Category Archives: Teacher’s Forum

Towards reforming Government schools in UP: A meeting with DyCM Dinesh Sharma

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Dr. Urvashi Sahni, President of Studyhall Educational  Foundation, met Dy CM Dinesh Sharma and discussed the state of primary and secondary education in Uttar Pradesh. Dr. Sahni, who is also a member of the Rajasthan chief minister’s advisory council (education), appraised Sharma about how administrative reforms in Rajasthan had lead to the migration of 10 lakh students from private schools to government schools in Rajasthan.

Prof Sharma showed the keen interest in knowing how the change was brought about in Rajasthan. He said that the current Yogi government was determined to bring about positive changes in primary and secondary education and he would like to discuss this further.

To this, Dr. Sahni explained that integration of primary and secondary school, reducing teacher vacancies, rationalization of teacher appointments based on the need of the school, a collection of accurate school data through a technology portal, Shaala darpan, along with increasing teacher accountability were among the major factors for change.

As a follow up of the meeting, Dy CM Dinesh Sharma suggested that he would like to arrange a presentation before the chief minister Yogi Aditynath and table her suggestions to chalk out the roadmap for educational reform in UP.

She also presented a memorandum to stop child marriage in UP as part of the India’s Daughters Campaign being run by the Study Hall Educational Foundation.

Study Hall Annual Inter House Cultural Fest 2016

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Study Hall school had organized its Annual Inter House Cultural Festival on 29th and 30th July 2016 in Study Hall School, Vipul Khand, Gomtinagar. The two day high spirited fest had activities ranging from event management to yoga and elomime. In most of the events an overwhelming response was received by the students as well as the teachers. The team spirit of students from class 6 till class 12th was the main attraction of the festival. The house trophy was won by Silver Oak house while Jacranda, Fireflame, and Cypress got the 2nd,3rd and 4th positions respectively.Dr. Urvashi sahni congratulated everyone for their efforts. The entire event was coordinated by the team of students and teachers led by the Principal Shalini Sinha and Vice Principal Meenakshi Bahadur.

The first day of the event witnessed  lots of joy and enthusiasm and all of it continued on the second day as well. Even rain could not stop the students from participating with full energy and take the best out of the moment. The second day consisted of mainly three events which were Indian music (group and solo), Just-A-Minute and Junior dance.
Indian Music was held  for classes 6-12 and was judged by Mrs Shalini Chandra, Mr Biju and Mr Saurabh. All the students sang folk songs beautifully in their ever so melodious voices. Jacaranda sung a Marwadi song, Silver Oak chose a Begali song, Fireflame went for a Rajasthani song while Jacaranda sung an Awadhi song. All the students were dressed up beautifully in Indian attires and left no milestone unturned to give their bests in their performances. In Indian music solo, Aman from Silveṛ Oak sung a lovely classical song while Arnav Ratan from Fireflame went for the Bollywood song “jee loon zara”. Sukriti Mohan from Jacaranda sung “Mohe rang do laal” while Anjali Abdi from Cypress sang “Saawre”. The Indian music overall was a hit event.The next was JAM or Just A Minute which went on really well. It was judged by Mrs Ritika, Mrs Shalini Sinha and Mrs Bani Malhotra. For the junior dance, the theme was Fairy tales. Fireflame performed beautifully and involved a lot of lifts in their dance. Cypress performed a mix of several fairy tales with full on energy. Jacaranda had it’s graceful dancers dancing the story of beauty and the beast while Silver Oak showcased a modern version of Snow white and sleeping beauty highlighting women empowerment.The four houses secured several individual meritorious positions in all the events.

Media Coverage : Amar Ujala, My City, Lucknow Edition 30th July 2016

 Media Coverage : HT, My City, Lucknow Edition 30th July 2016

Around the Campus July 2016

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For Literary Excellence at St.Teresa School, Lucknow

The junior school students participated in various events at St.Teresa’s school and made us proud with their performances.While little Praharsh won the first prize in the “spell bee” competition,  Sanskriti of standard II bagged the first prize in “story telling competition”.Sanchit Gupta of Standard III also took part in “read aloud competition”, and Samra from standard I participated in “jumble word competition” and got the third prize.

LUCKNOW CHAPTER OF INDIAN INTERNATIONAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS JULY 2016

Lucknow chapter of IIMUN was organised by Indian International MUN,(Mumbai) from 22nd Of July ’16 to 24th of July’16 at Allen House School Lucknow. A delegation of approximately fifty students participated and bagged several prizes from Study Hall School. Study Hall School was awarded the title of “THE BEST SCHOOL DELEGATION” by Honourable governor Ram Naik. It was not only in debating that Study Hall students showcased their talents but also in management skills as the whole event was managed by logistic members from Study Hall .

  • Best school Delegation trophy-Study Hall
  • Committee Prizes :
  • Siddhant Mishra-1st prize
  • Arushi Dixit-1st prize
  • Tanya Nanda-2nd prize
  • Ashutosh Raj-2nd prize
  • Arjun Chaudhary-2nd prize
  • Aditya Shukla-2nd prize
  • Special Mentions: Yashasvi Krishna
  • Verbal Mentions: Chaitanya Mohan,Vinayak Dixit, Saman Hussain,Apoorva Vardhan
  • Best photographer-Akriti Rastogi

JUNIOR SCHOOL STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTION 2016

The Study Hall Universe of Care deserves a clap for changing the lives of the students enrolled here, for better. The real life experiences given here, impact the minds of the students and teach them things which can never be forgotten.The youngsters of class 5 were fascinated while studying about the country’s constitution and government.

