VALUES PLUS PROGRAM
BY NIVE( National Institute of Value Education ) , a division of ISKCON
The school works in collaboration with NIVE, an initiative of ISKCON Bangalore, which has designed a curriculum based on the set of values recommended by the NCERT.
The aim of NIVE has been to empower children to be able to decide and make conscious and valued decisions.
The V+ classes are interactive and the mentors of NIVE use well-mapped lesson plans to help students connect to the message within. Students are encouraged to apply it in their own lives, through small activities and initiatives. The program also incorporates Moral teachings through Vedic stories inculcating Indian values and culture.
For Grades IX to XII, the programme helps to explore the fact that science and spirituality can coexist and converge to give a cogent worldview that inspires an enlightened and enriched living.
TAL- HUNT (JUNE 2022)
Every child is born with certain intrinsic abilities that need to be groomed over time. As children grow and realize their inner potential, their confidence increases and encourages them in their proper cognitive development and growth. Tal-hunt, a treasure house of competitions was conducted to bring forth children’s unique talents.
Students from Grades 1 to 12 participated very actively in these age-appropriate fun-filled competitions, designed with care and collaboration.
AKSHAYA PATRA AND TEMPLE VISITS (JULY 2022)
Akshaya Patra is the world’s largest (not-for-profit) Mid-Day Meal Program serving wholesome food every school day to over 2 million children across 14 states and 2 Union Territories of India. Akshaya Patra Kitchen visits enable children to understand the magnitude of this project. Students are briefed about the incident, where Srila Prabhupad saw young children fight with street dogs for leftover food and ordered his disciples to ensure that no child within 5 Kms. radius of the temple goes hungry.
BHAGAVAD GITA COMPETITION (DECEMBER 2022)
In order to commemorate the occasion of Gita Jayanti NIVE Values Plus organized Bhagavad Gita Shloka Chanting Contest. The contest was organized in December, the month of Gita Jayanthi (appearance day of Bhagavad Gita) across all the grades.
BOOK EXHIBITION (DECEMBER 2022)
To encourage the habit of reading thought provoking and intellectually stimulating books among children, Values Plus organized a book exhibition in the month of December at NHG. The students participated enthusiastically in this initiative.
HERITAGE FEST AND GOLOKA SHADES (JULY ‘22 TO JANUARY ’23)
ISKCON Samskriti
The cultural wing of ISKCON Bangalore, presented Heritage Fest, the biggest and the most awaited online cultural competition of the year. ISKCON Bangalore conducted ‘ISKCON Goloka Shades’, its annual Inter-school art competition in the months of November, December and January. A total of 28,000 participants from over 83 schools of Bengaluru took part in this grand event. This program aims at encouraging children to understand our culture through the medium of art.
JANMASHTAMI CELEBRATIONS (AUGUST 2022)
Janmashtami was celebrated at New Horizon Gurukul with devotion and joy on 18th August 2022. The school was decorated beautifully. The spirit of festivity was enhanced with a skit by the students, followed by Kirtans, dance and Bhagavad Gita shloka recitation from Chapter
12. The Principal, the co-ordinators, the teachers and the students participated in the Aarati and then partook in a special Prasadam.
NHG TWIST (SEPTEMBER 2022)
New Horizon Gurukul conducted NHG Twist, an event meant to offer one-day classroom experience to the parents. Values Plus team gave live demonstration of value-based sessions on “Tolerance – a Bhagavad Gita perspective”. The session started with a prayer. Teachers helped the parents warm up. Parents were attentively listening to the story narrated. They also chanted the Shlokas happily. The parents felt happy that they could be school children for a day.
NIVE desires to stand out as a specialist in planning an enthralling travel experience for students and adults alike. Travel to different destinations is in itself a great teacher, but as our name suggests, the invaluable time we get with the children is infused with knowledge about the havens of our rich culture and heritage, that dot our itinerary.
NIVE desires to stand out as a specialist in planning an enthralling travel experience for students and adults alike. Travel to different destinations is in itself a great teacher, but as our name suggests, the invaluable time we get with the children is infused with knowledge about the havens of our rich culture and heritage, that dot our itinerary.
DELHI – VRINDAVAN – JAIPUR, OCTOBER 2022 | GRADE 9 | 5 DAYS
This visit helped the students understand the existence of Vedic personalities. Students were exposed to cultural diversity and uniqueness of India.
