The school celebrated ‘Joy of Giving’ week from 3rd October’16 to 6th October’16 with the purpose of reinforcing the ethos of sharing and thereby deriving happiness. Fund raising for the event had started prior to two weeks with every child and teacher bringing old newspapers (to be sold to raise money) and old clothes to be distributed among the underprivileged and the needy. The school celebrated the festival in the true spirit of philanthropy.
Podar World School rightly exemplified the quote that “Charity begins at home but should not end there” by John Fuller. Beginning from 3rd October’16 to 6th October’16, the school celebrated the ‘Joy of giving’ week in its true spirit and fervor.
On 3rd October’16, students of Classes III and IV had assembly in the atelier around 8.00 am. The students were briefed about the significance of the festival by their respective teachers and thanked for their kind contributions. Then all the ground staff including didis, office helpers, bus conductress and the drivers etc. were instructed to assemble at the atelier. The Principal Ms. Preeta Pillai greeted them ‘A Very Happy Gandhi Jayanti’ and delivered a short speech on the principles of our ‘Father of Nation’ who also happened to be the First President of Podar Trust. In her talk, she exemplified the significance of ‘Daan Utsav’ and the kinds of activities that are carried out by different organizations to mark Gandhiji’s selfless sacrifice for the nation. The school takes pride in declaring that Rs. 3070/- alone was collected from the sale of old newspapers which was spent for the ground staff to gift food packets containing 1 kg rice grain and jaggery to each. The students who came forward in pairs or groups of three and four seemed to be very excited in giving away the packets to didis and drivers who serve them in one way or the other (maintaining the sanitation of the washrooms, corridors, their classrooms, fetching food for the canteen students and even in reaching them to school on time irrespective of weather conditions etc.) throughout the year. The beaming smiles on their faces and the acknowledging nod on seeing the familiar faces of their didi or driver, as they gave away the food packets was indeed highly ratifying. Towards the end one of the ground staff on behalf of others expressed their gratitude to the Management and the Principal for their noble gesture of ‘sharing’ and acknowledging them for the service rendered to the institution.
On 4th October’16, Classes V & VI along with their class teachers and a few didis visited a Municipal school of Sherkhi village. Around 8.45 am soon after the Assembly, the bus carrying the students and teachers left for the school. At the school our students mingled with the students of the Municipal school quite easily and played games like ‘Hide and Seek’, Volley ball, Cricket, Kho-Kho etc. As each student had carried two sandwiches with them, they shared one with their new friend at the Municipal school and had the other themselves. It was indeed touching to see a few students parting with both their sandwiches with the students and munching on wafers and biscuits they carried with them. The students also distributed pencil pouches and food packets to the students of the Municipal School and they were very happy to receive the gifts. Their Headmaster thanked the teachers and students for this kind act. Having spent almost one hour at the school, around 10.30 am the students boarded the bus bidding farewell to their new friends promising to meet again and a few even wrote the mobile numbers of our students promising to call them.
On 5th October’16, Classes VII & VIII visited an Orphanage at Goraj and interacted with the inmates there. There were a few students who were specially challenged and with the assistance of their care taker, our students got introduced to them, shook hands with them and after exchanging a few pleasantries played indoor games such as ‘Snakes and Ladder, ‘Carrom’, ‘Ludo’ etc. which our students had carried with them. A few students had prepared skits from the life of Akbar and Birbal and on Tenali Raman to entertain the children at the Orphanage. These skits were enacted so well by our learners that it almost sent the mentally deranged children into fits of laughter. Before leaving, our students distributed cards which they had made along with the students there, sharing their drawing books and colours with them. For the inmates, our students also gifted stationary items and taught mentally challenged women how to make craft items like diya and paper lanterns. They mingled very well with them as they played games together and exchanged Diwali Greetings thus spreading joyful moments to cherish forever.
On the same day, Classes IX, X & XI visited slum area as a part of ‘Joy of Giving Week’ along with their teachers. Our students had prepared a street- play (Nukkad Natak) highlighting the importance of Hygiene and Sanitation so as to keep their homes and surroundings clean and to escape from mosquito menace causing Malaria, Dengue etc. The dialogues of the skit were in Hindi, yet every care was taken to translate the dialogues into their regional language i.e. Gujarati. The students also imparted the knowledge of Ration card and Aadhar card and the benefits of possessing them and the whereabouts of getting them prepared. Thus the slum dwellers were sensitized towards the up keeping of their health and towards the making of Identity cards. Before leaving the slum dwellers, our students distributed cloth bags (50 in number) containing old clothes of men, women and children and a toy each and almost 500 packets of Parle G biscuits, all collected as a part of the ‘Joy of Giving Week’.
As a culminating activity, all the learners from Class V to VIII were instructed to write a write – up in the form of a reflective essay or a diary entry of as a ‘factual description’ about the visits made as a part of the ‘Daan Utsav’.
On 6th October’16, Classes III and IV along with their teachers visited an Old Age Home. They freely interacted with the inmates there. Children enjoyed playing games like Snakes and Ladders, Ludo etc. A few old men and women who were very happy to see the children cracked jokes with them while a few narrated stories to them. As part of the ‘Joy of Giving’ the students distributed fruit baskets and sweets to them.
It was an eventful week at Podar World School, Sherkhi with the visits and with the starting of the second session of the Academic year. The teachers and the students are grateful to the Management and the Principal Ms. Preeta Pillai for providing an enriching experience and to instill in the value of ‘giving’.
