45th NPSC Annual Conference

The 45th NPSC ( National Progressive Schools Conference) annual conference was held on 16th and 17th February,2018 at the India International Centre. Eminent personalities from the fields of education, literature, theatre and the performing arts graced the occasion. Ms Suman Aswal and Ms. Suhina Roshangar represented our School. The conference spread over 2 days was divided into 8 sessions. The theme for this year was Leadership for a vibrant school culture.

The inaugural session commenced at 8:30 in the morning. The invocation song was sung beautifully by the choir of the Holy Child Senior Secondary School, Tagore Garden. The lamp lighting ceremony was followed by a welcome address by Ms. Sadhana Bhalla, chairperson NPSC and Principal, Mira Model School, Janakpuri.

Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha addressed the gathering and spoke about increasing the rate of literacy in our country by educating the girl child. He laid emphasis on important parameters like equity wherein good education must be made available to the underprivileged. Mr. Tharoor with his oratory skills, a cheerful disposition and sense of humour had the audience glued to its seats.

Derk Seegar, Director, United Nations Information Centre for Bhutan and India was the Guest Of Honour and released the UNIC-NPSC calendar for 2018-19.

The plenary address on leadership matters, Mindfulness in education was made by Dharmacharya Shantam Seth, Founder, the Ahimsa Trust. He talked about the essence of mindfulness in the field of education and cited depression as one of the biggest causes of all ailments. He explained how our mobile phones can act as meditative tools. He simply said that we must allow our phones to ring atleast 3 times. Upon hearing the phone ring for the first time, one must suspend all work and disengage himself from all activities. On the second ring, one must take a deep breath and make a conscious effort to hear the breath. On the third ring, one must smile and then proceed to attend to the phone call.

The inaugural session ended with Dr. Rajesh Hasija, vice chair, NPSC and Principal, Indraprastha International School, Dwarka presenting the vote of thanks.

Session 1: Ethical Leadership- Moral purpose of leadership

After the tea break, the first session saw a group of eminent panelists-Lt. Gen. S.S Mehra. ( military strategist and Director General, CII), Mr. AK. Pandey, Principal Ahlcon International School, Mayur Vihar, Ms. Malini Narain, Principal, Army Public School, Shankar Vihar and Ms. Indu Khetarpal, Principal Salwan Public Shool, Rajender Nagar.

Gen. Mehra highlighted the differences between the last and present generations and emphasised upon the inculcating of qualities of team spirit, sportsmanship and leadership in children. He stated how the teacher-child-parent relationship has evolved and the needs of children have undergone a great change Teachers have to be ready to take up new challenges today he said.

Session 2: Leading an energised institution. Speakers here were Mr. Devdutt Pattanaik, ( mythologist and writer), Mr. Laksh Vir Sehgal, Principal, Bal Bharti Public School, Ganga Ram Hospital Marg, Dr. D.K. Pandey, Principal, N.C Jindal Public School, Punjabi Bagh and Dr. Hemlata S. Mohan, Principal, Delhi Public School, Bokaro.

Mr. Pattanaik stressed on the importance of responsibility and the need to make our students responsible citizens. He defined education as enabling people to be responsible for their actions. He spoke extensively on teaching children critical empathy with critical thinking and how we must focus on teaching children to ask questions rather than just listening and following whatever is being taught to them. Two key terms Ranbhoomi and Rangbhoomi were discussed. Mr. PAttanaik spoke about how the education system is being turned from a competitive eco system (Ranbhoomi) to a performance based system i.e Ranghbhoomi. He explained that in an education system, working on the lines of a Ranbhoomi each child strives to be better than others whereas, in the case of Rangbhoomi, each child works to discover his own potential. His talk drew us to introspect.

Session 3: Interpreting safety in schools and conflict resolution-The Walk: A performance by Ms. Maya Krishna Rao

A scintillating performance by Ms. Rao was based on the ill famous Nirbhaya case incident that took place in 2012. The performance spoke about gender equality and sensitivity. It depicted the dilemma that goes on in the minds of teenagers when they are confronted with difficult situations. The moderator for the session was Dr. Annie Koshy, Principal, St. Marys School, Safdarjung Enclave. Ms. Koshy who posed questions about the performance to moderate the brainstorming on ways to help students resolve conflicts.

