Ashima Sharma, Keekli Reporter, 28th May, 2014, Shimla
“We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment”, this famous quote by Margaret Mead is extremely relevant in today’s world. Principal Vidhupriya Chakravarty and the staff of St Thomas School, Shimla organised a one day workshop on environment titled, Celebrating and Sustaining Ecology: Shimla in the 21st Century. The Chief guest for the occasion was the Chief Conservator of Forests, RK Sood. This one of a kind initiative was taken by St Thomas School along with Monal Public School, Sanjauli and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Through this workshop students and teachers shared a common platform to participate and share ideas on the growing concerns of environment degradation and imminent steps required to improve the conditions.
During the workshop students participating from various school presented their papers on the topic ‘Peace on Earth’ from various religious perspectives, which was followed by an interactive session. The panel for the interactive session comprised of Dr Usha Bande, Retd. Pricipal Govt. Degree College, Dr David Reichardt, an Eco-Theological Consultant from Australian, Ravinder Makhaik, a renowned journalist, and Aarti Gupta, State Director, WWF.
Chief Guest Mr Sood said, “Earth is for everybody and we should not divide it on basis of religion. We all drink water and breathe air, nature does not discriminate on the basis of religion, caste or creed, all of us should work together to conserve environment and respect nature”. David Reichart during the discussion pointed out that, “Education is necessary but not efficient in order to make people realize the importance of environment. Children learn from their parents and society so it is their duty to teach them to preserve nature”.
The second part of the workshop was the ‘Green Haat’, an exhibition of recycled items by various schools in Shimla at Christ Church ground. Various stalls were put up by the students such as homemade jams, pickles, chutneys; jewellery made from waste like buttons, showpieces made of waste paper, greeting cards made of dried flowers, x-ray paper and dry leaves. Innovation was at its best as children had expressed themselves creatively using only waste material to make such beautiful items. All the items were also on open sale for public.
Rachna, student of Monal Public School said, “We have used all kind of waste materials to make these things that have been exhibited. Students from class 7th to 10th have put in a lot of handwork and innovation”. Another student from St Thomas School, Ankita said, “All the jams, chutneys and pickles which are exhibited are for sale and everything is homemade, students from classes 1st to 12th, contributed in this event in one way or the other”.
The workshop had participant from schools not only from Shimla but outstation as well. The names of teachers and students who came as participants from different schools were as follows:
- Auckland House School, Shimla – Samriti Chauhan – teacher; Pallavi Chaudhary – student.
- Govt. Sr. Sec. School, Portmore – Mamta – teacher; Jigyasa Grover – student.
- Bishop Cotton School, Shimla – Rubinder Kaul – teacher; Shubham Sharma – student.
- Monal Public School, Sanjauli – Karuna Sharma & Pratima Sharma – teachers; Pooja Verma & Rachna Chauhan – students.
- DAV Public School, New Shimla – Praveen Chauhan – teacher; Kriti Khanna – student.
- Dayanand School, Shimla – Kummal Monga – teacher; Ankita – student.
- Loreto Convent Tara Hall, Shimla – Arvind Kaur – teacher; Zehar Asotra – student.
- DAV, Tutu – Kalpana Gupta – teacher.
- St Pauls’ Sr. Sec School, Palampur – Zeenat Thakur – teacher; Asheena Asghar – student.
- Alexander Memorial School, Jammu – Sanjay Kumar – teacher; Riyaz Ahmad – student.
- Baring School, Botal – Sonia – teacher; Jasmeen Kaur – student
- Gortan Mission School, Kotgarh – Sunita Verma – teacher; Muskaan Chauhan – student.
Principal Chakravarty lauded the efforts of all the teachers and students. She said, “This is the 2nd Workshop held by the School. It is very important to discuss the role and importance of environment with the students. The purpose of the workshop is to celebrate the existence of Shimla, its environment, beauty and heritage for 200 years as a settlement, and at the same time sustaining it for the coming generations. An effort should be made by all the schools to implement their own environment preservation programmes in their own little ways”.
The sponsors of the events were Oxford University Press, Raj Brothers, Mother’s Choice and Public Choice !!!