Bhavans Vidya Mandir, Elamakkara
Bhavans Vidya Mandir, Elamakkara is a private K–12, CBSE-affiliated school run by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Educational Trust in Elamakkara, Kochi, Kerala. Founded in 1972, it is the first Bhavan's school to be set up in Kerala.
The school functions under the purview of the Kochi Kendra of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, which also runs six other schools in and around Kochi.
History
The Bhavans Kochi Kendra started functioning on 24 June 1970. On 9 September 1970, G. S. Pathak, then Vice-President of India, inaugurated the Bhavans Cochin Centre. In 1972, Dr. V. V. Giri, then President of India, laid the foundation-stone of the building for Bhavan's Cochin Centre.The first Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan school under the Kochi Kendra, the Bhavans Vidya Mandir, Elamakkara was opened in 1972.
The school received affiliation from the Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi in 1981.
The school was introduced to the National Institute of Open Schooling system in the year 2000.
General information
School schedule
The school follows the trimester system for the primary section and for the senior secondary section, but a semester system for the secondary section.| Type | Term | Grades | Start | End | Break at the End |
| Common | Term 1 | 1-12 | June | August | Onam Week |
| Semester | Term 2 | 1-5, 11-12 | October | March | Summer |
| Trimester | Term 2 | 6-10 | September | December | Christmas-NewYear |
| Trimester | Term 3 | 6-10 | January | March | Summer |
The first term starts in the first week of June and extends till September, and the school breaks for usually 10 days coinciding with the Onam festival of Kerala. The second term usually expands from second week of September till the second-last week of December, and the school again breaks for a week between the Christmas and the New Year's Day. The third term starts in January and extends till the last week of March. The normal classes get over by the mid-February, and annual examinations are held during March after which the school breaks for summer.
The school functions five day a week, which consist of 8 periods of about 40 minutes each.
Daily Timings
The formal functioning of the school starts at 8:30AM with the morning assembly, in which all the students and staff members are expected to join. After the prayer, taking the pledge and short speeches by students or members of the staff, the regular classes for the day commence usually at about 08:45AM. The class hours of the school is divided into periods usually of about 40 minutes each. There are eight periods for the primary section and nine periods for the secondary section.The primary and the secondary section, along with the teaching staff have a common lunch break of 30 minutes from 12:25PM to 12.55PM. Apart, from the lunch break, there are two short recess breaks of 5 minutes. Both the primary and secondary section have a short break at 9.30AM after the second period. In addition, the secondary section get another recess break at 02:20PM.
In the academic year 2014-15, the timings of the school were slightly modified, and both primary and secondary section now had 8 periods and left together at 02:30PM. However, this system was scrapped in the academic year 2019-20, and the timings is changed to 3pm.
Academics
CBSE affiliation
The school is affiliated to the CBSE, which is an autonomous Educational Board under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. It follows the prescribed CBSE syllabus and prepares the students for writing the All India Secondary School Examination in grade 10, and the All India Senior School Certificate Examination in grade 12, both conducted under direct supervision of the CBSE.NIOS affiliation
In 2000, the school adopted the National Institute of Open Schooling system to cater to the needs of heterogeneous group of learners, who for reasons varied, were not in a position, to cope with the formal and conventional system of education. The students enrolling in this system are free to choose subjects according to their ability and requirements. However, at the senior secondary level only a common stream is offered. The NIOS students are taught in a dedicated classrooms. The teaching is done more or less on a one-one to basis.Available streams
Language options
Hindi is compulsory from classes I to VIII. Malayalam or Sanskrit can be taken as third language from classes II to VIII. Students of classes IX & X are allowed to take either Hindi, Malayalam or Sanskrit as their second language. Classes XI & XII do not have language options, but have to learn English.However, as per the recent Government of Kerala directive, the native Malayalam language shall be taught compulsorily from classes I to X, including to those who haven't opted for Malayalam previously.
