechung Monastery and finally winded up at the much known Mcleod ganj market. On the second day the group visited Tsuklakhang(monastery of His Holiness the Dalai Lama), seeked blessings of Ganden Tripa's Kupung, Men tse Khang (Tibetan Medical Astro institute), Tibetan Reception Centre, Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, the popular Baxunath water fall  and once again closed the day with shopping at the Mall. The same evening the group left for Delhi, the capital of the country. In Delhi once again TCV Youth hostel were the hosts in Rohini however since the group was large a group of students this year had to stay at Majnu Ka Tilla. The Delhi leg of the educational tour was coordinated by Envision group. The three day program in Delhi was extremely busy and interesting for the students. Our students were able to visit, interact and learn the life of students of Vasant Vihar School. The students visited esteemed educational institutes - Jawaharlal Nehru University, North Campus Colleges of Delhi University and were also spoken to by educationists and intellectuals and finally the students were also able to visit Qutab Minar, Aksahardham temple, National Science Museum, India Gate and take the ride of the Metro train. On December 23 the group reached back to Mussoorie.

Graduation Day of Vocational Training Centre  - The graduation day of the vocational training centre was held on the 17th of December. Mr. Yonten, in-charge of the centre made a welcome speech with an annual report on the year. This was followed by awarding of prizes to position holders and distribution of graduation gifts to the 8 graduates. A total of 8 students graduated from the centre, 4 from the modern oil painting section, and 2 each from tailoring section and Traditional Thangkha painting section. After the prize distribution the Asst. General Secretary gave a speech, emphasizing on the importance of vocational studies, he then congratulated the graduates and wished them a bright future. This was followed by an exhibition of the test products of the graduate students after which a tea reception was held. A photo session for the graduates with staff members and friends concluded the program. Thereon the entire day was left for the graduate students and others to celebrate with special food and different games.

Final examinations and School closing day - The final examinations of the School for Mussoorie began from December 6. December 19 was the final day of the school for the academic session 2008. Early morning over a formal program the final school academic results were declared and subsequently children were allowed to leave for winter holidays. The main School in Mussoorie scored a pass percentage of 88.85% while the Montessori section had a 100% pass result. The new academic session for year 2009 will begin on March 5.

Extra Coaching for the Board classes - From December 25, 2008 onwards the extra coaching classes for the board students of grade X and XII began at the school. The classes will be held for one month and thereafter the students will be given time to prepare themselves. A total of 96 and 80 students are to appear for the board exams of grade X and XII respectively.

Eight retired staff members - From the family of Tibetan Homes Foundation this year we had eight staff members who retired. They have dedicated their entire lives towards the work of the Foundation. On December 4, 2008 a formal tea party was organized where in each individual's work and contribution since their joining of the Foundation was highlighted. It was a moment of pride and tears. The staff members have now been provided with a home at the Tsering Dhondeling, retired staff accommodation at Rajpur. Construction Projects New Family Homes at Benmore Estate, Mussoorie  - Kalon Thupten Lungrig, Minister of Education, Central Tibetan Administration, Dharamsala inaugurated the new block of family homes at Benmore Estate in Mussoorie on November 5. The new building houses five children's family homes and has been partly funded by SOS Switzerland. A total of over 150 children from far away homes will now be relocated into these new homes. The old building at Benmore estate was a donation to Tibetan Homes Foundation by Swiss Doctors and was used as girl's hostel for Tibetan refugee children. The earthquake in year 1991 and 1999 caused major damages to the building making it unfit for occupancy. The building was dismantled in year 2006 giving way to this new structure. Children will move into these new family homes by the start of the next

New SOS Tibetan Children Homes, School and Training centre, Rishikesh  - In the past many years efforts had been made to solve the overcrowding pressure at the existing facilities with new projects envisaged in Doon valley but acquiring a suitable land in the region had not evolved in the best of interests of the project. Recently however, things worked positively and with support from SOS KDI this dream project has taken a shape. At village Gohri Mafi in Rishikesh, approximately 80kms from Mussoorie a new project with a children's village, primary School and staff training centre has been developed. The project will initially begin with 200 children and will take a maximum of 240 children. This project will later be upgraded to the middle School level. The children for the project will be relocated from the existing over crowded and depleted large family homes in Mussoorie and Rajpur. Further new children arriving from Tibet will also be later accommodated to the project after their stay at the SPECIAL SCHOOL in Mussoorie. On December 29, 2008 the ground breaking ceremony of the project took place and construction work is now to being in full swing.

Relocation of Upper old people home to the Lower OPH premises in Rajpur - This is another long time envisaged project which could not actualize earlier. However, with continuous pursuit we are now happy to report that the project has finally been approved for construction by the local authorities. The unfortunate thing is that in the long run of the project construction approval, we have lost out with friends who were willing to support this re-location project initially. We are now planning to go ahead with this project as it is extremely necessary for children as well as the senior citizens. The project is to begin with funds which had been received initially and we hope to raise the necessary funds to meet the construction of this project.  

Special School for newly arrived children at Charlimount estate in Mussoorie - Another major development has been towards the construction of the Special School Project at Mussoorie. We are extremely happy to announce that this project has in the last week of December been granted the approval from the local authorities for re-construction.  This school is a project focused on only newly arrived children from Tibet with all facilities of lodging, boarding and education in one campus. The project will be a comprehensive specialized centre attending to the overall needs of such children. The school will be a mini guidance and education centre where in children from Tibet will be provided detailed individual care. The school will study children's educational background, their potential, their age and as the need be will provide necessary intensive education so as to adjust them with a regular school in line with their age.

At present these children attend special classes where efforts are made on the same lines however due to their school combined with the main school the activities and environment of the school campus is not so feasible for these children.

Following are some more advantages for the project. a) Specializition

b) De Congestion at the main school campus c) Optimum usage of far away Charlimount estate housing old dilapidated buildings  

d) Reconstruction not bound within local laws

e) No land and running Costs

Admissions and Conclusion - In the reporting period from September to December there was admission of only 1 child from Tibet.