Two students, Mayank Ahuja and Arav Dimri of class XI-D, represented our School at the 43rd Y. Kumar Student Award For International Understanding 2020 held at Springdales School, Pusa Road. The award was instituted by Shri .Y. Kumar, founder of Springdales Schools, who believed in a world of friendship and peace for children all over the world. The idea of instituting the award was to encourage young people to develop a spirit of internationalism and a global consciousness for the preservation of the environment.
This year the event was held on two days and attended by students of more than 20 schools of Delhi- NCR. Mothers International School, Cambridge School, Srinivaspuri and St. Thomas School were some of the schools that took part in the event. The contest was open to students of classes XI and XII and consisted of the following.
a. Written Essay on a topic related to internationalism and World Affairs.
b. Written Quiz on World Affairs.
c. Group Discussion
d. Personal Interview with the panel.
The Essay Writing and Written Quiz were conducted on 28 January. Our students were asked to choose a topic from a list that was provided to them which included topics like Dissent is the essence of demography, Climate change is a worldwide phenomenon-can humankind hope to resolve the issue?, Humanity is the only religion the world needs to practice: Is that so? and Borders and Walls Global Citizenship a paradox? Mayank chose to write on the topic - Netflix vs novels: Are readers becoming viewers? whereas Arav expressed his views on Is feminism irrelevant in the 21st century?
The quiz was based on the topics provided. It was a written quiz where each student had to answer MCQs and objective type questions.
The second part of the event, Group discussion and Personal interview were held on 2 February. The eminent panelists for the group discussion were Prof. Syed Irfan Habib ( Indian historian , intellectual and former member of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration), Prof. Chandrachur Singh (Assistant Professor Hindu College), Dr. Nirmalya Samanta (Member-Nominee of Society Springdales School Pusa Road and Associate Professor in English, University of Delhi), Mr Ajit Prakash Shah (Member Managing Board Springdales School Pusa Road) and Dr Ameeta Mulla Wattal (Principal, Springdales School Pusa Road).
[gallery link="file" order="DESC" columns="2"]
Each participant got a chance to present his views on the topics provided by the panel. The topics given to our students were Climate change is a worldwide phenomenon - can humankind hope to resolve the issue?, Social unrest the world over is a manifestation of rising inequalities and Humanity is the only religion that the world needs to practice. Our students spoke confidently by talking about the difficulties faced by an individual while trying to work towards issues affecting the environment and the role of policies and policy makers. They highlighted the need for collaboration and creating awareness to avoid social unrest. They also added that inequalities in society had made things difficult and that there was a need to remove such barriers. The other points mentioned by them were a discrimination based on religion and the need to rise above all prejudices.
Interaction with the panelists during the personal interview provided our students a chance to share their thoughts on topics like the administrative powers of authorities and their role in decision making. Such an opportunity enabled them to share their views on what they feel is needed to improve the present situation and to strengthen the political framework of the country.
The judges appreciated the efforts of our students and enlightened them by sharing valuable information on various topics.
The importance of holding such programmes to inculcate the spirit of peace, harmony and the need for international understanding among the youth can hardly be overemphasised. The event was truly an enriching and learning experience for our students.
In the Press
Admissions