Senior Secondary Section
The senior secondary students on enrollment get a chance to choose their streams. The study of English is compulsory, and is the only language option available. The streams are subject to change, and are usually determined by the availability of staff and the interest of the students.| Subjects | Comp-Math | HS-Math | Bio-Math | Bio-IP | Bio-HS | Com-Maths | Com-IP | Com-HS | Humanities |
| English | |||||||||
| Maths | |||||||||
| Physics | |||||||||
| Chemistry | |||||||||
| Biology | |||||||||
| Computer | |||||||||
| IP | |||||||||
| Accountancy | |||||||||
| Business Studies | |||||||||
| Economics | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| Civics | |||||||||
| Home Science |
Facilities
The school offers ample facilities for the students, though is not one among the modern state-of-art schools in the city. The school campus is very large spanning about 8 acres of land, and the school has been best known as a green campus, owing to a large number of trees sheltering the school.Over the years, the school has adorned some of the best technologies and improved the infrastructure.
In 2007, the school became one of the first in the city to introduce smart classrooms, partnering with Educomp. All the classrooms in the school today are powered by TeachNext Smart Boards, which are used to deliver lessons and write notes.
The school also houses a large library for the students, with over 16000 books across genres, and collections of magazines and study materials.
The school has a separate block – "Kalakshetra" and staff to teach students arts, crafts, music, dance, and instruments like Keyboard, Congo Drums, Tabla, Violin, Jazz etc. upon their interests.
The school has 2 open basketball courts, cricket nets, volleyball court, Kho-Kho court, and a football ground. From 2016, the school has partnered with Edusports, to train students in various games and indulge sporting passion in them. As part of this, dedicated coaches train students in the primary classes for different sports throughout the academic year. The school also trains its students in the National Cadet Corps.
The school also has a large canteen serving lunches for the students. However, the school is strictly vegetarian, and the canteen serves only meals in the lunch break.
The school has two air-conditioned computer labs, science labs for physics, chemistry and biology.
Notable alumni
The school has produced several successful students in different fields. The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Devan Ramachandran, Judge, High Court of Kerala was a student of the first batch of the school.S. Sreesanth, who was a part of the Indian team which won two ICC trophies - ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2007, and the ICC World Cup 2011. studied here.
The national award-winning popular musician Gopi Sundar also learnt in this school.
| Name | Field | Batch | Remarks |
| Justice Devan Ramachandran | Law | 1976-1981 | Was a Senior Advocate before being elevated as Judge |
| S. Sreesanth | Sports | 2000-2001 | Also is an actor, host, cricketer and politician |
| Gopi Sundar | Music | Film Composer, National Award Winner | |
| Niranj Suresh | Music | Singer | |
| Meera Nandan | Film | 2008 | Actress |
| Prayaga Martin | Film | 2013-2014 | Actress |
| Shane Nigam | Film | 2012-2013 | Actor |
| Tinu Yohannan | Sports | 1996-1997 | Cricketer |
| Sankar Induchoodan | Film | 2012-2013 | Actor |
| Rahul Raj | Music | Singer, Music director | |
| Anand Jon | Fashion | Fashion Designer | |
| M.P.Ramnath | Film | Child actor in My Dear Kuttichathan | |
| Shwetha Menon | Music | 2013-2014 | Singer |
| Tansen Berney | Music | 2011-2012 | Singer |
| Krithikha S | Music | 2017-2018 | Singer |
| Anirudh Ravi | Film | 2013-2014 | Child actor - Atayalangal |
| Siddharth Pai | Film | 2015-2016 | Child actor - Salt N' Pepper |
| Rejaz M Sydeek | Film | 2015-2016 | Child actor/VJ -Marykkundoru Kunjaadu |
| Ramakrishnan Lokanathan | Film | 2016-2017 | Child actor - Thattathin Marayathu |
| Anoop Vikraman | Film | 2015-2016 | Child actor - Idukki gold |
| Irfan Ziraj | Film | 2016-2017 | Child actor - Living together |
| Aishwarya | Television | 2008 | Host |
| Amrutha.B | Television | 2012-2013 | Host |
| Sidharth Rekha | Television | 2018-2019 | Participant - Kuttikalodano Kali |
| Anand Rajagopal | Television | 2006 | Participant - Kuttikalodano Kali |