Honesty is a rich legacy
– William Shakespeare
‘A business man duped by his employees', 'the trusted domestic helper strangles the old couple to death and ransacks the house’, a few senior secondary students held copying during board examination; all these headlines abounds the pages of a newspaper and compels the readers to believe that virtues of sincerity, gratitude, humility etc. have eroded from the society and all kinds of vices and malpractices have replaced them.
At a time when values seem to be eroding from the society, PODAR WORLD SCHOOL, SHERKHI went forward with the idea of setting up an 'Honesty Shop' for two days in the school premises. It’s a shop with a difference. There is no shopkeeper to sell the items. Besides the items kept for sale, there is a box and receipts of bills or invoices kept at the exit. Learners would enter the shop, pick the things they would like to buy, fill the details in the invoice sheet and put the money into the box and leave the shop. The self monitored shop solely runs on the integrity and trust placed on the learner by the school. The children were asked to bring denominations of Rs. 5, 10, 20 (not exceeding Rs. 20/- by any means). All the items displayed were prepared by students in the Art and Craft period. The motive is to derive a first hand experience of shopping on their own and the idea of managing the accounts or the money on their own instils a sense of confidence and reinforces to uphold the virtue of honesty in them.
Children had a wonderful time at the Honesty Shop, choosing the things of their choice, filling the invoice, and putting the money in the box and leaving the shop quite delighted with the purchases made. Within a span of an hour almost all the things were sold barring a few drawings of the students. This new venture was indeed a great success, as the Art and Craft teachers along with the students had to really prepare some more items to be displayed at the shop for the next day. The money collected at the end of the day was Rs.1010/- which will be donated for charity.
