A report of the first Personal Contact Programme organized for
February 2009 batch of SACAR-IGNOU students

By Venue: SACAR campus, Dates: February 16-20, 2009

With an invocation to the Divine Mother, the 5-day residential study programme at SACAR commenced on the morning of February 16th, 2009. It provided the new SACAR-IGNOU students an introduction to the thought and vision of Sri Aurobindo and incorporated a rich variety of learning opportunities such as lecture-discussions and presentations on several topics, student essay writing sessions, small group discussions, and student presentations.

Students were also given an orientation to teaching and evaluation system used at SACAR. They also worked on short assignments to become familiar with the online learning system.

The programme included visits to the Ashram, Ashram departments and Matrimandir at Auroville. The students were especially delighted about their experience inside the meditation chamber at Matrimandir. They documented this experience as an essay assignment.

Students stayed at the SACAR Scholars Home which provided them ample opportunity to get to know one another. This personal contact with one another and a sense of belonging to a learning community will add much richness to their online learning experience. Students also spent some informal time with their facilitators during lunches and tea-breaks. A few students were also accompanied by their family members, and they too became part of the SACAR family.

On the last day, an impromptu cultural programme was organized in which participants sang songs, recited poems and shared jokes. The programme came to a grand finale with an invocation to the Divine Mother.

A selection of comments from SACAR-IGNOU students
about their PCP experience

SACAR

SACAR Campus