HAMPI, NOVEMBER 2022 | GRADES 5 – 8 | 2 DAYS
The spectacular Dravidian architecture of the Vijayanagar Empire found there gave them goose bumps. Students enjoyed rock climbing, scavenger hunt activity, campfire etc. They were delighted when they witnessed the beautiful sunrise and sunset.
SRILANKA, APRIL – MAY 2023 | 7 DAYS/ 6NIGHTS
Children had a much needed ‘gadget-free’ break. A recreational-cum- educational tour to Sri Lanka, the land of ‘Ramayana Trail’.
WORLD VALUES DAY (20TH OCTOBER 2022)
World Values Day is an annual campaign to increase the awareness and practice of values around the world. It falls on the 3rd Thursday of October every year. Each year there is a new theme. This year the theme was “Values for community” A special assembly was organized in the school. Students performed a wonderful mime that depicted sharing, discipline, compassion, and devotion.
PUPPET SHOW (NOVEMBER 2022)
NIVE Values Plus presented a puppet show “Nandu and Gopal”. Nandu, a small boy, would travel to his Gurukul everyday, crossing a dense forest. How his faith in Krishna helps him stay protected under the Lord’s grace is the story of Nandu and Gopal.
YOUTH SEVA ( OCTOBER – NOVEMBER 2022)
Youth Seva aims at involving students in temple programs like Arati, Kirtans, Prasadam distribution etc. Nitya Seva was offered by some students in the Main Temple Hall. Some of them distributed Khichidi Prasadam to the visitors of the temple.
One more team was engaged in cleaning of the temple premises. His Grace Balaram Charan Prabhu gave an insight about the importance of rendering service to the Lord, followed by a Q&A session.
DAMODARA ARATI (OCTOBER – NOVEMBER 2022)
Deepotsava (the festival of lights) is celebrated every year in the month of Kartika (October – November). Kartika month is also celebrated as Damodara month, commemorating the Damodara pastime of the Lord. Lighting a lamp signifies purity, goodness, well-being, power and devotion. Students from Grades 1 to 12 offered Ghee lamps to Lord Damodara, with a beautiful rendition of Damodara ashtaka song.
VAIKUNTHA EKADASHI CELEBRATIONS (JANUARY 2023)
Sri Srinivasa Govinda or Lord Venkateshwara is the centre of all festivities on this day. Vaikuntha Ekadashi is the day when the devotee Nammalvar was personally received by Lord Venkateshwara at the Vaikuntha Dwara.
DECODING BHARATH (SCIENCE EXPO -JANUARY 2023)
Science is a subject that has the perfect balance of not only facts, but integrates art and creativity as well. A Science Expo was organized by NHG, that showcased this line of thought. The following were the models displayed by the Values Plus team
- PURI JAGANNATH TEMPLE – Working model of the Annual Ratha Yatra, Models of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Subhadra, The model of the Jagannath temple
- SCIENCE BEHIND INDIAN FESTIVALS -To understand the scientific reasons behind the celebrations and rituals followed during Indian festivals.
- BHAGAVAD-GITA is the ‘song-of-God’, spoken by Lord Krishna Himself about 5000 years back. The relevance and application of the teachings of Bhagavad-gita to the present day society.
- RAMESHWARAM – The temple is one of the Char Dhams Shiva Linga prototype, Long corridors Agni Teertham, 22 wells
- KNOW YOUR CUSTOM – Model of a community with a temple with bells, a house constructed as per Vastu Shastra, people depicting various customs such as daily bathing, sitting in Sukhasana, cooking in earthen pots, eating wholesome food that has the Shadrasas, food served on banana leaves, Yoga as an integral part of the Sanatana Dharma, visit as a member in each household etc.
GRADUATION DAY (FEBRUARY 2023)
New Horizon Gurukul celebrated Graduation Day on February 4th, 2023 for the outgoing batch of Grade X. The special guest on the occasion was His Grace Srivigraha Dasa along with President Sri Surya Bajaj and Principal Smt. Sandhya Singh. HG Srivigraha Dasa, addressing the students on the occasion said, “You all are very fortunate to be a part of New Horizon Gurukul”. Speaking further, he enlightened them about the 5 qualities of a student and the timeless wisdom from Srimad Bhagavad Gita. He also acknowledged that along with academic skills, the students are graduating with a treasure trove of values that will continue to guide them throughout their lives.
BY NIVE( National Institute of Value Education ) , a division of ISKCON
The school works in collaboration with NIVE, an initiative of ISKCON Bangalore, which has designed a curriculum based on the set of values recommended by the NCERT. The aim of NIVE has been to empower children to be able to decide and make conscious and valued decisions.
