Life Skills - and Well Being Summit

The International Adolescent Summit on Life Skills, Mental Health, Safety and Wellbeing 2022 was hosted by the National Life Skills, Value Education and School Wellness Programme of Expressions India, at the National Bal Bhavan from 15 to 17 December 2022.

The three day event celebrated the energy and enthusiasm of the youth. Students from schools across the country engaged in lively competition with each other, as they appreciated diversity of opinion and diverse ways of life.

A group of four student participants and three volunteers from our School attended the prestigious event. The group included Yashita Thakur (XI), Pearl Gupta (XI), Sejal Gupta (XI), Ritika Joshi (XI), Pooja Jha (XI), Mohini Kapoor (IX) and Samridh (IX). The event saw in attendance, participants from over 85 schools from across the country, representing states like Jodhpur, Gujarat and Assam, to name a few.

The first day began with the setting up of stalls for the exhibition. The theme of the exhibition was Emerging Best Practices. Thought provoking posters that brought out the essence of the theme were prepared by our team. The painting competition named Utopia saw beautiful artwork by the participants. Pearl Gupta expressed herself through her painting on the topic Changing World of Adolescence. Ritika Joshis powerful and confident speech at the Youth Parliament earned praises abundantly.

Meanwhile our volunteers were busy interacting with students from other schools, taking their feedback and helping the organisers.

The inaugural ceremony was held in the amphitheatre. The chief guests on the occasion were Ms L.S. Changsan, Joint Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, Dr Joseph Emmanuel, Director (Academics) CBSE, Dr Biswajit Saha, Director (Trainings & Skill Education) CBSE, Ms. Ramandeep Kaur Deputy Secretary (Academics) and Dr. Jitendra Nagpal (Director, Expressions India). The presence of the dignitaries was a great motivating force for the participants as they happily interacted with them and exhibited their work.

The ceremony commenced with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp followed by a performance by Padmashree Dr Shovana Narayan. A beautiful recital performed by her student, Ms Anupama, along with her disciple infused more energy into the high- spirited environment.

Events lined up for the second day included Nukkad Natak: Pathshala Nukkad Ki on contemporary themes, and preliminary rounds for the quiz Whiz Quiz. All the four participating students presented their views on the theme- Effects of Media on Mental Health where they strongly spoke about the positive and negative side of the media. Yashita Thakur took part in the quiz, while Sejal Gupta spoke about the exhibits in the stall. She also shared the various initiatives taken by our School to inculcate life skills anongst our students. Activities and initiatives like talks, group discussions, special assemblies, special days, co-curricular activities, sports, competitions, annual exhibition and the annual function were exhibited through posters.

Mr Rajat Sharma of Aap ki Adalat fame addressed the students and answered a variety of questions ranging from how he deals with anxieties, to coping with pressures, the role played by the media, and its influence o society. It was indeed a great pleasure to listen to a great orator that he is.

On day Three, guest of honour, Mr Manoj Hatoj, (incharge of drugs abuse prevention, National Institute of Social Defence, Ministry of Social Justice) informed the students about the Disability Act and twenty one disabilities like autism, dyslexia and transgender issues that have been notified under the act. He also shared the details of programmes undertaken by NISD, catering to senior citizens and the transgender community, school information programmes where students are made aware of the consequences of drugs with the help of mime shows, presentations and movies. Information about toll free helplines was also shared.

It was now time for the valedictory ceremony which saw Dr Rama Sharma, Head (Media and Public Relations), CBSE, as chief guest. Dr Rama Sharma is the brain behind the helpline called Manodarpan. In her address, she spoke about mindfulness, the significance of self- evaluation and the importance of meeting of peer educators on a regular basis to share experiences. A training manual was released based on school safety and wellbeing and how to make schools more effective in imparting life skills.

Our students received the Special Jury award in Nukkad