Vivekananda Abhyudaya Prakalpa @ Ramakrishna Mission Khetri

AN INTRODUCTION

When India was gearing up to start celebrating 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission, the twin organizations founded by Vivekananda himself, thought of making the celebrations a memorable event. Thus started a series of programmes with GadadharAbhyudayaPrakalpa (GAP) being a special one. The speciality was that the focus was made on children of 5 to 12 years’ age group who had no access to education, nutrition and basic health facilities. It was a daunting job to bring these underprivileged children to the main stream of national life. However, with the help of our monks and dedicated volunteers the scheme became a very successful story and hundreds of children got benefited. As a result, the scheme is still functioning, albeit some modifications, even though the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda are over.
Then came another question. What would be the future of the beneficiaries of GAP? At an unripe age of 12 and with the background they come from, it was certainly impossible for them to continue their studies and enjoy the fruits of preliminary attention brought to them by the monks of the Ramakrishna Order. After thorough deliberations, it was decided to start a new scheme called Vivekananda AbhyudayaPrakalpa (VAP) for the outgoing students of GAP. The scheme comprised facilitating academic help to these students at least up to their Higher Secondary education. Besides, it was conceived to provide them with rudimentary knowledge of computer education, spoken English and at least one vocational course with a view to empower them in the present day world with better knowledge, skill and moral character.
This ambitious scheme started as a pilot project in three different parts of India, Khetri in Rajasthan being one among three. The programme was launched in Khetri on the 3 rd
October, 2016 and is making steady progress. The guidelines laid by the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Order are tried to be followed meticulously. The students are happy with this development and are on the path of becoming responsible citizens. In order to help them in unfolding their personalities, they are encouraged to develop extra-curricular activities. This web page is an attempt to share the activities of VAP at Khetri.

The project is funded by endowment from the late Lillian “Lila” Benzinger, who was a
dedicated follower of Vedanta Society in California, USA and is sponsored by her son Mr.
Carl-Eric Benzinger.

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