The teachers were left completely mesmerized by the students’ impassioned performance on 5th of September, so on 14th of November, they decided to turn the tide and make the students feel special. The teachers of Study Hall Senior school had diligently put up a virtual show for the students on the occasion of Children’s Day. It was a fun-filled day for all. Even the adults relived their childhood. The celebrations began with the usual morning prayer and then the mic was passed to the ‘live on location’ comperes of the day- Mr Himanshu and Mr Kamlesh. They took the children down memory lane, showing how children’s day was celebrated in the pre pandemic years. Coming to this year, all the teachers performed in small groups. Few danced with grace, others sang tunefully, and some acted out little episodes, giving insights into the hilarious moments of student life like, ‘types of friends during exams’ and ‘the secret formula to top exams’, ‘the virtual school’, ‘locked in with grandma during lockdown’ and how ‘the children dearly want to go to school’. The highlight of the day was the melodious performance by everyone’s beloved, the school founder- Dr Urvashi Sahni, the school principal -Mrs Meenakshi Bahadur and the vice principal of the school- Mrs Meenakshi Shah who regaled their audience to the hilt.
Behind this 2-hour program, was the teachers’ week(s) long effort, managing classes and practices every day, all to bring a smile on the faces of their children. The students were beaming with joy throughout and couldn’t thank their gurus enough for making the day memorable albeit virtually!
Children’s day came with lots of excitement. This year as everything is going virtual the Children’s Day celebration was also organized online to entertain the students and make them feel special. A novel idea of making teachers enact the role of historical figures was conceived. Two teachers took the main role of Badshah Akbar and Birbal.
Badshah Akbar and Birbal were welcomed by junior school headmistress Mrs. Bani Malhotra. The curtain raiser was in the form of blessings by the school founder Dr. Urvashi Sahni, Principal Mrs. Meenakshi Bahadur and Vice Principal Mrs. Meenakshi Shah.
Then the headmistress took these two guests Badshah Akbar and Birbal for a school tour to showcase the teaching style of Study Hall School. Teachers of different subjects were shown teaching in a witty manner in their respective classes. Children enjoyed this mimicry by the junior school teachers and this truly made children’s day a memorable event for the students of Study Hall junior School.
International Day of the girl child celebrated on 11th October 2020. Study Hall students and teachers celebrated it in their own beautiful way, with poetry artwork and write ups.
Study Hall CHRYSALIS presented ‘Art in Action’, an online Inter-House Art Competition for students right from grade 6 to 12, allowing them to take a breather from the current stressful situations and provided them a platform to unlock their creativity flamboyantly. Sizeable number of students self nominated themselves to be a part of the event. The categories under the event were- Junior (6th to 8th) and senior (9th to 12th), 6 students per house were shortlisted in the preliminary round by their art teachers based on their previous art work which they had sent on their house Whatsapp .
The shortlisted artists in the consequent days had several workshops with the art teachers regarding how to use-mix-create colors that suit the mood of the creation; they rapidly produced ideas on how to portray meaningful issues through brushes and pastels following the rules and procedures of the event. To exercise the mind and hands prior to the central event, several themes were given in these sessions, in sync with social issues and the ongoing pandemic. The final topics were allotted on the eve of 29th august and final creations were to be handed on 30th, the junior Vincent van Goughs expressed their picture of solidarity during the pandemic and the senior Picassos equated rights for women to Human Rights! The judging parameters were creativity and originality, drawing and layout, color scheme and quality of work. No entries were to be accepted after the given deadline. All the artworks were eye-opening and touching but the few victors who managed to ace the task were–
Children of class 1, 2 and 3 of Study Hall School raised the bar of critical thinking this year by engaging in a virtual panel discussion on Discrimination, Gender and the current Pandemic. The panel discussion saw a very good turnout from junior school parents as well as students. The panelists from all the three grades were very eager and enthusiastic to participate in the discussion actively. The discussion started with the Head Mistress Mrs. Bani Malhotra welcoming Dr. Urvashi Sahni, the founder of the school and the parents, assuring them that they would find the discussion really interesting.
