It was an evening of sawan celebrations at Punjab Club on Tuesday, with much singing and dancing by the youngsters. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Folk, traditional, a slice of salsa and lots of Bollywood? There was a bit of everything during an evening of dance organised by the students of Bhawanipur College on Tuesday. Enigma 2005, held in association with The Telegraph, was a riot of colours and music, with students of the college and the school showcasing some fancy footwork at Kala Mandir. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

School students perform a play outside Tollygunge Metro station on July 14 to create awareness on environmental issues. The two-day programme organised by the NGO Friends of Trees included several events across the city. Picture by Pabitra Das

An inter-school swimming competition was held at Delhi Public School, Ruby Park, last week.

Visually handicapped students were felicitated as part of a cultural programme held recently to celebrate the 125th birth anniversary of Helen Keller. Picture by Aranya Sen

What’s Been Happening Around Town

Deadly disease

The statistics are shocking. 14 million people worldwide are affected, out of which 5 million are in India itself. There are 5,000 new cases reported everyday. AIDS is no longer just an epidemic. It?s become a pandemic.

According to a demographic study conducted by UNFPA, India?s population is amongst the youngest in the world, and about half of them are sexually active, yet knowledge and awareness about this deadly disease is pitiful.

TTIS and West Bengal State AIDS Prevention and Control Society (WBSAPCS) joined hands to create The Learning Tree Programme. A unique symposium on life skills, The Learning Tree is designed to equip youngsters to make safe choices, improve their emotional capability to help them combat HIV/AIDS and to spread awareness about this disease.

To set the ball rolling, the symposium was initiated at the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan Schools Principals Meet at The Astor on July 14th.

The panellists were D. Chakraborty, principal secretary, school education, Suresh Kumar, IAS, project director, WBSAPCS and special secretary, department of health and family welfare, V.K. Shrivastava, assistant commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan, K.K. Dubey, education officer, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan, Dr Paromita Chakraborty, lecturer, department of English and joint director, School of Women?s Studies, Jadavpur University. And they scored some telling points.

Principal secretary Chakraborty said: ?AIDS is a growing concern for all of us and there is certainly a lack of awareness about combating the HIV virus. The Learning Tree focuses on the orientation of the teachers about AIDS, developing their skills in counselling students and interaction with parents. This will be in a co-curricular or extra-curricular mode, rather than as a part of the syllabus.?

The common theme enunciated by all the speakers was that the media have an extremely important role to play in spreading knowledge, awareness and information regarding AIDS. The various mediums, such as television, print and the Internet, have a potent influence on today?s youth, and should make full use of this influence to spread the message.

According to Dr Paromita Chakraborty: ?Value education needs to be incorporated in life skills education, as sexuality does involve values as well. Due to exposure to various entertainment mediums, today?s youth gets confusing signals. A dichotomy appears between traditional values and new values. Young adults must be taught to negotiate between the two. It must be explained to them that morality is not about denying pleasures.?

A lively interactive session followed, which threw up some interesting questions. It has to be said that The Learning Tree Programme is certainly a step in the right direction to check the menace of AIDS.

Past & present

It was a day to remember for the past pupils of St Augustine?s Day School as they organised their first ever alumni social at Armenian Club.

The programme started with a motivating welcome speech by the alumni association president Richard Gasper.

After that, principal C.R. Gasper addressed the gathering and stated the purpose behind the formation of the alumni association was to help one another to grow. He also said that it was the brainchild of E. Gasper, president of St Augustine?s Education Society.

The past pupils then felicitated their principal and a few of their teachers with gifts. Soon, the party kicked off as the music grew louder, and the cacophony of voices increased. Students got busy conversing with their teachers and playing games. Then, it was time to eat, as everyone crowded around the buffet.

The event concluded with a game of Housie and a vote of thanks by assistant treasurer Rahul Mishra.

Neha Jhulka,
Class XI, St Augustine?s Day School

Whatsup

The final day of Concord 2005, the annual fest of Calcutta Boys? School, presented in association with TTIS, is on July 22, at Kala Mandir.

The Diary

Lost

Like weakness and tears tied into one

From the pleasant past that hurts now more

Now it?s the beginning of what?s undone

Making everything feel so torn

Lost within my own self

In depths not possible to understand

Nothing going as planned

Change that stabs beneath the core

The end

Beneath the surface that never ends with no floor

For the hard feelings to drop to

Making me feel more lost like a fool

Who cannot understand the ways life plays you out

Shutting your voice to the sound of no more doubt

Leaving deserted dishonest thoughts

Bringing in more

To make me

Lost

Trina Dasgupta