EDUCATION

SCHOOL BUZZ
Delhi kids to crusade for environmental cause abroad
Smriti Kak

Three students from the Capital have been chosen to represent the country at the International Children’s Summit, scheduled to be held in Johannesburg.

These children will join seven more children selected from all over the country to represent India at the Johannesburg festival later this year. Alysha and Nupur along with Azam have been chosen from the Capital by Navdanya to present India’s environmental cause abroad.

Navdanya, an NGO, had organised children’s Eco-Camp to create more awareness about environmental issues among schoolchildren. Participating children at the Eco-Camp were from Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttaranchal, Kolkata, Delhi and Haryana. In addition to kids from well-known public schools and government schools, there were kids from underprivileged backgrounds who live on the street who were also made part of the activities.

During a meeting with Alysha and Nupur we found out more about these environmental crusaders. Both the girls feel strongly about environment. “Along with a friend I had made a board game on environment where the winners went to good earth and the losers, who could not answer the questions, were dumped on the bad part of the earth. It was after this game that we got selected for the camp organised by Navdanya”, recalls Alysha, a class eight student of Shri Ram School.

Alysha believes that the trip taught her facts about nature that she did not know. “We were taught so much about organic farming and farming in general that we did not even know about”. Nupur, a class nine student of St. Mary’s chips in.: “We got to meet students from across the country even from the rural areas. It was a real eye opener as we could not even imagine that some of these rural kids were so talented”.

While both the girls have been part of the environmental drives held in their respective schools; they rue the fact that like them most of the students are not interested and aware of environmental issues. “People are not aware, there is a need to make them understand that environmental issues are of paramount importance”, said both.

The girls are busy in collecting information about the problems being faced by the people in their neighbourhood. “We have to collect information about what are the problems being faced by the people in the neighbourhood and what we can do to solve those. When we meet the other children in Johannesburg, we will share the information with them and exchange ideas about other issues and what can be done to solve them”, offer Nupur and Alysha.

The girls confess that it is generally the youngsters who listen and pay attention to the cause. “Adults are dismissive, they want to shift the responsibility on to the government’s shoulders, while our peers are hardly interested, it is the youngsters who listen when we talk.”

Both these girls are aware of the responsibilities that they shoulder and would like the others to come forward and share the responsibility.

Here’s wishing them luck and wish fulfilment.

Summer camp

Amity International, Noida, held a week-long summer camp that offered a plethora of activities aimed at a holistic development of the child.

Children took part in activities like skating, face painting, needle work, craft and computers. Besides this, the students took part in tasty bites, where they had to rustle up some mouth-watering delicacies. For the middle school students, there was an opportunity to hone their histrionic abilities through a theatre workshop conducted by Sukeshwar Arora, a well-known theatre personality.

The camp ended with the students putting up a cultural programme for the parents, where they were also given a chance to savour the delights prepared by their little ones.

PRINCIPALSPEAK
The ennobling power to make a difference

I sometimes feel powerless and small, overwhelmed and inadequate, engulfed in thoughts and feelings that perhaps what I am doing is insignificant, that my life’s pursuits, that my teaching is futile.

I say who am I to change the world? Who am I to think that I can make a difference?”

Such thoughts are not uncommon. In fact, it is easy for most of us to identify with the diffidence and frustration experienced by this teacher. We all nurture ideals and dreams of making a difference and bringing recognisable changes in our own spheres. When we do not find any observable impact of our work, we are filled with despair. Our task and efforts appear meaningless, routine and unrewarding. Then, we suffer the worst bankruptcy – a loss of enthusiasm.

So, it is time to reflect and think about our role and power, if any, we have in our given spheres of work.

“God grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the thing I can, And the wisdom to know the difference.”

This thought becomes inspirational and we realise that we are not devoid of resources or strength and are indeed endowed with talent, ability and strength. All we need to do is change ourselves, before we set out to charge others. The frustrations come when we don’t change ourselves to suit the requirements of job, fail to relate to needs of the students or relate with our colleagues at work place. If we fine-tune ourselves to the work in hand, we will feel richly rewarded. It is important to remember that you are not a drop in the ocean, whose presence in the vast waters is neither felt nor needed, in fact you are that drop which is essential to the ocean and enriches it.

We must perceive our work, however small, as all-important and give it the best we have. We must bring the ‘rainbow’ to our job and make it vibrant. Pablo Casals, the world famous cellist, told his student to make her music come alive. He said, “Bring to it the rainbow – always the rainbow”. When she finally did, her face lighted up in pure joy. She had made a difference to her performance, which won her great appreciation; to the music she played and to her own esteem. This ‘all-out effort’ may take a little more out of you, but it makes you experience elation, pride, relief and life is never quite the same.

People often keep waiting for a big break to make a big difference and miss the small opportunities that abound. These too hold tremendous potential to bring about the charges we seek to bring about. Some of the tasks may seem thankless, but if they are consistently done, they bring recognition and satisfaction. Even a good cobbler is wooed by a large number of customers because of his work perfection.

“The material world is stubborn and chaotic”. All of us feel the urge to impose some order in our field and make a difference. In this, we discover ourselves.

Thus, the teacher, who had felt powerless and insignificant while reflecting on her power in relation to her students, realised that she had awesome power.

“If I succeed I pass knowledge about what is important to the next generation, and because their world will be better for my labour, mine is an important service to just cause. Mine is a present power and a future power. If I can reach the children of today, I touch the children of tomorrow….”

So, when you feel puny and insignificant – remember that all it takes is one person to make a difference. And there is no reason in the world that the person cannot be ‘You’.

Madhu Chandra Principal, Birla Vidya Niketan