Student Welfare

The Institute has an active Student Welfare Associationthat oversees numerous student groups. These groupsorganize cultural and sporting events, engage in varioussocial welfare and charitable projects, and organizeeducational seminars and workshops. The Students’ Welfare Association (SWA) dates back to 1972 (then theStudent’s Welfare Fund Committee) with a committeeconsisting of ninemembers who are democraticallyelected from four different Sampradayas and BonSampradaya.

There is a common mess for boys and girls, which is managed by the Mess Management Committee. This Committee oversees the food quality, buys the kitchen supplies and decides the menu to ensure a varied diet and choice of options. The Committee consists 9 members: a Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer, Secretary, and five other members comprised of the house leaders of the various sampradayas.

The Student Association of Performing Arts (SAPA) was founded in 2003 by a group of students who sought to use the performing arts as a way to raise awareness about Tibetan culture and the culture of the Himalayan regions Students performing cultural group dance at an event for the benefit of the younger generation, and to give the students a creative outlet. The Association organize scultural programmes, events, and inter-class talent shows.It also helps the students to celebrate and observe important dates such as Tibetan New Year (Losar).Students with good ability in one form, such as playing dramy in (Tibetanlute), help to teach other students, and so the group responds to and supports each other’s artistic development. Cultural performance teams from the institute regularly participate in the Inter Class Cultural Songs and Dance Competition and the All India Youth Festival Cultural Competition. On October 13, 2017, the group participated in an Inter-Tibetan college cultural competition held in Delhi where they won first prize.

As per MSE & MSR Gazette notification of the NCISM, Ministry of Ayush GOI, it is mandatory to constitute a committee consisting five member of Sowa – Rigpa Students council (SSC) and a faculty advisor.

Student council is the representative body of the entire Sowa – Rigpa student Community in college/ institute, dedicated to work with a faculty adviser to provide a means for expression and assistance in various college affairs. Student Council consist of a chairman, Secretary and three members from student’s and also a faculty advisor. The first Sowa – Rigpa Student’s Council was established on 18th November, 2022 through a process of election by the students to choose five members for the Council. SSC is dedicated to enhance Sowa – Rigpa students welfare which will positively impact the academic outcome of students and also, to conduct various Sowa – Rigpa related activities .

The students of CIHTS have involved themselves in a number of altruistic projects over the years; sometimes on an individual basis, sometimes in small unofficial groups, and other times as part of organized initiatives.

The Voluntary Community for Social Services (VCSS) is a special programme that was developed to help students understand the meaning of social responsibility. VCSS was founded in 1986 by our late professors gen lobsang norbu shastri and its been 36 year till now and the on going members are the 36 executive member along with one advisor and other 100 members.

The main objective of the group is to function irrespective of caste, creed or gender to uphold the common bond of humanity as a whole’. The group aims to adopt practical methods to promote social responsibility and awareness, to discourage socially damaging behaviour, to act as guides and mentors for the younger students, and to combat environmental degradation.

The VCSS organizes numerous workshops and organizes weekly community work, such as environmental clean-up, care of stray dogs and other animals, distributing blankets to poor people in winter, and clearing rubbish from the Ganges River. They also extend their services to other parts of the country during times of pressing need. After the Gujarat earthquake in 2002, for example, the VCSS sentvolunteers to the affected area to distribute clothes and donations. This committee is the most active social services committee in institute as they work every Sunday. As Sunday is the only day when the school workers aren’t there to clean the campus so to provide a clean environment Sunday is chosen for the services. This helps the student to do something good deed on Sunday.

The Nirvana Group is an initiative that was formed in 2010 to address the needs of the poorest local Indian communities. The project was the direct result of an on-going Leadership Training course offered by Ven. Tenzin Priyadarshi, the president and CEO of the Dalai Lama Centre for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The theme of the one-week workshop is ‘Transform Yourself to Transform Others’. As part of this workshop students are encouraged to envision projects that they can then apply to make a positive impact on the world around them Some of the students decided to develop a project to help improve the lives of the people living in a nearby slum. Initially, five students visited the slum to investigate the main issues that the families were facing. From their interviews, they concluded that the main priorities were sanitation, health, and education. Since the students were not in a position to make financial contributions, they set about to collect old clothes and blankets from their fellow students which they then distributed to the slums. At the follow up workshop training, the students applied more analysis to their project to examine what would make the greatest difference with the resources available to them. They decided to focus their efforts primarily one ducation and to widen their area of engagement to a near by village. The CIHTS students met with the village leaders to discuss their ideas, and between them it was decided that the most beneficial focus would be to teach English to school age children. Thereafter, a group of seven to nine students began teaching English to these communities every Sunday. They encountered a number of challenges in their work, such as fluctuations in class attendance due to the itinerant nature of the poorer populations. The students continued to learn how to adapt the programme to the needs and realities of the situation. The Nirvana Group is currently expanding their network to form other member groups with students around the country as well as in Nepal.

The Buddhist Youth Association was founded on 07th October 2005 by the students with retired CIHTS professor, Geshe Yeshe Thapke, as the Advisor. The aim of the TBYA is to promote Buddhism through practical and accessible mediums. One of the main ways they do this is through the publication of simple introductory booklets in Tibetan. The topics covered in the booklets include background on the history of Tibetan Buddhism, the different Tibetan Buddhist schools, and the Jataka Tales–the stories about the previous lives of the historical Buddha. They also present the Buddha’s main teachings such as the Four Noble Truths, the Two Truths, Six Perfections, The Eight fold Path, Interdependence, Impermanence, Karma, and the meaning of Mantras. The books are distributed for a small donation to students and to gatherings of Tibetans at events such as the Kälacakra empowerments. Before a teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, members of the Association organize classes around the texts that are to be taught to help to prepare the students who are planning to attend. The Association invites scholars to give lectures to the CIHTS students, and provides support and guidance to students struggling with personal issues.

Tibetan Women’s Association, Varanasi, is one branch ofthe TWA, a non-governmental organization that has its headquarters in Dharmsala, Himachal Pradesh. The TWA was officially formed in Varanasi 2006 under the guidance and presence of Dolma Gyari, the former Minister of the Department of Home, Central Tibetan Administration. TWA-Varanasi branch holds various activities such as quiz contests, vocabulary competitions, and peace rallies to raise awareness about the situation of Tibet. During Tibetan Women’s Uprising Day on March 12′, the female students organize activities to commemorate the date when thousands of women took to the streets to protest the Chinese occupation of Lhasa in Tibet

VBSA is established in the year of 2022 under the registry of Royal Government of Bhutan. Currently there are eighteen active members linked up with our Association. All the students all related with various faculties such as Medicine,Arts and Buddhist philosophy. We control over the welfare of Bhutanese students and too entertain every citizen who visit our place with official or personal matters (pilgrimage,study,etc).

Goal : Students’ support as priority, placement after the completion of studies in various himalayan country and abroad. To serve for the institute and societies. Festival: Yearly we celebrate auspicious historical days like Blessed rainy day (Threubab) , National day (Dec 17) and 12th month losar of Tibetan calender.