Wednesday 20 January 2016

ISS contact with Brihaspati Vidyasadan, Kathmandu, Nepal

A telebridge contact via VK5ZAI with students at Brihaspati Vidyasadan, Kathmandu, Nepal was successful today at 08:37:04 UTC 26 deg. Astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI  answered 17 questions for students. An audience of about 300 included students from 10 other schools, as well as the British Ambassador to Nepal, the Cultural Affairs Officer from the US Embassy, and a member of the National Human Rights Commission and former Ministry for Science and Technology.

Some local news media video reports are available at http://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/british-astronaut-tells-nepali-students-to-follow-their-cherished-dreams/   and http://e-visitnepal.blogspot.se/2016/01/talk-to-astronauts.html

A video of the interview is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asaa1xb6fGo&feature=youtu.be
​Brihaspati Vidyasadan is a 32 year old High school, located in Kathmandu, Nepal. Brihaspati runs classes from nursery to 100 at secondary level and the 10+2 program in Science and Management at the higher secondary Level. Besides these Brihaspati also runs Diploma in Hospitality Managemant and Tourism in affiliation with Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality (CTH), UK.

Brihaspati is known for its academic excellence. To date Brihaspati has produced over 2000 SLC graduates and over 600 +2 graduates who have achieved excellent academic achievements. Brihaspati has also been awarded the "Best School in Nepal" in 2055BS.

Brihaspati is also known for its co-curricular and extra-curricular activities including sports, debates and concerts. Over the years the school has achieved Inter-school successes in football (soccer), cricket and basketball at national levels. School has also successes in inter-school competitions like debate, elocution and concerts.

For its academic, co-curricular and extra-curricular achievements Brihaspati has been placed among the Class A schools of Nepal by the Ministry of Education, Government of Nepal.

Brihaspati staff and students have been known for their innovation in education. The school is reputed to be the first school in Nepal to introduce computer education. Brihaspati houses clubs like Lokopakar, which is a student club that looks into Humanitarian aid.  Brihaspati students recently started gThink Inkh, an activity designed using the principles of Extreme Design from Stanford for instilling critical thinking and problem solving skills in students. This program has gained attention of a lot of people in the academia at a very rapid pace.

Brihaspati is located in a 25 acre land space at the heart of Kathmandu within the Balmandir compound. It  has academic facility that is of very high standards. It houses the Free and Open Source Research Lab and Ham (amateur radio) facility that students and staff have access to.

Recently during the earthquake of Nepal, one of the buildings of Brihaspati was used by ham radio operators from Nepal and India to coordinate search and reconciliation of families where over 500 families were reunited with their loved ones.