A trek to Nagtibba - A Report

 On October 19th, 13 girls of Hopetown Girls' School along with 2 teachers went for a trek to Nagtibba.   The group left on 19th morning at 6 O'clock with each girl carrying a rucksack and a bag pack. As we commenced our journey our first stop was ‘the Maggie point’. We had our breakfast which consisted of parathas and paneer. We ordered tea for everybody and that was the best breakfast ever had. As we continued we reached Thatyur village. We stopped there to buy some necessary ration. The people of the village were very warm and welcoming.  

Our final stop was Devalsari at 1 O'clock.  Devalsari was our camp site so we all packed ourselves with our bag packs and rucksacks. We rented a mule to carry our utensils and food. As our camp site was on the other hill, so we had to trek all the way to our camp site.  As we reached there we started pitching our tents.  As we finished the chore our lunch was ready for us.  The menu was decided by the students so it was dal – chawal for our meal.  Later in the evening as we had our tea we went for a walk in the forest.  We came back before the sunset and sat around the bonfire  chit – chatting. 

Next day we were all up by 4:30 AM to cook our breakfast and lunch for the main trek.  Our destination was  ‘Nagtibba’.  With a cup of tea we started our trek.  On the way we had chocolates, glucose, sang songs. At the first stop which was after trekking for 6-7 kilometers, we had our breakfast. When we reached nagtibba  we had our lunch and our guide told us that we have trekked for 18 kilometers. In total we trekked for 36 kilometers and reached our campsite at 6 P.M.  As we reached back we were very tired so we decided to sleep but our teachers told us to cook the dinner and told us that if we would have slept that time our bodies would have gone very stiff. We had Maggie for supper.   

21st October was the last day and we all realized how much we all will miss this.  This was the best trek ever.  It made every individual strong mentally and physically and lest us with a never ending craving for adventure. 

Thank you IAYP!  

National Training Workshop at Good Shepherd School, Ooty

A great day at Good Shepherd School, Ooty! Lots of activities, exchange of ideas and fun. Looking forward to the next few days and the learning.

National Training Workshop at Good Shepherd School, Ooty

A great day at Good Shepherd School, Ooty! Lots of activities, exchange of ideas and fun. Looking forward to the next few days and the learning.

National Training Workshop at Good Shepherd International School, Ooty 16-18 December 2012

The National Training Workshop commenced today at Good Shepherd School, Ooty. Award Leaders and trainers from across the country have come together for a meaningful exchange of ideas and best practices. — at Good Shepherd International School, Ooty.

The International Science Forum 2013 and MUPD Programme - Travel To Learn

Invitation to participants for The International Science Forum 2013

The LONDON INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SCIENCE FORUM-2013, is a two week residential forum held at IMPERIAL COLLEGE-LONDON that attracts over 350 of the world’s leading young scientists, aged 16-21 years, from more than 60 participating countries, including the top prize winners from the European union contest for young scientists 2012. For registrations please mail enquiry@traveltolearn.in  or visit www.traveltolearn.in.  

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Opportunities for Gold Award Holders and Participants

The National Award Authority is keen to involve Gold Award Holders and Participants in reaching out to schools and institutions across the country. Award alumni all over the world are involved in strategic planning and development of the Award in their own communities. Important events like the International Gold Event take place once every three years to bring international alumni together and share best practices. The next IGE is in South Korea in 2014. Additionally, all participants and Award Holders should approach the NAA for Volunteering and Internship opportunities. Schools may send across articles and writeups by their students for publishing in The Award Weekly and Award India magazine. For more details please get in touch with Ankit Durga at ankitd@dofe.in.

National Award for Child Welfare 2011- Salaam Baalak Trust

The Award family would like to congratulate Salaam Baalak Trust that has been awarded the National Award for Child Welfare 2011. The award was presented by the Honorable President of India in recognition of the valuable services in the community rendered in the field of child development on 14th November 2012 at Rashtrapathi Bhawan.

The segment of child population is our most important resource as the future of our nation depends upon the kind of opportunities we create and provide to them. In order to encourage the voluntary sector, the Govt of India, in 1979 began presenting National Award's to deserving institutions and individuals for their outstanding performance in the field of child development and welfare. 

YES training workshop on Nov 29th and 30th at Award Training Centre, New Delhi.

YES training workshop was conducted at the ATC for Award leaders from The Sagar School, Rajasthan and Guru Nanak Public School, New Delhi. The workshop was conducted by the members of the National Training Panel, Vijayashree Pahal & Bivujit Mukhoty. The Award leaders were imparted training on the core sections of the Award and importance of mentoring and supporting the Award participants in their Award journey. The requirements specific to Bronze, Silver & Gold levels of the Award, the significance of the Residential Project at the Gold level; were some of the highlights of the workshop. Challenges faced in institutions and the flexible structure of the Award was also discussed.

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Gold Residential Projects- Welham Girls School

Over the last few months, Welham Girls School has organized two Residential Projects for students pursuing the Gold Award. Students completed their residential project by rendering their voluntary services to Vistaar, Mother’s Own at Village Paigambarpur, Dist. Bijnore, Uttar Pradesh. Situated at a distance of 200 km from Dehradun, Paigambarpur is a small village of 30 families. This program focused on giving the students a first-hand experience in understanding The Panchayat System Village Life and Agriculture. They stayed in the village over five days and interacted with the village students and shared their lives with them so that the divide between urban-rural was reduced and both learnt to be more empathetic towards each other and realized that they shared common dreams and aspirations. The Welham Girls helped in the construction of a wall around the temple in the village. The students took English speaking classes for children and adults. They learnt about organic farming, vermi-composting, dairy farming, traditional cooking and chulha-making from the village adults and youths. 

In November twenty girls of Welham Girls School working at the IAYP Gold level completed their residential project by working at village Shuklapur under the guidance of an NGO - HESCO (Himalayan Environment Studies and Conservation Organisation) headed by Padmashri Dr. Anil Joshi.  Dr. Anil Joshi and Dr Kiran Negi of HESCO have been applying knowledge of the environmental sciences and simple technologies to bring consistent development to the rural areas of this sub-Himalayan region. For some years now, Welham Girls School has been regularly helping in projects directed by HESCO. The girls stayed at village Shuklapur and undertook a number of tasks such as building low-cost toilets, repairing compost pits and carrying out backyard farming. They also interacted with the village children, conducted surveys to find out more about the lives of the women and their priorities in the village. It provided them with the perfect platform to discover and understand their personal selves in an unfamiliar environment, giving them a sense of the work which needs to be done in rural areas and what can be done to alleviate living conditions.