The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

SCHOOL BUZZ
Kangaroo Kids celebrate Xmas with carols and cake
Smriti Kak

Kids celebrate with Santa Claus

It is that time of the year, when you find yourself singing Jingle Bells and hanging mistletoes. Yes, it’s Christmas and the time to be good, because Santa Claus is watching us.

The Christmas, like all other festivals means gaiety and lots of cheer. It also promises good food, music, dancing and those gifts, which everyone keeps thinking about.

The Xmas parties add zest and flavour to the otherwise cold days. Tiny-tots in Kangaroo Kids had a ball at the party where Santa came with gifts. In their bright red outfits, these kids were treated to mouth-watering cakes, fresh from the oven. The Christmas carols had everyone exercising their vocal chords.

Players felicitated

Modern School, Barakhamba, felicitating the students on the occasion of its sports day

Modern School, Barakhamba, celebrated its sports day on December 21. Mr Kamlesh Sharma, IFS and an ex-Modernite of the 1957 batch, was the Chief Guest.

The programme began with a march past, where students in their vibrant blues marched. This was followed by the Chief Guest’s address as he declared the meet open.

In his address, Mr Kamlesh Sharma, who is India’s permanent representative to the United Nations, said that the three essential qualities that every citizen must possess are: a sense of identity, self-reliance and the spirit of teamwork. He said these qualities should be an inherent part of the modern-day children.

Adding that things had changed considerably since the time he was a child and that he hoped the Modern School would produce such young men and women who would have the above qualities.

Mr Kamlesh added that one should not think of India as a state or a country, but as a civilisation.

The Modern School had ample reason to celebrate as 40 of their schoolmates have represented the school in various national-level games, were felicitated for their performance. It is for the first time probably that a school can boast of 40 national-level participants.

Mrs Ketaki Sood, Chairperson of the school, announced a cash prize of Rs 1,000 each to the 40 outstanding players.

Among the various events that took place were a three-legged race, an obstacle race, a yoga performance and a race for the karamcharis.

The Principal, Mrs Lata Vaidyanathan, said that the school stands committed to an all-round excellence.

Painting workshop

Children with and without disabilities, participating in the Madhubani painting workshop in the Capital

A Madhubani painting workshop was held in the Capital’s British Council Library, to commemorate the World Disability Day. The children with and without disabilities participated in the workshop which, proved to be a learning exercise coupled with fun.

Over 150 children attended the two-day workshop. Puja and Bandhana - an architect duo, hailing from the family of Madhubani painters, taught the skills of the traditional art to the children.

This workshop was a part of their endeavour to propagate the art. The children were ecstatic as they produced splendid pictures using simple lines and motifs. Another striking feature of these paintings was the sensitivity that was radiated.

The viewers could not distinguish between the paintings done by the disabled children and those without disabilities. Some of the schools who participated were: Model School, Jan Madhyam, Astha, Muskaan, Mother’s International and Asha-AAWA.

Annual festival

The celebrities judging a fancy dress competition of the KG students at the Modern School

The Modern School, Vasant Vihar’s annual fete last week made people forget the cold by the heat of enthusiasm that swept across the grounds. Undeterred by the cold and somewhat depressing morning, children exhibited zest. The painting competition, fancy dress competition and lots to eat and play, what else could children ask for?

On the eve of the annual festival, Luxor, sponsored a painting competition for the children of the lower classes. Through the medium of colours, children gave wings to their imagination. A fancy dress competition, organised for the KG students had beauties, Simar Duggal and Gul Panag and Leena of the Ashima- Leena label fame, as judges.

Children came dressed differently, from a soldier to a social reformer. Though there were many who walked with an air of confidence, there were others who suffered from stage fright. After much coaxing, their faces were also lit up with smiles.

The students had also put up stalls of food as well as games. The students of class 12 were the jukebox of the day, as it were. They played songs on request to entertain the audience. For those who wanted to feel on top of the world, was a camel and an elephant to give them joy-rides. And for the adventure freaks, there was the Columbus swing on the occasion.

Foodies had a ball as some of the leading names had sumptuous stuff to offer. The day was a treat for the students as well as their parents.

Christmas concert

A Christmas concert was organised by the British School last week. Diminutive primary students, whose heads could barely be seen on the stage, put up a superb performance singing more than 13 carols. Happy faces greeted the audience as a festive spirit wafted around.

The young musicians played their instruments like violin and piano like professionals. The moment of joy was when Santa in his red and white appeared with sweets.

Message of peace

This was an initiative, to promote peace and solidarity. Hundreds of children from classes two and three were presented peace flags and special assembly took place in various schools, and a peace prayer was recited. The Uni Style Image, a brand of casual wear, took this initiative to arm the little ones with the message of peace.

Some of the schools holding this event were: DPS Mathura Road, DPS Noida, GD Goenka and Army Public School. Special talks and speeches revolving around the theme of peace were held and children of Amity International even choreographed a peace prayer theme into an action song.

Science Olympiad

The results of the third national science Olympiad have been declared. The first level test was conducted earlier this year for the students of classes seven to 12 all over the country, out of these 3,000 were short-listed for the second level test conducted in July.

The 600 students, 100 from each class were eligible for the awards. The participation certificates were given away to those who have scored above 40 per cent. The topper from each class were awarded a medal and cash prizes. The first prize was a gold and a cash prize of Rs 10,000. For the second prize winner, there was a silver medal and a cash prize of Rs 7,500 and for the third winner, a bronze medal and a cash prize of Rs 6,000. The other 582 winners will receive cash prizes ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 300.Shubham Mittal of class eight, DPS RK Puram, won the gold, Anjul Patney of class 11, Apeejay and Vipul Garg of class 12, Kendriya Vidyalaya won the silver.