JOGA EDUCATION PROGRAMS

The mission of JOGA, is to support and enhance educational program around the globe. The objectives include scholarship awards for needy and meritorious students, organizing teacher's refresher course, educational camps, seminars and religious discourse etc. Till date we have organized refresher course for high school science teachers in ten districts. We extend our heartfelt thanks to our sponsors for their contribution for organizing refresher courses. If you would like to sponsor or organize the refresher course in your district, please contact the organizers.

Red check marks in the above map indicate the places, where the teacher's refresher courses are already held

Cuttack Circle: In 2007 teacher's refresher course for Cuttack rural circle was held at Salepur college during May9-11, 2007. Total 74 science teachers from different high school attended.  Course offered are Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Environmental science and YOGA. The course was inaugurated by Salepur college principal and the valedictory function was chaired by circle inspector of school, Cuttack circle.

(picture shows participant teachers in the Salepur college)

Ganjam Circle: In 2006 teacher's refresher course was held at Jilla HIgh school in Berhampur for Ganjam circle.

Keonjhar Circle:

Evaluation test was conducted for one hour on last of the refresher course. Three prizes were given:
First-500/- Second-300/- and third 200/-

Feed back from has also been collected from which it is found that course materials should be provided to all participants.

Valedictory function was presided by Dr. Niranjan Barik Reader in Pol.Sc. from Ravenshaw college, on behalf of JOGA

Districts completed:

Cuttack, Ganjam, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Balangir, Dhenkanal, Jagatsingpur, Sundargarh, Khurda, Jajpur, Bhadrak, and Kendrapara, Districts

Here is the completed course description:

Sambalpur District:

Total 93 teachers attended Sambalpur refresher course which continued for three days.

The faculties who tought in the course are:

Balangir District:

The refresher course for Bolangir district was held with above shedule and 49 high school science teachers attended the course. The refresher course was inugurated by Dr. A. Mishra, Principal Rajendra college.

Follwing faculties tought in the course.

Dhenkanal District:

The refresher course in Dhenkanal district started as sheduled and 67 teachers attended the three days course

.Following are list of faculties tought in the Dhenkanal course.

( Picture shown here during inaugural program in Dhenkanal College)

Jagatsinghpur District

The refresher course started as planned on Dec. 20, 2003 with registration of participants followed by inagural function at 10:00 AM.

Total 80 teachers from the district attended the course. In inaugural funtion was presided by Nimain C. Swain, CI, Jagatsingpur. Principal SVM College, Prof. Das, Dr. Hari Mishra, coordinator, Dr. L.P. Singh from Vani vihar, Dr. S.C. Das, Salepur college, Mr. C.S. Mohanty, CI, Bhadrak and Dr. N.C Das from JOGA spoke in the inaugural function.

( Picture shown during inaugural funtion at SVM Collge, Jagatsingpur)

Among various faculties who tought in the course are Dr. S. Choudhury, Dr. L. Behera, Dr. A. Panda, Dr. B.K. Panda, Dr. K.N. Biswal from SVM College and Dr. A. Acharya spoke on biotechnology, Dr. S. Subudhi on environmental science and Dr. D.K. Sarma on zoology. Teachers were asked to give their feedback on the course and also asked to give a seminar at their parent school after they returned from course.

Sundargarh District:

The fifth teacher refresher course was held at Rourkela Municipality Library Hall, Uditnagar, Rourkela for Sundargarh circle during August 16-18, 2002. The circle inspector Pitambar Das, was the convener for the course and Dr. Sudhansu Tripathy, President, Uranium and Dr. S.C. Das, Vice President, Uranium was the organizer.

The course was jointly sponsored by: Jagannath Organization for Global Awareness (JOGA) , State Council of Education research and training (SCERT) and Padmanava College of Engineering, Rourkela. Total 83 teachers from different high school attended the three days course.

The resource persons and their topics are:

For the first time five teachers who scored highest percentage mark in home work were given cash award and merit certificate.

Khurda District:

Refresher course was held at : R.D. Women's college, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India, during June 20-22, 2002. Khurda District CI, Mrs. Naliniprava Pattnaik, was the convener for the course. Mr Jagadananda Panda, IAS, Secy of Education was the chief guest in the inaugural program. He emphasized the importance of such course for science education. Mr. Hemant Biswal from JOGA spoke in the inaugural program and extended JOGA's help in organizing such course in all the districts of Orissa. Dr. Sudhansu Tripathy, President, Uranium extended academic support in arranging resource person for the course. The refresher was sponsored by Jagannath Organization for Global Awareness (JOGA) and Uranium

The resource person and the topics on which they taught were:

Jajpur District:

Mr. G.C. Mishra, CI of Schools, Jajpur Convener for Jajpur district. Course was held at N.C. College Jajpur, Orissa. Total 62 teachers attended the course which was held at Jajpur High School during Dec. 27-28, 2001. The course was jointly sponsored by Jagannatha Organization of Global Awareness (JOGA)(www.jogaworld.org) and Odiya Samaja (ODISA) (www.odiya.org/myodisa).

