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‘Children’s Parliament’ to assess implementation of right to education New Delhi, November 9 UNESCO convenes the HLG meeting to track progress on the ‘Education for All’ (EFA) goals, agreed by 181 countries during the World Education Forum in Dakar, 2000. The meeting is mandated to serve as a lever for political commitment and as “an opportunity to hold the global community to account for commitments made in Dakar”. The ‘Children’s Parliament’ is intended to give children their chance to “hold the global community to account” at this critical international event in world wide EFA planning. The Parliament will act as a platform for children to present their views and exchange ideas, giving them an opportunity to demand that the unfulfilled promises on Education for All are met and ensuring that their voices and experiences have the chance to be heard at the highest level of decision making on EFA. |
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SCHOOL BUZZ The annual three-day children’s function organised by Kamlesh Shashtri, District Child Welfare Officer, Faridabad, and R.B. Rohilla, Program Officer, was held between November 4 and 6, at Bal Bhawan Palwal under the aegis of Haryana State Child Welfare Council, Faridabad.
The event was inaugurated by Ms Neerja Malik, Chairman, District Child Welfare Council Officer, Faridabad, with lighting of the lamp. Among those present were Trilok Chand Gupta (Retd.), B.E.O. Approximately 400 students from various schools participated in the events aimed at teaching them patience, presence of mind, team spirit, discipline and bring about all-round development. Vipul Gupta, Kavita Sharma, Isha stood first, second and third in the writing competition for group I to VI classes, in the group VI to IX classes, Rahul Sharma, Sanjana Vashishsth, Inderjit, won the top prizes while in the group X to XII classes the prizes went to Kajal Aggarwal, Sonam Tewatia and Manish. In the drawing painting competition, Meenakshi, Saourv Mittal and Komal Kapoor were adjudged first, second and third in group I to VI and in the group for VI to IX, Karan Arora, Lalit Kumar and Lal Chand Tewatia were the prize winners. In the folk song category, the prizes in the group VI to IX were bagged by Karan Arora, Kanika and Ekta, in the senior group Nidhi Sehrawat and Braham Dutt were the winners. In the Junior Group Dance, Saraswati Sen, Sec. School, Palwal and DAV School Palwal stood first and second and in the Senior Group Dance, Saraswati Sen. Sec. School, Palwal and Green Wood Sen. Sec. School, Palwal won the prizes.
In the Fancy Dress category, the top prizes were won by Deep Chand Sharma, Tinkle and Jitender. In the second category, the prizes went to Kanchan, Narender and Ila, while in the senior group Shubhkit, Kishan and Gulshan were the winners. Sports day Little Balloons Nursery School, Kohat Enclave, Pitampura organised the sports day. Students participated in various events, including spoon and lemon race, sack race and drill. Dressed in colourful costumes, the children put their best to win the races. Giving away the prizes to the students, the Principal, Ms L. Riar, spoke on the need to encourage children to participate in various activities including sports for their all-round development.
Small Wonder Small Wonder play school organised a cultural show. Dressed in their colourful bright, the children participated in various events including dance and singing. There was also a presentation by children on animals and plants, with some children even dressed as elephants.
School quiz The National Finals of the All NTPC school quiz, titled, ‘Medha Pratiyogita 2003’, saw quiz master Derek O’Brien hurl bouncers at the teams from over 50 schools located in 20 NTPC projects. The final round has both audio video clips as well as oral questions. Anta and Unchahar project came first and second in the junior level, while Korba and Talcher were first and second in the middle level. In the senior level, the first two positions were bagged by Tanda and Corporate Centre. CMD, NTPC, Mr C. P. Jain, and Director, HR, K. K. Sinha, gave away the prizes.
Nurturing Tomorrow SOS Children’s Village announced the launch of ‘SOS CVI Nurturing Tomorrow 2003’, a unique concept aimed at providing direct and indirect care to more than two lakh children. The event will entail four workshops in association with the Clowns R US, a leading theatre production house. The workshops will provide a forum for country’s leading rights from different spheres to interact with children from SOS CVI villages and help them realise their talents and aspirations.