Session 4: Collaborative communities of learning The panelists were Mr. Bezwada Wilson, Magsaysay Awardee and Ms. Merry Barua, Director, Action For Autism and Ashoka Fellow. Mr Wilson belongs to a family of manual scavengers and he articulated his views on the importance of treating all people equally by providing the same rights to all citizens irrespective of caste, creed, race and religion.

Day 2 Session 5: Curriculum leadership: creating a climate of change conducive to learning and professional growth

Speakers: Ms. Abha Adams and Dr. Sumer Singh (eminent educationists) Ms. Adams began the session by making an impactful statement- a thinking mind is very important to enable a child grow up into an educated, responsible human being. She emphasised that we must continuously incorporate learning into teaching. She shared her experience of having designed activities that a teacher can undertake to get herself quickly accepted in a new school. She added how a conducive working environment was essential in contributing to the growth of a child.

Dr. Singh then took the podium and spoke about how, apart from academic skills, values are very important. He reflected upon the legal premises on which a school runs.

Session: 6 Inculcating a spirit of innovation, social responsibility and citizenship among the youth.

We were shown an inspirational documentary film titled No Problem. This film made by Ms. Yasmin Kidwai seeks to design a social impact campaign that will ensure that the issue at hand becomes easily visible to the nation.

India has 18,452 villages that have no electricity. By partnering with Barefoot College the government, UN agencies, NGOs, community based organizations and corporates we will not only be able to light villages and empower women but help create sustainable communities., as per the film. The film is based on the Prime Ministers vision of Surya Putra Rashtra which calls for every household to be lit up with solar energy by 2020.

Session 7: Leadership for cultural progressiveness

Artist: Mr. Gary Jones and the Yuppets

After the inspiring documentary, world famous puppetry artist Mr. Gary Jones and his Yuppets (Young Urban Professional Puppets) staged put an act which carried the message that young children need to rise above all discriminations based on culture and colour. He laid emphasis on the fact that the influence of a teacher is not confined to the classroom but long beyond. Gary rightly said that, art speaks directly to our souls...it is from this place that we can begin again in joy.

Session 8: Creating a Culture of commitment Panelists: Dr. Amar Kumar Pandey, IPS, Mr. C.V Srikanth, motivational speaker, Dr. Ruchi Seth, Principal Lotus Valley International School, NOIDA, Ms Minakshi Kushwaha, Principal, Birla Vidya Niketan, Pushp Vihar and Ms. Sharmila Raheja, Joint Secretary, NPSC and Principal, Uttam School for Girls, Ghaziabad.

Dr. Pandey expressed his views on how educationists can create a culture of commitment. He began by defining the term commitment and ways to teach children to be committed to a particular task. Mr. C.V Srikanth, motivational speaker, then presented his views on creating a culture of commitment. He said that a goal is first vital in order to be committed to doing anything. According to him, a clear goal requires the three Rs namely Resolve, Responsibility and Respect. He also mentioned that a person possesses 3 temperaments social, spiritual and intellectual and that the spiritual quotient is equal to the sum of the intelligence and emotional quotients. His speech, though brief, was an eye-opener as it stressed upon creating spiritual awareness and enabling children to discover themselves, as the fundamental goal of teaching.

The valedictory session was led by Ms. Seema Jerath, Principal, DLF Public School, Ghaziabad. Ms. Jerath began by giving an overview of the previous days proceedings. The highlight of that session was an address by Mr. Bibek Debroy, Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India. He defined leaders as people who have always done something different and have had the courage to travel the path less travelled. His idea of literacy was that the quality of education should never drop below the threshold.

The chief guest of the session Padma Shri Syeda Hameed brought to light the economic disparity in our country and the plight of marginalised communities. She concluded her short speech by quoting lines from an Urdu piece which threw light on the subject.c