Peer learning workshop

Teaching peers is one of the best ways to hone your mentorship skills and is also a fruitful way to learn more.

To promote mentoring programmes, Expression India organised National Mindsmart-2017 an adolescent peer educator- leadership course on life skills and well being. The motive of this was to build students into well being ambassadors for the nation and this was achieved using a variety of workshops across themes.

Reva Kalra (class XI), Khyati Karana (class XI), Aditi Verma (class X), Aryaman Shrama (class XI) and Priyansh Agarwal (class XI) of our School participated in this summit. Peer educators from various other schools also took part to train to be young tutors.

The programme commenced with a convocation ceremony on 21st November 2017 at the National Science Centre. Students shared their experiences and the role played peer educators in the areas specified. Avantika Chodha of class XI represented our School. Students were felicitated with awards and medals.

The first introductory session was organised at the National Science Centre in May 2017, to discuss common adolescent issues and concerns and life skills that can preempt problems in such issues.

The second session involved role play and canvas painting to illustrate coping with emotions and also suggesting gender sensitisation. A mixed group of students from different schools were randomly chosen and allotted different groups for this activity.

On 13th July we had a third workshop on drug abuse, pertinent to adolescents. While significant development occurs during teenage years. Occasionally precociousness too sets in. Students were allotted different groups and the topic for discussion was the various aspects of drug abuse. Role play, debate, art and slogan- writing were an effective way to brainstorm and build awareness about consequences, complications, myths and misconceptions of substance abuse. Students were commended for their impactful visual performances.

The fourth workshop was held on 11th August 2017. The theme for this session was family bonding and the importance of communication. Robust family communication helps us realise that whilst sweeping things under the rug may be easy, it's hardly a wise thing to do in the long run. Communication plays a critical role in family bonding and nurturing. Again the students were divided into groups and they expressed themselves through the medium of posters, plays and discussions. Dr. Jitender Nagpal, eminent psychologist spoke to explain how family dynamics flow especially in difficult family situations.

A majority of road accident victims can be saved within an hour of the accident if proper first aid measures are taken and that is why this life saving hour is called the golden hour. Realising the importance of first aid awareness, a fifth workshop was planned on 12th October 2017 at the National Science Centre. Children are highly vulnerable to injuries and a health emergency can occur at anytime and anywhere- therefore we must know how to provide immediate help in such situations.

A discussion was held on common medical emergencies, with valuable inputs from Dr. Jitender Nagpal. Students were shown demonstrations of immediate help that can be provided in critical situations, including CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) training. This training session was followed by individual presentations by all the groups, by turn, on first aid emergency situations.

This six month programme was a great eye opener. The workshops and sessions covered almost all aspects of a teenagers life. It was a great learning experience.

Aditi Verma 10 C.