Nerul, Nov 23, 2021: Keeping in mind the vulnerability of the youth of today towards substance abuse, bullying, and peer pressure, Ms Shakuntala Singh, academic coordinator along with the Nodal Teacher Ms Samita Vij arranged for a Peer Educator Session for the students of Class IX on 23rd November 2021. Ms Shakuntala Singh through a rigorous selection process identified and shortlisted four students of Class XII. Souradeep Halder, Simone Joshi, Mehak Sharma, and Samarth Jain, were given the opportunity to educate their juniors of Class IX. It was an extremely interactive session and many students shared their views and experiences.
The first topic ‘Vision of an empowered youth’ was taken up by Souradeep Haldar who is also the Literary Prefect in the Academic Council. He gave an informative presentation about what youth empowerment means in the current scenario and how to become self-empowered. He said the first step is by being confident, having a positive attitude, dedication towards our work, having self-awareness, and developing self-respect. He emphasised how ‘self-talk’ and ‘self-care’ can have a huge impact on our mentalities and highlighted the importance of making an action list and being very disciplined with it.
The second topic ‘Substance Abuse’ taken up by Simone Joshi the Senior Head Girl who began by explaining that drugs taken in a manner that may impair the regular bodily functions, in terms of physical, physiological, and psychological terms, is called substance abuse. She apprised them of the severity of this problem in youth, types of drugs, and how these drugs have dangerous side effects if taken without prescription. Youth fall prey faster as they are curious to try new things for fun, adventure, etc. and this is the time they need to say a firm ‘No’. She highlighted that our parents and teachers are always there for us to help and guide us.
The third topic ‘Peer Pressure’ taken by Mehak Sharma, the Senior Takshashila House Captain who said ‘Being aware of peer pressure is the first step towards stopping it’ and discussed strategies one can use to say ‘No’ if our friends or anyone pressurises us into doing something that we know is wrong and we don’t want to do. Strategies like polite refusal, giving reason, broken record, walk away, cold shoulder, etc. can be adopted for saying NO.
The topic of ‘Bullying’ was taken by the Senior Head Boy Samarth Jain who explained that bullying is an act that includes persistent and repeated calling of names, threatening, shunning, etc. by one or more against the other. Victims of bullying develop trust issues, failure feelings, loneliness, loss of interest in hobbies, etc. which can lead to drastic actions if not intervened on time. He said if you are getting bullied or notice someone being bullied then always share it with your teachers or parents so they can take immediate action against it.
The Peer Educator was very vivid and informative. All the peer educators spoke the language of Gen Z and shared their personal experiences which made the session very open and interactive. The students enjoyed the event and went with the feeling of never straying onto the wrong path.
Nerul, Nov 16, 2021: To help students acquire authentic knowledge about adolescent problems and to inculcate in them the essential life skills, a workshop on ‘Life Skills’ was conducted by Vice-Principal, Ms Namita Anand, on 16th November 2021.
Adolescence is a very shaky bridge from childhood to adulthood where students face various challenges. and this is the time they need to be equipped with life skills. Life skills in relation to everyday life form the foundation for promoting physical, social, and mental well-being, healthy interaction, and positive behaviour among individuals. It enables them to make informed decisions by developing in them proper perceptions of self-efficacy, self-confidence, and self-esteem. The program was all about adolescent challenges and the various life skills required to overcome them. Ms Namita Anand explained about different aspects of health like physical, social, mental, spiritual, and emotional. Our good deeds are our spiritual health and that they add up to our personal spiritual quota. Mental health includes the working of our heart- the goodness and selflessness of our intentions. Adolescents living in a competitive world tend to get stressed, they need to accept who they are, be aware of the changes, and not put themselves or others down. They were apprised about the ways to manage and overcome emotional changes.
The most important thing that they were made to understand was that we should never be afraid of our physical changes and the way we look because one is considered attractive by his/her deeds and values.
Nerul, Aug 03, 2021:As part of the Adolescence Education Programme, an Inter-Class Competition for students of Class IX was held on 3rd August 2019. The topics given were bullying, substance abuse, peer pressure, and the vision of empowered youth. The students presented their views on the given topics in the form of a skit, self-composed songs, and presentations. Class IX B was the winner followed closely by Class IX A. Ms Falguni Sonpal, Ms Kavita Shetty and Ms Chitra Dhamija were the judges for the same.