Mrs. Gunjan Singh, who was moderating the session along with Mrs. Shalini Sangal and Mrs. Neelam Singh, initiated the panel discussion by requesting the panelists to introduce themselves one by one before diving into the discussion. Dr. Sahni and the parents were delighted and also wonderstruck seeing the inquisitive and bright minds of the students who shared their points of views confidently. The panel discussion saw varied opinions being shared by the panelists with agreements as well as respectful disagreements during the course of it. Dr. Urvashi Sahni also engaged with the student panelists by asking them extremely relevant questions at various points during the discussion. The views of the children were thought provoking and sensitive towards the under-privileged. It was laudable to see how the teachers had guided the students to become introspective and aware individuals who were willing to take the mantle of fighting against discrimination prevalent in our society. It was good to see how comfortable and confident the children were in using all the technology tools in this virtual panel discussion. The parents were full of praise for the school authorities for organizing and conducting this edifying panel discussion. The program was closed with a Vote of thanks delivered by Mrs. Meenakshi Bahadur, the Principal of Study Hall School.
Welcoming all to the celebrations of 5th September’20, Teachers’ Day. The students utilized the day to express their heartfelt gratitude and thankfulness towards their teachers through a virtual presentation. As is the ritual of Study Hall, the head girl of school Deepanshi Verma, adorned as the principal Meenakshi Bahadur aunty and the vice head girl Gaurisha Prakash, as vice principal Meenakshi Shah Aunty started the morning assembly with usual meditation and the vice head boy Aryaman Shukla, that day transformed into Rajesh sir, the yoga teacher @Study Hall headed the yoga session. The head boy Kushagra Trivedi entitled the teachers as the unsung heroes, and it’s worth it, all those moments they asking the students to switch on the cameras, permission for PDF in drives, responding to the questions, while the students sometimes choose to stay silent; thanked them for adapting to the virtual medium so well and making the teams classes as any other reality class. Thereafter Sherlock Holmes and James Watson, the comparers for the day (detective theme) opened the show, which was mostly pre-recorded and displayed through screen share on zoom, and invited the students of standard 6th and 7th to present their dance on peppy and fun numbers. It was enchanting to see the little ones hop and rock on the screen and how the teachers wished they were relishing the event physically in the school campus. Nevertheless there was no compromise from the student body in putting up a great show. The pair of detective friends handed over the microphone to batman and robin, who sadly drew the former’s vehicle into an accident and so the conversation moved on to listening and respecting elders and specifically teachers. Why? Due to 3 reasons- firstly if students are smart, teachers are double smart, next for the amount of hard work they put in and manage their job and homes both, and last teachers have since ancient times been the superior figures even where god stands in comparison, all of these creatively visualized and presented by the students of 8th and 9th in a skit. Next the celebration had Dana Scully and Fox Mulder from FBI opened the floor for riddles where the teachers were required to move the detective minds in them and ace the games. Then again the legends Feluda and Byomkesh, the celebrated detectives came on screen and introduced the music video prepared by the musicians of 10th and 11th. The audience was swaying and tip toeing to their tune, mesmerized, praised by Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys as well. And last but not the least, standard 12th put up yet another comical dance-drama to make their last teachers’ day in school memorable for their teachers. They took the reality of their virtual classes to the skit, mixed with additional comedy, intertwined with dance to portray the situation, garnished with emotions! And with a thank you note from all the students and Meenakshi aunty herself for making the celebration possible on virtual platform, the day came to an end. With all due respect and love, HAPPY TEACHERS’ DAY.
Another event culminated under Chrysalis 2020 with explicit planning and full gusto bringing out the hidden writer in each student. The Inter-House Creative Writing Competition in English was held in two stages. Initially the students of every section had to go through an elimination round from which 4 students, one per house, were selected from each section.
16 students from each class moved on to the final round wherein 1st,2nd,3rd and 4th positions were announced with points being added to the overall tally of their respective houses.
The first round was held by the English teachers in their respective classes on Microsoft Teams. The students had one hour to ponder over and write about the various thought provoking and fun topics provided to them. Class 6-8 were both given light-hearted topics — ‘The School of My Dreams’, ‘My Experiments in the Kitchen’, ‘Does Magic Exist?’ — as well as serious ones like, ‘The Things I take for Granted’, ‘The Role of Social Media’ amongst several others. Classes 9 to 12 had to go several notches up and integrate both moods. ‘An Offer I could not refuse’, ‘Paper has More Patience than Man’, ‘Man is the Most Dangerous Animal on Earth’ were some of the topics given to the seniors.
