History
Dr. Dada Vaidya, Sitaram Kerkar and Vinayak Sarjyotishi founded Goa Vidyaprasarak Mandal and its first institution, A.J. de Almeida High School, in the Ponda taluk of central Goa. The school was named after António José de Almeida, a Portuguese republican statesman during Portugal's rule in Goa.
During the campaign against Portuguese colonial rule, the Goa Vidyaprasarak Mandal and A.J. de Almeida High School were centres of nationalist activities and thus have a long list of freedom fighters as their alumni. The founders thought of imparting education for white-collared jobs and for upgrading the standards of the common man through vocational training.
After Portuguese rule ended in 1961, four more high schools were founded in Bandora, Savoi Verem, Borim and Khandepar between 1962 and 1965. All of these are villages in the Ponda region of Goa. In 1975, a primary and kindergarten school was started in Ponda and, with the introduction of 10+2+3 pattern of education (which involves ten years of schooling, followed by two years of 'higher secondary', and finally three more years in college before being awarded a Bachelor's degree), a higher secondary school was started in 1975 in Ponda.
In 1985, Goa University came into existence. During its amrit mahotsav (platinum jubilee) year, Goa Vidyaprasarak Mandal planned to start a senior college in Ponda, which became a reality on June 12, 1986 with the cooperation of Goa University, Goa Government authorities, well-wishers, teachers, members and students. On March 13, 1994 the college was named after late Gopal Govind Poy Raiturcar.
Read more about this topic: Goa Vidyaprasarak Mandal
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“In front of these sinister facts, the first lesson of history is the good of evil. Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“When the landscape buckles and jerks around, when a dust column of debris rises from the collapse of a block of buildings on bodies that could have been your own, when the staves of history fall awry and the barrel of time bursts apart, some turn to prayer, some to poetry: words in the memory, a stained book carried close to the body, the notebook scribbled by hand—a center of gravity.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“The history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)