‘Convincingly Yours’- a debate by class V

A debate, ‘Convincingly Yours’, was organized in the Junior School for the students of Class V on 30 Oct, 2013. The topic for the debate was – Children of Class V should be allowed to use Facebook. The children exhibited their oratory calibre by expertly putting forth their opinions, thoughts and arguments with utmost confidence and good preparation.

The theme of the debate helped in promoting awareness about the use and misuse of the social networking site – Facebook. The audience sat in rapt attention enjoying the fervor of the moment. Even the judges debated the idea of children of Class V being allowed to use Facebook  and were impressed by the points expressed by the children in both agreement and disagreement. The arguments relevant through differing perspectives made the different points of view very convincing.

The competition proved to be greatly informative and a learning moment for all children. The winners are as follows:

      First Position                                Second Position                Third Position

1)    Briana Chargeman – V C        1) Aastha Rai – V B            1) Aditya Suresh – V A

2)    Aditya Jha –  V D                     2) Arjun Yadav – V C          2) Sia Kumar – V B

3)    Archashi – V D                         3) Stuti Shukla – V D          3) Raghuraj Dewan – V B

                                                                                           4) Keerthana H – V E

     Consolation Prize – Shaswat Apte – V E

90 students of classes IV & V accompanied by nine teachers and two attendants went on a guided educational trip to Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Sikandrabad and Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary on the 9^th and  10^th of October 2013.

The first stop was at the The Keoladeo National Park or Keoladeo Ghana National Park formerly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in Rajasthan. It is a famous avifauna sanctuary that sees thousands of rare and highly endangered birds such as the Siberian Crane that come here during the winter season. It was declared a protected sanctuary in 1971. It is also a declared World Heritage Site.

The students appreciated the mosaic of dry grasslands, woodlands, woodland swamps, and wetlands with lots of ‘Jamun’ and ‘Kadam’ trees. The children sighted a variety of birds namely herons, storks, little cormorant, great cormorant, Indian shag, painted stork, darter etc. The highlight of the visit was the painted storks that were nesting on trees and were visible in great numbers in all their pristine glory.

The next stop was Fatehpur Sikri. The city was founded in 1569 by the Mughal emperor Akbar, and served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1571 to 1585. The  Jama Masjid meaning the congregational mosque had a massive entrance to the courtyard known as the Buland-Darwaza, which is 550 metre high . It was built to commemorate Akbar's successful Gujarat campaign. 

Later in the evening the students checked into a three star hotel, The Taj Galaxy, where DJ and dinner awaited them.

Next morning after breakfast was a visit to The Taj Mahal. The students were spell bound by the beauty of the Taj. The guide told them its history that it was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The construction began around 1632 and was completed around 1653, employing thousands of artisans and craftsmen. The Taj Mahal complex is bounded on three sides by red sandstone walls, with the river-facing side left open.

Next visit was to Agra Fort. Akbar had it built with red sandstone from Barauli area in Rajasthan. Shah Jahan added some structures in white marble.

After a sumptuous lunch the group boarded the buses for Delhi, en route visiting Akbar’s tomb at Sikandrabad. The construction was started by Akbar and completed by Shahjahan. Built mainly from deep red sandstone, it is enriched with features in white marble.

This trip enabled the children to learn about our heritage, appreciate the beauty and the architecture of our monuments, enjoy our natural resources in all their glory and observe wild life. These little ones will definitely cherish this educational trip very fondly.