The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Parents’ concerns find voice at seminars in Capital
Smriti Kak

MOTHER'S Pride organised seminars on child development issues with more than 1,000 parents. These sessions were held in the Pitampura, Punjabi Bagh and Paschim Vihar branches. Queries related to parenting were answered, like whether a child should be punished and what is the role of the father in a child’s formative years.

A panel of experts who addressed the posers included Mrs Lata Vaidyanathan, Principal, Modern School, Barakhamba Road, Mrs Mohina Dar, Principal, Amity International, Noida, Mrs Vinita Kaul and Dr A. K. Sharma.

Mrs Vaidyanathan stressed that parents should play an active role in schooling. She emphasised that half the curriculum in schools should be life skill curriculum. Mrs Dar was of the opinion that parents should pay more attention to the upbringing of the children. She recommended that parents should not transfer their own anxieties to the child.

Dr Sharma said the influence and exposure that a child received in the early years were all important for shaping his life. One should not impose things on a child but should encourage his natural spirit of inquiry, he added.

Clinical psychologist Dr Aruna Broota told parents that one should be honest with the child and keep whatever commitment that one has made to the child. She added children should not be pressurised to perform since this hampered the child’s creativity.

Principal awarded

The Indian Society for Integrated Women and Child Development conferred the 2002 National Child Care Award on Mr S. S. Minhas, Principal, GHPS, Vasant Vihar, on the occasion of United Nations Universal Children’s Day.

A people’s charter for the survival, protection and development of children in the 21st century was presented in the form of a guide for private and public action in the interest of children with the assertion that mankind owes to the child the best that it has to give.

The agenda will be treated as a moral framework for children’s rights for the emergence of an international consensus for strengthened cooperation focussing on children.

Annual Day

Students of Bal Bhawan Senior Secondary School, Laxmi Nagar, give a performance at the annual function held at Kamani Auditorium.

Bal Bhawan Public School celebrated its annual day last week. A cultural programme was organised at Kamani Auditorium.

The function was a fusion of western and Indian classical music and dance programmes. Students from nursery to class V performed at the function. The audience appreciated the programme.

A student of class I who performed “Nanhi Gudiya ki Shaadi’ won applause. Senior students of the school put up a fashion show based on national integration.

The Principal, Ms S. Gupta, read out the annual report and highlighted the school’s achievements in the past 20 years.

Water Harvesting

Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj, in collaboration with the Education Environment Council for Children hosted a public hearing on water – a crisis to be reckoned with last week.

Amid chanting of Sanskrit shlokas, the Chief Minister, Ms Shiela Dikshit, inaugurated the school’s rainwater harvesting structure. Speaking on the occasion, she said, “We have grown up in the century of manufacturing and production, but the 21st century is the century of conservation of resources”. Ms Dikshit stressed the need to stop the use of plastic and appreciated the green environs of the school as well as the efforts made by the institution and the Environment Council in promoting the cause of environment.

Mr Narendra Kumar, Chairman, DPS Society, said, “The cause of the environment is our dharma”. The public hearing that followed was an enriching experience wherein the students from various schools interacted with a team of experts.

Parent support

A meeting of the parent support group was held at the special education centre of Sadhu Vaswani International School for Girls. The session started with a prayer and lighting of the lamp.

This was the third such meeting where parents met with the teachers and formulated ways for providing better education to the children with special needs.

Prof C. J. Daswani, academic adviser of the school, interacted with the parents and appreciated their participation. He said, “There is always strength in holding hands”. He added that the best that the parents could do is to become a part of their child’s life.

He said that teachers were only facilitators and that the parents were the best guides and teachers. They could do the needful in tapping the resources of the children. Stress was laid on providing vocational training to these girls, which would help them become financially independent.

Honing skills

Anurag and Abhishek, winners of the quiz competition held at Eicher School, Faridabad, with quiz master Nitin Arora.

Eicher School, Faridabad, organised a four-day inter-school competition, ‘Inspirations’. The school started the event last year. This was the second time that the school invited participation from other schools. The competition gave students a platform to display and hone their skills.

In the English debate, Sonia Malhotra of DAV, Sector 14, stood first, Deepak Singh of DAV Ballabgarh stood second, Anamika Sen Gupta of the host school and Abhay Verma of DPS came third.

In the poster making category, DAV, Sector 14, came first, followed by Apeejay and DAV, Ballabgarh. Eicher School came first in the quiz round, Modern Vidya Niketan was awarded the running trophy.

Shivani of DPS stood first in the elocution competition. Tanya of Ryan International and Kritika of Eicher came second and third, respectively.

In the declamation round, Ipshita Singh of MNV and Isha Kalra of Apeejay bagged the first two positions while Udit Bansal of Eicher and Manas of DAV, Sector 14, came third. In prose recitation Nanadan Vohra of Eicher came first and Harshdeep of Ryan International came second.

PRINCIPALSPEAK
Religion provides moral guidance

THE festival of Navratri was celebrated this month with great devotion and joy throughout the country. These celebrations were observed with the divine purpose of receiving the grace of the Almighty. On the 10th day was Dasehra, the day that denotes the success of good over evil. These festivities symbolise our deep faith in God and religion serves as an essential means to gain true wisdom.

However, in the present times, where science and technology are the determining modes of acquiring knowledge and there is a concentrated focus on materialistic growth, some people, especially youngsters, cynically reject religion and rituals.

Some sceptics also reject religion as the root of human misery and conflict, pointing out that more people have been killed in the name of religion than any other cause.

The truth, however, is that religion has never been the root of evil or miseries. To quote, “The problem of man has been man. Religion is but an instrument, man its wielder”. Like any other instrument or organisation it can be misused. Secondly, while our faith in God is not blind, it can be reasoned out. We often experience it as a source of strength, hope and inspiration.

God never betrays us, our heartfelt prayers are at once answered in the form of confidence, creativity and steadiness. Both science and spirituality are necessary for understanding reality. “Science explores knowledge of the physical world and helps us grow horizontally by improving the material quality of life”. However, it has its limitations and cannot provide inner satisfaction. “Religion invites us to grow vertically, exploring deeply love, devotion and contentment”.

Albert Einstein concluded that, “Science can denature plutonium but science cannot denature evil in the heart of man”. Thus, religion provides ethical and moral guidance.

Rituals are our expression of our deep faith and love for god. Just as a hug is a gesture of love, bowing our head, lighting the lamp are expressions of love and respect for God.

Arthur Koestler said, “Physics turns into metaphysics with a flavour of mysticism”. In science we use the world as our laboratory to gain knowledge. We also look inward into our inner world of ultimate reality and use it as the laboratory to understand total reality. “Universal well-being calls for integration of the two energy streams”. In this lies true wisdom and knowledge.

Madhu Chandra, Principal, Birla Vidya Niketan