The final round was held on 31st July (6-8) and 4th August (9-12) . This time class 6 wrote from the point of view of pets whose owners were getting separated, classes 7 and 8 had to bring out their inner ‘William Wordsworth’ while classes 9 and 10 were given topical prompts like, ‘The Thoughts of a Person in the Year 2020’ and ‘The Sky was Pink Last Evening’. Classes 11 and 12 had to face their inner conflicts as the prompts covered areas such as taking up non -traditional occupations and stopping self -sacrificial acts.
All in all, it was a very enriching experience for both teachers and students alike.
The children of Class 4 and 5 of Study Hall Junior School and Prerna School engaged in a Panel Discussion on Tuesday, 18th August, 2020. The topic for the discussion was ‘Every Life Matters…No Matter What…’ Due to the Lockdown, the session was conducted online through Zoom. It was well attended by a large number of parents. The Head Mistress, Mrs. Bani Malhotra welcomed the parents very warmly and assured them that they would have a great time listening to the enthusiastic participants who eager to share their views with everyone.
Mrs. Uttara Saran and Mrs. Ruchi Bhateja were the moderators for this event. The C.E.O. of the school, Dr. Urvashi Sahni was truly delighted to see the young ones putting forth their points with bubbling enthusiasm. During the course of the discussion, sometimes they agreed with one another, whereas several times they also displayed their disagreement. The hard work put in by the children and the teachers was clearly evident as the children replied to each question with immense confidence. Their views showed their sensitivity towards the less privileged and they had ready solutions for most of the problems. Their inputs were thought provoking, leaving the audience mesmerized and asking for more. It was indeed heartening to see them handling technology with great ease. It was heart warming to hear the views of the girls from Prerna, a school for the underprivileged girls as they shared their own life experiences. The parents were full of praises for the school authorities for conducting the Panel Discussion in a well organized manner.
The Programme came to an end with the Vote of Thanks delivered by Mrs. Meenakshi Bahadur, the Principal of Study Hall.
Study Hall marked the 74th Independence Day by a virtual meet. The principal, vice principal and CEO of Study Hall, along with a small group of teachers visited the school, maintaining social distancing, to hoist the Indian flag which the students and remaining faculty witnessed on their screens, followed by the national anthem and the pledge. The CEO, Urvashi aunty utilised the occasion to speak about the real freedom from fear, being loving countrymen, recent education policy and scope for democratic citizenship education. Principal, Meenakshi aunty devotedly spoke about the fight for freedom back in 1940s and today, freedom from the pandemic, COVID-19. The junior school too celebrated the occasion in the same fashion along with teachers, students and their parents as well. Thereafter, everyone geared up for the panel discussion. The panel had 2 students each from all the units of SHEF and everyone witnessed an enriching discussion on the entrenched inequalities in our society that were pushed into the light due to the pandemic. Various perspectives poured in as the panelists explored caste, gender and class discrimination. The discussion was opened to the audience and beautiful statements were given like, “if you want to make a change in the world look at the man in the mirror” amongst several others. Urvashi Aunty gave the closing speech as she urged the students to adopt a solution oriented approach and set an example by sharing the foundation’s recent achievement of providing hundreds of phones and laptops to the underprivileged students. The proceedings ended on a patriotic high leaving everyone with thoughts on how to create the India our forefathers envisioned. The event brought back a lot of memories and it was indeed a wonderful idea to hold the Independence Day function despite the physical limitations. Happy Independence Day!!
The student leadership workshop is a regular feature of the Study Hall Education Foundation, it is designed particularly for the student cabinet bodies of all the units of SHEF i.e. Study Hall School, Prerna girls, Prerna boys, Centre for Learning, Vidyasthali and Study Hall College. The various cabinet members meet to interact, discuss and learn what an ideal leader is. The students come as amateurs with fresh energy and inquisitiveness regarding their duties and leave as responsible, conscious and determined leaders who are ready to represent the students and serve their institutions. This year the workshop was taken by our founder Dr. Urvashi Sahni, principal Mrs. Meenakshi Bahadur, vice principal Meenakshi Shah ma’am,the spearheaded director of youth leader@SHEF Zarine ma’am, DSH director Anand sir and our alumni Aditya Shukla and Aman Arun.