The V+ classes are interactive and the mentors of NIVE use well-mapped lesson plans to help students connect to the message within. Students are encouraged to apply it in their own lives, through small activities and initiatives. The program also incorporates Moral teachings through Vedic stories inculcating Indian values and culture.
For Grades IX & X, the programme helps to explore the fact that science and spirituality can coexist and converge to give a cogent worldview that inspires an enlightened and enriched living.
“End of education is character”, goes the saying. Around the World Values Day, which fell on the 15th of October 2020 NIVE Values Plus Samskrti rolled out competitions based on some handpicked themes.
Artsy contest for Grades 1 to 8 –colouring and collage making around a set of values.
Hastagged contest for Grade 9-11: Spread the goodness of practicing values through social media posts.
The NIVE Values Plus program effectively integrates the learning of values and life skills into the curriculum through stories/ activities/ videos etc.
Since “World Grandparents Day” was celebrated on 13th Sept ’20, NIVE organised a unique competition for children from Grades 1 to 11 based on the occasion.
While the children honour their grandparents every day, it is important for them to take an extra moment to appreciate all the joy and wisdom that grandparents bring to their lives.
It is very important that children realise the value of grandparents in their lives and this competition is a small step towards reinstating the values of respect and love towards them.
First ever DIGITAL celebration of Sri Krishna Janmashtami, “Swagatam Krishna”, by ISKCON Bangalore, on the 11th and 12th of August, with 20 hours of online events.
This provided a wonderful platform for the students of New Horizon Gurukul to pay tribute to Lord Krishna through their enticing cultural performances. A well-coordinated video on children performing devotional dance, song and shloka chanting were telecast on ISKCON, Bangalore YouTube live which had a good number of viewership.
National Institute of Values Education, was very happy, to conduct Annual competitions, ‘NIVE – SAMSKRTI’, a time to celebrate special talents in every child.
As we all know, the most beautiful years in any human, are the growing up years. Especially the student hood. To make their school life more worthwhile and memorable it is good to engage them in competitions that will not only provide a platform for the special talents in them but also promote a healthy competitive spirit in them.
| SL No | Name | Category | Fancy Name |
| 1 | Little Orator | Grades 1 & 2 | Story Telling |
| 2 | Young Imaginer | Grades 3&4 | Story Writing |
| 3 | Paper Kraftz | Grades 5&6 | Origami Competition |
| 4 | Pandemic Ponder | Grades 7&8 | Poster Making on what has ‘Covid 19 – lock down’, taught us. With captions. |
| 5 | Musings | Grades 9&10 | Video on self identified core value |
ISKCON Bangalore proudly organised “The Heritage Fest Online”, an international competition based on traditional Indian arts, culture, and wisdom, on the eve of Sri Krishna Janmashtami 2020. This was a wonderful opportunity for our students to participate in the biggest online cultural competition to showcase their talents and to win rewards and recognition on a global platform.
The season of Dasara and Navratri reminds us of the victory of good over evil. This beautiful occasion has different fervours. The dance gathering, the daily pooja to the dolls, the community gathering over RavanDahan, the famous elephant procession in Mysore with mother Chamundi’s deity, the Durga pooja in Kolkata etc.
NIVE – Values Plus rolled out an interesting contest for the students wherein they can capture the festive vibes through their lens and creativity and share the joy with us.
“Action speaks louder than words.” The quote stands true in all aspects; whether it is to inculcate good manners in children or to imbibe the good virtues of kindness, sharing and to be thankful for what we have.
In the true spirit of the Gurukul tradition of value based system of learning, the students of classes 6 – 10 were given a hand on experience of doing something for their less fortunate friends by The Akshay Patra Foundation. They were taken to BBMP Government schools within Bangalore, where they served the mid-day meal to the students of the Primary classes, which is provided by the Akshay Patra Programme, in association with ISKCON.
Not only did the children learn a great deal from the experience, but they also enjoyed their interaction and play with their little friends. It was an enriching experience to see these children happy and content with what they have, something we fail in.
Students got the opportunity to visit the mega kitchen at The Akshaya Patra Foundation which serves thousands of children every day. After a tour of the state of the art kitchen, the students along with their teachers and Values Plus team went to the government schools where mid-day meals are provided. There the students learnt the value of humility and compassion, as they got an opportunity to serve lunch to those children. After a happy interaction with the school children, the students reflected their experience of compassion through a collage showing gratitude.