Techno talent
As many as 150 students from over 20 schools participated in the first ever TechnoTalent organised in Sanskriti School by San Francisco-based FutureSchools that promotes a holistic approach to teaching Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Organised alongside was ‘Futurecast’ a workshop for teachers of these schools to use ICT in teaching Arts, Science and Social Studies. The award winners will be announced at a special function later this month.  |
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PRINCIPALSPEAK At the behest of CBSE, this week we focused on ‘corruption’ – its causes, facets, outcome and the suggestions to firmly root it out. It is indeed heartening that the younger generation showed an aversion to it and was willing to be a part of a movement to eradicate it. An understanding of this moral issue is vital for the health of our nation. Corruption is an evil weed and its seeds need to be destroyed at the very outset. Today, we know that the cankerous roots of corruption have entrenched themselves firmly in all walks and levels of life. Who is responsible for this? Often the sheer scale and magnitude of the problem encourages superficial minds to be satisfied with the notion that corruption has and will always be with us. The oily politician, the morally bankrupt policemen, the wheeling dealings, black marketers, the scamsters have all become accepted figures. Corruption has managed to thrive because of human ‘greed’ and aspiration for ‘power’. While the newspapers are replete with ‘Tehelkas’ and ‘Watergates’ and cases of an unholy nexus between the underworld and powerbrokers, even sports are not spared. In a corrupt system, laws are made for self-interest and not for public interest, and corrupt and incompetent people get appointed to positions of power. Public revenues are misappropriated and rules are bent and flouted with contempt. When corruption becomes a wary of life, sadly, freedom loses its meaning for we are in the grips of this vice. When a jellyfish swallows a snail, because of its shell, the snail stays protected and alive inside the jellyfish. To sustain itself, the snail starts eating the jellyfish from inside and keeps growing. Gradually, it consumes the entire jellyfish, till it is no more, corruption does the same. It eats the society from within till it becomes hollow. The truth is that each one of us is responsible for letting corruption thrive, for if we had the courage to stand up against it, to firmly address it we would have managed to weed it out. Instead of shrugging one’s shoulders, slandering or simonising we need to needles our own conscience and ‘act’ in accordance. Next time resist the temptation to buy cinema tickets in black, just to jump the long queue. There was a man who thought that if he pinched a little wheat from different farms, the other farmers would not notice it, while he would have a big pile for himself. So, he told his daughter to stand guard while he stole the wheat. Every time he tried to steal his daughter shouted, “Dad, someone is watching you”. He quickly ran out, but he saw no one. When this happened for the third time, the farmer was enraged. He asked her why she kept warning him, even though there was no one. She replied, “Dad, there is someone who is always watching you from above and that is God.” Thus, it is important to remember that people, who betray others, actually betray their conscience first. To exploit the unfortunate, the helpless and innocent is evil and shows that lacks humanness. So to win this battle, we need to create strong and honest leadership, check the lure of easy money and power, build a strong moral character, seek transparency and accountability and be prepared to make sacrifices. We need to say ‘No’ once and for all times. Madhu Chandra, Principal, Birla Vidya Niketan |
Tyagi honoured with ‘Etawa Hindi Sewa Nidhi’ Ghaziabad, November 9 The function was presided over by the Chief Justice of India, Justice V. N. Khare, while the UP Chief Minister, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Mizoram Governor, Mr Amolak Rattan Kohli, the UP Assembly Speaker, Mr Kesri Nath Tripathi, the Union Minister of State for Home, Swami Chinmaya Nand and Chief Justice Allahabad High Court, Tarun Chatterjee, were also present on the occasion. “Tyagi’s books are extremely valuable and his 4-volume on Indian Penal Code is superior to the other English books on the subject, said Justice Prem Shankar Gupta, a retired Judge of the Allahabad High Court. Mr S. P. Tyagi has authored over 20 books on various issues, many of them running into 400-plus pages in English and Hindi. His law books are known for their simple and easy-to-understand language. His books on IPC, ‘Principles of Remand, Bail and Hand Cuffing” and “Criminals Trial” are among the landmark publications. Vishnu Prabhakar, Shambu Nath, IAS, and Dr Naresh Chander Mishra were other authors who were honoured by the ‘Etawa Hindi Sewa Nidhi’ this year. “My concept is very clear, liberty of individual is a matter of great constitutional importance in our system of governance, but there should be a balance between individual liberty and larger interests of the society,” Mr Tyagi told The Tribune. Apart from the different states of India, Mr Tyagi’s books are in great demand in Nepal, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Mauritius, Pakistan, Bangladesh, UK, USA, Kenya and South Africa. |
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