This year the Annual Meet of the Vidyarambam Trust was held in Palayankottai in Tirunelveli district on 15th and 16th of October. Trustees and honorary coordinators were present on the occasion.  About 500 Vidyarambam tutors from all parts of Tamilnadu, all assessors, coordinators and staff attended the event.  Mr. A. Muthukumarasamy, Coordinator of Thoothukudi District gave the welcome address.

Mr. P. Samuel Devasahayam, Honorary Coordinator presided over the function.

The function started with song and dance performances by the pre-primary children of Vidyarambam from the villages of Tirunelveli district. About 90 Children took part and all were presented with gifts.

The chief guest Rev. Fr. Mr. Anthony Cruse gave a lecture on the topic ‘Tutor job is a holy profession’ and advised the audience to adhere honesty and sincerity while executing their job.  He pointed out that Vidyarambam tutors handle children of prime age and they must shower love and affection on them.  He honoured all coordinators and gave away the mementos and gifts.

Mr. PadikkaRamu, a retired teacher and a Tamil Scholar in his speech quoted many couplets from Thirukkural and explained how Thiruvalluvar has emphasized the importance of quality education.  He exhorted the tutors not to compromise in quality.  He gave away the awards to 25 best performed assessors.

Miss. T. Karthika, State Coordinator of Vidyarambam recapitulated the morning proceedings and gave vote of thanks to the guests and dignitaries.

In the afternoon session, Mrs. Prema Veeraraghavan  Chairperson, Resource Center presided over the proceedings.   Mrs. S. Mercy Vijaya, Assistant Elementary Educational Officer addressed the gathering and gave away the ‘BEST TEACHER’ award to winner tutors.

Mr. S. Rajendran Deputy Planning Coordinator, Sarva Siksha Abyan, Nellai District addressed on the topic “HOW LIBRARIES ENHANCE READING ABILITIES” and gave away the gifts to students who had completed reading more than 200 books from Vidyarambam libraries. About 87 students had won the gift for continuous reading books from the libraries.

Mrs. Prema Veeraraghavan and all the honorary coordinators also gave away the BEST TEACHER award to winner tutors from other districts. Altogether 125 tutors were selected for the BEST TEACHER award.

The day’s programme ended with glamorous and colorful folk dance performance titled as VANAVIL which was presented by a famous troupe called KALARY.

The second and last day events started with folk dance by elder students from READ INDIA campaign.  Mrs. V. Prabavathi, Senior Coordinator, Tirunelveli district gave the welcome address.

Mr. A. Ramasamy honorary Coordinator, Thoothukudi district presided over the function.

Mr. D. R. Sabapathy, Correspondent, T.D.M.N.S. College, Kallikulam, Nellai district was the chief guest.  He addressed the gathering on the topic “how college students could help NGOs like Vidyarambam in the service of education for rural children”.  He gave away the gifts to 38 children who performed folk dances and 14 best volunteers form Read India campaign.

Mr. A. Thangaraj Supervisor, BRC, Sarva Siksha Abyan addressed the gathering and explained that both Vidyarambam and SSA are for the same cause and working together they could bring more benefit for the disadvantaged children of Tamilnadu.

The afternoon session was full of events competed by groups of senior volunteers from each district and the group from Sankaran Kovil, Nellai district won the Rolling Trophy.

The day ended with a lively debate (PATTI MANRAM) by three groups of seasoned volunteers of Vidyarambam.  The issue debated was “WHO SOWS THE SEED FOR QUALITY EDUCATION? IS IT TEACHER, PARENTS OR SOCIETY?"  The debate was conducted by Mr. Ganapathy Subramanian, a Tamil Scholar who led the discussion with his witty remarks and gave the verdict  that it is TEACHER who sows the seed.   The winning team under the leadership of  K. Sripriya was presented with the rolling trophy.

Mrs . V. Prabavathy gave the vote of thanks and the events ended with National Anthem.