( Picture shown the teachers who attended the refresher course in Jajpur Dist.)

Bhadrak District:

The refresher course for high school science teachers in Bhadrak district was held during December 26-28, 2001. The course was jointly sponsored by Jagannatha Organization of Global Awareness (JOGA)(www.jogaworld.org) and Odiya Samaja (ODISA) (www.odiya.org/myodisa). Mr. C.S. Mohanty CI of Schools, Bhadrak was the Convener for Bhadrak District. Mr. Dhirendra Kar from JOGA spoke on the JOGA mission and organizing similar courses in other districts. Response from the teachers, the resource persons and the organizers were overwhelming . We got dedicated and well experienced group of college faculties and computer professionals to teach the courses in general science like, physics, chemistry, biology & introduction to computer science. Resource persons were available to the teachers to clear their doubts and to answer the questions they had from on any difficult sections form the school curriculum. The discussions in side and out side the class rooms were lively and thought provoking both for the teachers and the resource persons. The subject selections for the program, course materials, methodology and valuable inputs from the resource persons were highly appreciated by the teachers ,which were clearly reflected in their end of course evaluation sheets . The course was held at Bhadrak high school, Bhadrak, Orissa. Total 92 teachers
attended the orientation course in Bhadrak district

(Picture shown during inaugural function at Bhadrak dist. refresher course)

Kendrapara District:

First teachers refresher course for high school science teachers was held at Kendrapara college for Kendrapara Dist. on May 10-11, 2001.In association with the Govt of Orissa, we organized a two-days orientation program for high school science teachers at Kendrapara College for schools in Kendrapara district on May 10-11, 2001. We are thankful to Orissa society of America (OSA) for supporting and partially financing the orientation program. Ever since the super cyclone in 1999, we were thinking of improving educational program in Orissa. It is needless to say that education helps whether you are facing cyclone, flood, drought or famine etc. Though there are many ways one can work, we thought of concentrating at high school level education. Through our personal acquaintance in Orissa we collected information on what is needed in the school program. Hence the idea of improving the science teachers' skills through orientation program was born.

Now-a-days most of the college level study materials have been included in High School courses. The Orientation Program is very much needed to upgrade teachers' skills as well as to make them aware of many new subjects like computers, environmental sciences etc. Though it is planned to organize similar course at each district level, the first of its kind in Kendrapara was very much successful. An organizing committee was formed with Kendrapara circle inspector (CI) Chandrasekhar Mohanty as convener and Dr. Anant Panda, reader in Physics, Kendrapara College as co-convener with a few people from USA as advisors. Invitations were sent to 100 High Schools headmasters to send their science teachers. Total attendance in the course was 76 teachers. Credit goes to Kendrapara CI Chandrasekhar Mohanty and his many dedicated staffs as well as Dr Anant Panda, Reader in Physics, and many faculty members in Kendrapara College. We would like to thank Dr. Dibakar Patnaik, Principal, Kendrapara College for allowing all the facilities in the premises.

Registration and inauguration started exactly at 9:00 AM on May 10th as scheduled. To our surprise all most 50 teachers had already arrived the venue by 9:00 AM. Pictures below show the attendees and the guests during inaugural function. As it is seen each teacher has his/her nametag. With the permission from the OSA executive we declared that the course is sponsored by OSA (as seen in the photographs). Principal D. Patnaik was the chief guest. Each teacher was given a folder with the program and handout of each talk. All the lecturers who taught were from Kendrapara College for the first day of the course except Dr. Sudhansu Tripathy from Ravenshaw College who taught about periodic table and chemical reactions. Faculties and guests were given special prasad from Baldevjew temple during lunch. Other lecturers for the first day were, PC. Samantray (wave motion) and Dr Binayak Das (photosynthesis). Teachers were given homework on each lecture and next day 75% of teachers returned their homework sheets after completion.

On May 11th, the second day of the program, the morning lecture was given by Bikram Parida, from Oricom who brought PC/Printer etc. to give an introduction about PC. The talk was well received. In fact Govt. of Orissa is planning to introduce computers in High School from next year. This talk was very much needed. Other lecturers who taught on May 11th are: Dr N.N. Sarma and SK Palit (cell division), Dr C. Mohanty (Heredity and variation) and Dr. A. Panda ( Nuclear physics). All the lectures were started/ended exactly as planned. I gave survey questions to teachers to get their feedback on this type of program. The overall score about the usefulness and arrangement for the course was 80% . That is high compared to Orissa standard of marking. Most of them wrote that this course should be 5 to 7 days long. In valediction session, teachers were given certificates. One male and one female teacher spoke in the function about the course and they had a lot of praise for the course arrangement, particularly to see the standard and the method of teaching. As we informed in the function that we had plans to arrange similar courses in other districts, at the end one teacher came and requested me to arrange similar courses in Kendrapra for the second time before trying at other places.

