Bro. Tan explaining the ground-breaking 'Nalanda Education Model' to officers at the workshop.

Over the last weekend, Nalanda officers gathered at our ‘spiritual home’ in Sri Serdang for a ground-breaking workshop on the ‘Nalanda Education Model’, presented by Founder Bro. H S Tan.  The workshop was truly a great learning experience for everyone, especially for teachers, facilitators, and coordinators of Nalanda’s educational programmes.

For the first time ever, all elements of Nalanda’s educational philosophy – the “4 Pillars of Education”, “8 Core Values”, and “6 Well-beings” – were fused together and connected seamlessly on a single diagram.  Officers can now fully understand and clearly explain the Nalandian motto – “Holistic Education for Integral Human Development”.

70 Nalandian officers from all divisions and branches attended the 2-day workshop.

The two-day workshop held on 14-15 December at Nalanda Centre were attended by 70 officers, including 10 from Nalanda Kuala Lumpur Branch, 10 from Johor Branch, 5 from Kedah Branch, and the rest from Nalanda Institute, Dharma School, Free School, Youth Centre, and the Secretariat.  Also attending were Nalanda’s President, Deputy President, Honorary Secretary, divisional Directors, and all branch chairmen.

Officers having group discussions on various topics at the workshop.

The mood of the workshop was celebratory as this year Nalanda is observing our 10th Anniversary with many successful programmes held since January.  Bro. Tan declared that “2013 is Nalanda’s ‘Best Year Ever’”; and all officers concurred with that!  At the end of the workshop, a vote of thanks was offered to all officers from the Secretariat, divisions and branches for their hard work in serving the community over the years.

Bro.Tan further heightened the jubilant mood by announcing a major news – that the renovation proposal for Nalanda’s new building has just been approved by the local council, and work will commence soon!  Everyone greeted that welcome news with a standing ovation, as many people have worked hard to make it happen.  It was a fitting end to the last major meeting of Nalandian officers for the year.

Officers gave a standing ovation to 'the best year ever at Nalanda'. Thank you!

As officers begin to head home to KL, Kedah, Johor and elsewhere, the words of our Founder kept ringing loud – “Kita bukan lagi hanya sebuah ‘persatuan’, tetapi satu ‘persamuan’ – We are no longer just an organisation, we are now a movement!”  Thank you all!