The Award in Action: Jindal Vidya Mandir Sholtu

 

Jindal Vidya Mandir Sholtu is a YES Centre of The International Award for Young People, India and the participants are actively preparing for their qualifying journey for Bronze level. Under the able guidance of Program Officer - Ms. Ankita Gera and Award Leaders - Ms. Madhu Bhardwaj & Mr. Vikas Chander, all aspirants were briefed, guided and encouraged to achieve the desired target.
Award participants started their journey from the base camp i.e. Jindal Vidya Mandir Sholtu Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh towards the destination at around 0800 hrs in the morning. The final destination point selected for the expedition was Chansu Kanda which is at the altitude of 11715 feet above sea level. Hilly terrain along with the perennial River Satluj & River Baspa made the route even more challenging to reach the destination.
Together they boarded the bus and covered a distance of about 23km by road transportation to reach the beautiful tribal village Kuppa near the bank of river Baspa. All participants were now ready to track the route to reach Chansu Kanda. Lush green forest, steep slope, uneven terrain, and icy winds greeted the team. At Ruturang - a place towards the final destination, the team decided to take a break and energise themselves by taking much needed calories to generate energy.
Team continued their journey towards the final destination and reached Chansu Kanda - a place which was planned for the night stay. Village Pradhan, Mr. Birbal Negi had made the provision for our stay at Village Panchayat Bhavan as prevailing cold conditions during night time is not conducive for the team members besides the threats related to wild animals.
Participants prepared their food and enjoyed it under the lap of nature. Night time at Panchayat Bhavan ended with fun games. Next day, after having a healthy breakfast, the whole area around Chansu Kanda was explored by the team members. Snow covered mountains, green meadows, thick forest, aerial view of village Kuppa & Baspa river, V-shaped valleys gave a feeling of perfect creation of nature. After scanning & exploring the whole area, all members took much needed rest in the tents, which they had installed with great efforts earlier.
Team members experienced nature differently from the tents. During this journey, we didn’t realise any problem & wanted to enjoy and remain there but time did not permit us. The Award Leader gave a command to pack up and dismantle the tents. We cleaned up the area & started trekking down towards village Kuppa. At around 5:30 p.m. all members reached Kuppa and boarded the bus towards base camp i.e. JVM Sholtu.

"The International Award for Young People is the most adaptable and effective youth empowerment program in the world today"

Award Story of participants Yogesh Yadav, Sneha, Harsh Bhati, Akshra Nagar and Kulshree from Vidhyashram International School, Jodhpur.

Award Level: Bronze

The participants of The International Award for Young People from Vidhyashram International School were engaged in a Poster Making Activity as part of commemoration of the 73rd Republic Day of India. The school under The International Award for Young People is working to develop confident, responsible and engaged learners. 

The endeavor is to create opportunities for young people to develop skills, get physically active and serve their local community. The idea of conducting the activity was to spread the spirit of patriotism and solidarity among youngsters and highlight the fact that there is Unity in Diversity which helps in strengthening our roots in our own country.

Creating posters on patriotic theme is an appreciable way to get young people involved in a meaningful craft activity, thereby learning the relevance of Republic Day and forming their own valued nationalistic expressions that would mould them into intelligent citizens of tomorrow.

This virtual campaign brought out the best of creativity, talent and ideas where Award participants paid homage to soldiers, featured different cultures of India, highlighted tricolor and pointed out the true spirit of patriotism. 

Commemorating the occasion, the Principal Dr. Bharti Swami said, "The International Award for Young People is the most adaptable and effective youth empowerment program in the world today which helps teenagers to connect and inspire each other. At Vidhyashram International School, we continuously offer new ways to students to broaden their exposure and enhance learning both inside and outside classrooms."

 

The Award in Action: Lipsa Acharya; Jindal Vidya Mandir, Vidyanagar

Lipsa Acharya from Jindal Vidya Mandir, Vidyanagar shares her reflection on her skill work taken up to decorate her school with pot paintings:

“A picture can paint a thousand words."

A couple of weeks ago when I started my pot painting journey to enhance my skills, I never thought that it would become my passion. When I painted my first pot, I felt very happy. I used two colors, white and green for the first pot that I painted. Later on when I examined it more closely, I envisioned different designs and bright colours. I knew that this pot will be my motivation to many other pots I will be painting in my journey.

A big thanks to my school and the International Award for Young People for giving me an opportunity to learn a new skill!

IAYP Conducts Training Workshop at Sanjay Ghodawat International School

On 26 and 27 July, 2019, a training workshop was conducted at Sanjay Ghodawat International School, Kolhapur. Kapil Bhalla - National Director, Bivujit Mukhoty - Programme Manager, and Pallavi Gill - Programme Officer, team members of IAYP conducted the workshop.

The workshop witnessed the participation of 30 aspiring Award Leaders. It aimed to highlight the philosophy, structure and benefits of the Award; strengthening the knowledge base of the Award Leaders about the ideology of the Award and acquainting them with their roles and responsibilities as guiding forces for the Award participants. The highlight of the event, however, was the conferral of the Principal of SGI School with the 'Top 20 Award Unit Voluntary Service Awards’. It was a proud moment for both, the school as well as the IAYP, who has joined hands with the school to take its students to greater heights of self-awareness and wellness of the communities around them.

“Ensuring harmony between teaching and learning approaches can bring about success”

Award Leader Ms. Ranjana Pradhan Rai pens down her beautiful experience of being part of the IAYP family as she departs from Darjeeling, Siliguri which she refers to as her ‘dearest land’. Iterating her experience of being an educator, she highlights approaches that are helpful in the success of students in their desired areas.

A flock of geese inspires us in following the legacy of leadership to a great extent. Being part of this moving experience of interacting with young minds, I can conclude that I have met one of the most dynamic groups of visionaries in education from Darjeeling, Siliguri, especially the students who are raring to fly high with 21st-century life-skills.

Having taught students from the CBSE, ISC, ICSE, and IB curriculum for over 18 years on and off, there was only one strategy that worked in bringing about the success of students in whatever they desired – focusing on the approach towards teaching and learning and making sure they harmonize. In my observation, if they are confident in planning effectively through the measured syllabus, lesson plans and tallying with the academic calendar, spending at least two hours per week as per school timetable, the success rate will be much higher. Hence, teachers need to be motivated for the demonstration of effective implementation methods that can be mined, to begin with, in the process.

There are some loose ends in sharing the best practices in education this time. However, fragments of the school culture at Westminster, Harrow, Eton, Boston, Doon, St. Paul's and North Point are worth discussing with both stakeholders at schools as well as with the students. Weekly assemblies are also significant in adding value to school life for young people as they are vulnerable and are in need of proper direction.

At the threshold of many new beginnings, "Schooling is like a marathon, and not a sprint." Thus, the entire struggle is all about the mind battling with the forces in nature. "The harder you want to give up, just remember why you started at all." If you cannot do justice to what you started, you would be nothing but an unusual vagabond. Thus, mean what you say, do what is right.

"There is never a wrong time for the right thing." And in my tryst with destiny, time made our collaboration possible. The weather, the rain, the time crisis and the academic commitments, all brought us together to initiate the ‘wind of change’. I wish to thank all the school directors, principals, faculty, and students for their warm welcome and hospitality; I am really touched.