We have plans to organize similar courses in all the districts of Orissa. Late Bhagabat Behera, Cabinet Minister for Ministry of School and Mass Education, was very much supportive for the teacher's refresher courses. We invite you all to support and sponsor for organizing similar courses in future. This will not only benefit the teachers but also help in improving quality of education system in Orissa. Eventually this will result in better students. With the success of the first program we can see a bright future of such types of efforts.

( Picture shown during inaugural function on May 10, 2001 )

Late Bhagabat Behera, Minister for higher education, Orissa deserves our special thanks for his support. We would take this opportunity to extend our sincere thanks to Dr. Sarat ch. Das, Reader in Chemistry Salepur College, Dr. Sudhanshu Tripathy Reader in Chemistry Ravenshaw College , Mr. C.S. Mohanty, CI Bhadrak, Mr. G.C.Mishra CI Jajpur and Mr. Biswamber Mishra Headmaster Jajpur Zilla School for their valuable time and efforts put together to make these courses sucessfull. Dr. Digambar Mishra & Dr. Jyostna Mishra from USA visited the refresher course in Jajpur district.

We are planning to organize similar course in all the districts of Orissa. in coming days, please come forward and extend your support for this noble cause.

Sponsors:

List of sponsors for 2004:

Mr. Pradyut and Sanghamitra Behera
Mr. Dilip Bhagat, MD
Mr. Hemant Biswal, VA
Mr. Debaki and Anjana Choudhury, MD
Mr. Deepak and Lini Dhal, VA
Drs. Naresh and Bigyani Das, MD
Ms. Henrietta L. Keller, MD
Dr. Devi prasad and Sarojini Mishra, AL
Dr. Nrusingha and Bandita Mishra, MD
Dr. Shashadhara and Meera Mohapatra, MD
Dr. Joy Gopal and Sulachana Mohanty, MD
Mr. Kalika Prasad, MD
Dr. Jogesh and Geeta Pati, MD
Drs. Koneti and Neelam Rao, MD
Drs. Digambara and Joytsna Mishra, AL
Mr. Bimal and Leena Mishra, MD
Dr. Indu and Jhunu Mishra, MD
Dr. Narayan and Kalyani Sahoo, NY
Dr. Devaraj and Urmila Sahu, MD
Drs. Kailash and Meena Sahu, MD
Dr. Babru and Jayashree Samal, MD
Mr. gatikrushna and Jangyaseni Tripathy, MD
Mr. Hens H. Wegner, MD

List of sponsors for 2003:

Mr. Dabaki and Anjana Choudhury, Germantown, MD
Drs. Naresh and Bigyani Das, Columbia, MD
Mr. Dhirendra and Madhumita Kar, Boston, MA
Mr. Bimal and Leena Mishra, North Potomac, MD
Dr. Devi and Sarojini Mishra, Orissa Foundation, AL
Mr. Niranjan Mishra, Subdury, Canada
Dr. Nrusingha and Bandita Mishra, Germantown, MD
Dr. Sanjeeb and Mukta Mishra, La Plata, MD
Dr. Sashadhar and Sujata Mohapatra, Silverspring, MD
Mr. Arun and Ila Ojha, Columbia, MD
Mr. Hemanshu Parikh and Asha Sahu, Baltimore, MD
Prof. Jogesh and Geeta Pati, Bowie, MD
Mr. Bikram and Sukanya Ray, Boston, MA
Dr. Narayan and Kalyani Sahoo, Albany, NY
Dr. Devaraj and Urmila Sahu, Germantown, MD
Mr. Gatikrushna and Jangyaseni Tripathy, Potomac, MD

List of sponsors for the year 2002

Mr. Hemant Biswal, VA
Mr. San and Jhinu Chhotray, VA
Drs. Naresh and Bigyani Das, MD
Mr. Dhirendra and Madhumita Kar, MA
Dr. Amar and Manjushri Mohanty, MI
Dr. Manindra and Urmila Mohapatra, (Urmila Foundation) IN
Dr. Devi and Sarojini Mishra, (Orissa Foundation) AL
Dr. Jogesh and Gita Pati, MD
Mr. Debaki and Anjana Choudhury, MD

If you would like to sponsor the course, please write the check in favor of "JOGA" and send to:

Dr. S. Mohapatra
2105 Hidden Valley Lane
Silverspring, MD 20904

Organizers:

Please contact the following organizer, if interested to know more about these programs or sponsor your school teacher

Naresh Das, Columbia, MD,
(301) 498 3729
Email: nareshdas@yahoo.com

Hemant Biswal
Herndon, VA,
(703) 481 3148
Email: hbiswal@hotmail.com

Dhirendra Kar
Boston, MA,
(781) 762 1878
Email: dhirendrakar@hotmail.com