Talent festival and to docs with love

Gokhale Memorial Girls' School organised their inter-school fest Tanjam on July 26 and 27. The theme of the event was Looking at the Future. The school hosted 13 other institutions from all over the city on both days.

The competitions included music (vocals), science model-making, mask-making and debate.

Day I saw students taking part in vocal music and science model-making competitions. The music session had two categories — junior and senior. While the juniors sang the evergreen numbers of musician Salil Chowdhury, the seniors dabbled with folk fusion.

The judge for the event was Antara Salil Chowdhury, the legendary musician's daughter and an alumnus of the host school. Other judges were singer Sidhu (Siddhartha Sankar Ray) from the Bengali band Cactus and interior designer Sutapa Choudary.

Delhi Public School, Joka, came first in the junior category, while the hosts won the first prize in the senior category.

Delhi Public School, Joka, became the Champion of Champions in Vocal Music.

Participants of the science model-making contest were required to make a working model, demonstrating the generation of non-conventional current. Jyotirmoy Public School earned the top position, while the host school bagged the runner-up trophy.

Day II saw students from different schools taking part in debate and mask-making. The motion of the debate was: "Violent video games contribute to youth violence". The moderator was author Pradeep Gooptu of Calcutta Debating Circle.

Suhina Sarakar of Delhi Public School, Joka, won the best speaker award from the proposition side, while Nava Nalanda's Ritobroto Das bagged the best speaker award from the opposition. Shri Shikshaytan School won the champion shield, while the host school came first runner-up.

The hosts, however, won the mask-making competition followed by Delhi Public School, Joka, and Salt Lake Shiksha Niketan as joint second.

"The main purpose of Tanjam is to nurture budding talents. The future generations got the opportunity to share their views, thoughts and ideas, and we were enriched by their presence," said Gokhale Memorial Girls' School principal Indrani Mitra.

M.P. Birla Foundation Higher Secondary School

The Primary section of M.P. Birla Foundation Higher Secondary School celebrated Van Mahotsav with gusto in the first week of July. To spread the message of rapid deforestation, the children used art to spread awareness.

Lower Kindergarten tots wore attractive headbands, made of paper leaves. Class I students took a green pledge and tied green ribbons on their friends’ wrists, promising to protect the greenery all around them as a team. Children of Class II engaged in a fun activity where they collected different types of dried leaves and made a collage of them on paper. Pupils from Class III brought their favourite pot of plants to the school and exchanged those with their classmates to spread festive cheer. Students from Class IV wrote slogans to protest against the felling of trees, while the green soldiers of Class V made posters for the protest.

“We have been celebrating this festival for over 15 years now. Celebrations like Van Mahotsav, Earth Day, Global Tigers Day are required to spread awareness among the children. There are landslides, heavy rains and many more natural calamities all around us. All this is due to the environment — none is paying any attention to the flora and fauna. So, it is important to make the children aware of the importance of trees and animals,” said vice-principal Sravani Roy Choudhury.

Seth Soorajmull Jalan Balika Vidyalaya

Students of Seth Soorajmull Jalan Balika Vidyalaya learnt the importance of fitness as they celebrated sports week on the school grounds from June 17 to 22.

The week was packed with sporting events. The students of Classes VI to IX began with yoga, marking International Yoga Day. There were many inter-house contests that saw the girls giving off their best.

The students, here, are encouraged to practise yoga every day for a healthy body and mind. They also have a yoga club. Participants from various classes were trained to perform a range of asanas for a year, so that they can reach a certain level of flexibility. The enthusiastic girls displayed these asanas at the competition.

The sports week continued with kho-kho and basketball matches for the students.

“The best age to start with yoga is when you are young and flexible. Students of our school are encouraged to embrace yoga for a healthy life. You can develop self-discipline and self-awareness from yoga if practised regularly. We have a yoga club under the guidance of Bengal coach Sankari Sanati. This year, we planned to inaugurate our sports week with International Yoga Day and an inter-house competition followed by kho-kho and basketball. We have been witnessing girl power in the fields of sports. I have a dream for my girls as well,” said principal Nupur Banerjee.

Bishop George Mission School

A small group of students from Classes VII and VIII of Bishop George Mission School celebrated Doctor's Day with medical practitioners at B.P. Poddar Hospital and Medical Research. The students made a round of various departments of the hospital and then felicitated and thanked the doctors for their services at a simple event.

The event aimed at creating awareness about the importance of health care and encouraging students to acknowledge the efforts of the doctors under the most trying circumstances.

The students also interacted with a few doctors and tried to understand the pressure of their job. The children also shared their views on the health system.

"We have organised this event for two years consecutively. It aims at making our students grateful for the services of the medical professionals and getting an idea of the pressures of their job. There are many students in our school, who dream of becoming doctors one day. An interaction with doctors motivates them," said school rector Niraj Jaiswal.