The workshop was distributed over two days,the first day started with Felipe sir taking an ice breaker session in which he grooved to a tune while the young leaders followed him,relaxing everyone. The learning began with Urvashi aunty speaking about servant leadership which focuses on serving, it is the ideal form of leadership. The students went on to name their ideal leaders like Nelson Mandela, Gandhi Ji, Jyotiba Phule, and several other notable ones and how they inspire the world.
Aditya Shukla then took over to discuss the modern psychological stance on leadership where he talked meaningfully about the several theories under it. It substantially enhanced the theoretical knowledge of the audience about leadership. Then the discussion shifted to inclusive and exclusive style of leadership exemplified by Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf Hitler respectively. Obviously the former was agreed upon as the desired form by the participants.The history of leadership was also presented right from the early ages and the shift from physical to intellectual superiority in a leader.
The consequent session was taken by Meenakshi Bahadur aunty. She spoke about pseudo and authentic leadership, building a team and turning passive presence to active participation. She was greeted with questions regarding the same which she embraced to the students’ satisfaction. Aman Arun then took over to discuss leadership and self awareness. He presented the audience with knowledge on components such as a leader’s wisdom, ethics, identity and brand to explain the link between leadership and self awareness. Essentially talking about the ‘why’ factor to leadership—why the person stood up to lead others.
The meet then witnessed a panel discussion with Urvashi aunty. The panelists were Nidhi Kanaujia, Renu Yadav, Divya Pal and Kunti, they are all alumni of different units of SHEF and former cabinet members. Listening to them students learned about how a badge given in school can help in individual growth, in the development of a disciplined self and is a notable character in bigger institutions.With the sharing of their precious experiences,the first day came to an end.
The leaders in training again met the next day with the same enthusiasm and readiness to grasp new things. The day started with participants recalling take aways from day one and a bit of body stretching before investing themselves in a long and productive day. To discuss the inclusive style of leadership, Zarine ma’am started by asking for definitions of diversity and differences.Her questions were met by wide ranging responses from students of all the units. What followed was an activity where questions were displayed with scores indicated to measure the diversity present in the group despite the common factor—leadership potential. The differences were vested in age, gender, religion, socio-economic factors, beliefs, etc. Subsequently, the meet headed towards producing solutions on how to make every individual feel like a part of a bigger picture using the strategies of inclusive leadership. Again a huge wave of responses presented steps like eliminating preferential treatment and how the privileged ones should extend an empathetic hand.
Anand sir introduced a third dimension to the scenario of equality and equity. Equity might benefit immediately but a long term solution requires an altogether change in the system. The scenario today needs a shift from equality to equity in short term and restructuring the administration system in the long run.
For the next session the students entered into breakout rooms of their units with their unit heads to discuss a vision and mission for their institutions. Some devoted the time to discuss immediate measures, some a long term solution and structure for the students to be able to self organise. Almost all of them mentioned social service initiatives, giving opportunities to everyone, skill development, talent clubs and building a universe of care. Moving towards the final panel discussion, the panelists were Mr. Syed Raza-LGBTQ rights activists,Ms. Laxmi Nishad-Prerna alumni and former Head girl and Mrs. Disha Kaushal- an associate of the global shaper foundation. Urvashi aunty talked to them about the obstacles they faced, strategies they chose to overcome them, building a leader and once built, maintaining the zeal. Some described the why factor of the youth leaders in them as the need of the hour and others as their conscience. Mr. Raza talked about owning failures and distributing successes, Disha ma’am gave insights from her personal life and taught everyone that personal problems should not be a veil to social duties. Laxmi di insisted upon heading with self efficacy and not accepting any and every advice coming from society. All of them invariably believed that the youth posses flexibility of thought, the risk taking factor and innovation,hence, empowering them to lead is the essential in making a better society. On this wise note,the panelists, organisers,teachers and the young leaders dismissed with determination to continue and contribute in possible ways.
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