The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

SCHOOLBUZZ
Cultural show honours Mont Fort Brothers
Smriti Kak

On the occasion of the centenary celebrations of Mont Fort School, Ashok Vihar, 1,500 students of the school presented a cultural programme, titled ‘Towards a just society’. The programme was presented to commemorate the arrival of the first three members of the Mont Fort Brothers of St Gabriel in the school.

The chief guest on the occasion was the Chief Minister of Delhi, Ms Sheila Dikshit. In her address she said, “I am very delighted to learn that Mont Fort is one of the 150 schools that this society diligently built towards providing not only quality education in Delhi, but also for introducing new methods of teaching and adopting the latest techniques from all over the world to promote humanitarian causes, the underprivileged in 25 corners of the country.”

Ms Dikshit also praised the school’s endeavour in providing free education to 500 underprivileged children in the afternoon shift.

Paying fees through ICICI

Bal Bharti Public School claims to have worked out a strategy to relieve parents from the laborious task of having to go to school to pay the fees.

The school has tied up with ICICI’s Bill Junction payments limited for automated collection of school fees from the parents.

Now, the parents have to give a one-time standing instruction mandate to bill Junction towards fee payment and they in turn will take the money from the accounts of the parents and deposit it with the school.

Bal Bhavan’s love for the national language

Bal Bhavan Public School has taken the onus of promoting Hindi, the national language.

The school had visitors from Russia, Dr P. A. Barannikov and Mr Himanshu Joshi, Hindi litterateur. The former has translated the Ramcharitrmanas into Russian and believes that Hindi has touched the hearts of many Russians.

The visitors also appreciated the ‘Dreamland’ created on the school premises and hoped to spend more time in the Lagan Kala Upvan.

Annual day

The Minister of State for Health, Dr A. K. Walia, acknowledged the contribution of public schools for the development in the educational front. Dr Walia said that the credit for providing education to the residents of East Delhi goes both the government as well as public schools.

He was speaking on the occasion of the second annual day function of Divine Public School, West Angad Nagar. A free medical check-up camp was also organised on the occasion.

Vehicle donated

Ritu Suri of Step by Step Nursery School handing over a three-wheeler to Dr S. Y. Devi of Jim Brown Animal Welfare Foundation.

Ms Ritu Suri, founder and vice-president of Step by Step Nursery School, handed over a CNG operated three-wheeler to the Jim Brown Animal Welfare Foundation (JBF) on behalf of the Firodia Trust.

The vehicle will be used as a mobile animal clinic.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Suri said that the act was in compliance with the Firodia trust’s endeavour to make the world a better place for animals.

The JBF is a registered trust that was formed to help improve the health and welfare of street and stray animals.

PRINCIPALSPEAKS
Nothing worthwhile comes in life
without a struggle

The path to success is full of obstacles that need to be overcome. It is these trials that prepare us for the gains in life. Triumphs don’t come without effort and success is not measured by our position in life but by the obstacles we overcome to get there. It is measured not only by how high we go up in life, but by how many times we bounce back when we fall down. It is our resilience that sets us apart.

An English proverb says, “A smooth sea never made a skilful mariner”. Life is a continuous struggle, where each experience makes us gain in strength and grow wiser. A beautiful story ‘The trials of a Tea Cup’, by an unknown writer, has been an unfailing source of inspiration for me whenever I have faced a storm in life. It has made me set my eyes on the safe shores and overcome the threatening waves courageously.

This is how the story goes:

“I haven’t always been a tea cup. There was a time in my life when I was just a lump of clay. Then my master took me and began to pat and mould and shape me. It was very painful and I begged him to stop, but He only smiled and said, “Not yet”. Then he placed me on a spinning wheel and I went round and round. I got so sick that I thought I wasn’t going to make it, but then he finally let me off. Just as I thought I was going to be all right, my master put me in an oven. I didn’t understand why he wanted to burn me. I yelled and begged for him to stop. He only smiled, shook his head and said, “Not yet.”

Finally, when he took me out of the oven I sighed with relief. But, all of a sudden, my master picked me up and started sanding and brushing me. He took a paintbrush and started painting colours all over me. The fumes were strong. I thought I would pass out. I pleaded with him to stop, but he smiled and said, “Not yet!” Then he placed me in another oven. This was twice as hot as the first. I knew I would suffocate. I begged and pleaded and cried, but he only smiled and said, “Not yet!” I lost hope. I couldn’t take it anymore. It was all over for me. Then the door swung open and my Master said, “Now!” He placed me on a shelf and brought a mirror and told me to look. I could not believe my eyes. I was a beautiful teacup.

Then the master explained, “I want you to understand that I knew it hurt when I patted and moulded you. I knew the spinning wheel made you sick. But if I had left you alone, you would be just a lump of clay. You would not have had a personality in your life. If I had not baked you, you would have crumbled. I knew it really bothered you to be brushed and painted, but if I hadn’t, you wouldn’t have had any colour in your life. Oh how I knew the second oven was hard for you! But you see if I had not put you there, you would not have lasted, so you would not have survived very long. So you see, when you thought it was all so hard, I still had you in my care. I knew all along what you would be today. I had the finished product in my mind from the day I first touched you.”

That’s how we all have been created - to struggle and achieve. Right from the beginning a child has to struggle to crawl, to stand, to walk, to talk by himself. Even the most doting parents, at best, can only assist the child. He alone can master these. These are the first lessons of life that clearly indicate that nothing worthwhile in life comes without a struggle.

Madhu Chandra, Principal, Birla Vidya Niketan