3rd CBSE Regional Life Skills, Values, Gender, School Health and Wellbeing Summit 2014.

The success and growth of each individual is the result of harmony between the various faculties that shape the personality. It is to facilitate growth in a positive manner in each individual, that life skills come into play.

The 3rd CBSE Regional Life Skills, Values, Gender, School Health and Wellbeing Summit 2014, organised by Expressions India and CBSE was held on 25th and 26th November 2014 at the National Science Centre. Bhumika Narang, Shubham Airi, Chinmaya Iyer and Pranati Haldia along with our school counsellor and psychology teacher, Ms. Sukhmeen Cheema attended the two-day conference. This proved to be a great platform to interact with students from other schools while fostering healthy competition, understanding and appreciation of diverse culture and opinion.

At the Global Health Exhibition, our School had a stall displaying the various activities being undertaken at our School to inculcate life skills in every student, while tackling adoloscent issues like bullying and pressure. Our shramdaan program was the highlight of the stall and was much appreciated by all visitors.

Bhumika represented our School in the 'On the Spot Painting Competition'. The topic chosen was 'Clean Minds, Clean India', and Bhumika perfectly captured the essence of the topic by not only depicting the physical 'cleanliness' which India is driving towards, but also the orientation of our citizens which needs to undergo 'cleansing' to help India progress.

Shubham Airi and Chinmaya Iyer prepared an English song titled 'Let Us Live In This World Together' which dealt with gender sensitization and questioned the stereotypical shackles that the society has imposed on both,males and females. It was greatly applauded by all, and was seen as an effective way to get a message across to the masses.

Pranati Haldia took part in the 'Wellness Elocution' wherein she spoke an extempore on the topic 'Every Genius was Once a Fool.' She spoke about the need in today's world to accept something which they did not deem as 'normal' just because it didn't match with their own thinking pattern, and henced alienated by stamping it as derogatory.

Shubham Airi and Pranati Haldia participated in the 'Adoloscent Whiz-Quiz' which covered the spectrum of common health and wellbeing issues that were spread across one's lifespan, with special emphasis on contemporary issues. They stood 6th amongst all the teams and were congratulated by all.

The whole team took part in the 'Thematic Jingle' competition wherein they enacted a short play with a powerful message so as to sensitize the public on the topic 'Equality Amongst Genders.' They also took part in the 'Youth Parliament' wherein they put forward their ideologies and opinions on a diverse range of topics, be it 'Skill Development for the 21st CE Youth', or 'Mental Wellbeing.'

The event was graced by Mr Vineet Joshi, Chairman CBSE, Dr Jitendra Nagpal, renowned psychologist and Program Director of Expressions India, and Ms Tania Joshi, Principal The Indian School. Mr Vineet Joshi talked about how lifeskills form an integral part of an individual's life, as they help propel him forward to reach the pinnacle of success. He congratulated us all on being a part of this splendid program which had committed itself to create responsible citizens who would be the torch bearers of tomorrow. Dr Jitendra Nagpal, on the other hand, asked us to not let the message dim out, but to spread it in our school by actively being a part of the 'Peer Education Program' and conduct workshops, assemblies and talks. He felt that the future of India was in safe hands, and applauded us for our undying zeal. Ms Tania Joshi stressed upon the need of life skills to be included in every school's syllabus and added that in today's fast paced world, it is imperative that we don't forget our moral values and stand for what we think is right.

Our hard work paid off, and our team received 'The Special Jury Award' for the Regional Conference. We prided ourselves on representing our school on a platform like this, and now eagerly looking forward to the International Summit to be held in the second week of December 2014.