To understand how India is a true democracy, the class activity included getting the children into groups.Each group gave a class presentation on their “Party”, for which they decided on a name and prepared a symbol placard, a slogan banner and a speech for canvassing.
This was followed by all the children of class 5, casting a secret vote in the Ballot box to elect the Junior School Cabinet.Their participation in the election of the Junior School Student’s Council made them feel very proud and taught them the importance of elections in our country.


PANEL DISCUSSION – CHILD MARRIAGE 

PRERNA GIRL SCHOOL – STUDY HALL EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION

The senior girls of Prerna Girls School organised a panel discussion on child marriage on 15th July, 2016 .The panel comprised of Prerna alumni, Prerna boys and Prerna girls, Dr Urvashi Sahni, Mrs. Shalini Chandra, Mrs. Suparna Chatterjee, Madhu [a parent ] along with Dr Smita Singh and Ms Shipra Hitesh [ both visiting faculty, Lucknow University ]were the guest participants .The programme was graced by the presence of Ms.Rebecca Winthrop,Director, Global Education, Brookings Institution, Washington D. C., who was  visiting the Study Hall Foundation . Prerna girls Panchkumari and Kirti Gupta conducted the discussion brilliantly.

The discussion began with the understanding of the term Child marriage and then moved on to it’s reasons and repercussions and finally to finding ways to end this malpractice. There were poignant moments when girls and parents recounted their personal experiences. Many of them broke down ,making everyone in the jam packed hall realise the gravity of the problem .The hall resounded with applause when a father got up to admit that he made a mistake by getting his elder daughter married very early but he would let his younger daughters study as much as they wanted .

A visibly moved Ms. Winthrop talked of her experiences while working in other countries and praised the Prerna girls for their courage and enterprise. The Principal, Prerna Girls School – Mrs. Rakhee Panjwani proposed the vote of thanks.

Top Mentor : NSTSE 2016 (Unified Council)

Congratulations  to Mrs. Anuradha Baijal from Study Hall for being the Top 5 Mentors across Uttar Pradesh for highest Student Participation in NSTSE 2016 (Unified Council). She is a inspiration and regular source of encouragement for all students.


International Yoga Day 2016

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International Yoga Day 2016

Yoga does not ask you to be more than you are. But it does ask you to be all that you are. Be what you are on this World Yoga Day 2016.The Teachers and Students at Study Hall have been regularly practising Yoga Asana under the guidance of Mr. Rajesh and Mrs. Kalpana Singh  – Our yoga teachers

Study Hall’s yoga and sports activities and various programs reflect the school’s broader commitment to excellence in all areas and allow our students to capture the social, emotional, and physical benefits of athletic participation. Sports and yoga teach communication, collaboration, work ethic, risk-taking, and resiliency. We believe these life skills benefit our students on and off the field.

India Daughters Campaign 2016

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There are 10 million child brides in the world and one-third of those are in India! Child marriage is one of the greatest threats to a girl’s life and liberty. We should stop euphemising it’s horror and sanctifying it by calling it “marriage”. We should call it ‘girl slavery’ which far more appropriately describes what child marriage does. It enslaves a girl physically, sexually, psychologically and emotionally and does her enormous harm. Her education is truncated, her immature body is weakened and rendered ill, by early and repeated childbirth. Young and afraid, she is unable to offer any resistance to oppressive and abusive in-laws and husband. Even before she embarks upon it, she loses all control over her life!

Even though the Indian legal system outlaws the marriage of a girl before the age of 18, society especially in rural areas, not only sanctions it but actively promotes and encourages it by creating peer pressure to marry off young girls. Many people maintain that they are under tremendous pressure by society to marry their girls as soon after they reach puberty. Marrying girls young is perceived as a way of settling them, keeping them safe and chaste and in control. Social norms in India, do not allow girls to be autonomous equal persons with the right to live life to its full potential. At Study Hall Educational Foundation(SHEF), we have been working for girls’ right to live as equal, autonomous persons worthy of respect for several years. This initiative started at our Prerna Girls Schools through critical feminist pedagogy. Later, in the year 2011 girls education and empowerment initiative, Aarohini was founded to strengthen government schools with gender studies curriculum. Over 1000 schools are touched by the Aarohini Initiative across India.

This year we are campaigning specifically against child marriage in all our partner schools, families, communities and the government. We begin our campaign with this web campaign and invite you to join us in our fight against child marriage in India. We look forward to receiving your articles, messages and entries of any kind which will encourage our students and their parents to say NO TO CHILD MARRIAGE/GIRL SLAVERY!

Thank you!

Dr Urvashi Sahni
President and CEO, Study Hall Educational Foundation

 

Around the Campus March 2016

Gallery

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This gallery contains 6 photos.

Arohini Initiative : Critical Dialogue Training 2016 In a one of its kind initiative, the Digital Study Hall under its ‘Aarohini Initiative’ collaborated with the UNICEF to organise two-day residential training sessions with the teachers of Ashram Type Schools (ATS) … Continue reading →

Veerangana Rally 2015

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Led by the Veeranganas of Prerna Girls School, teachers and students of the Study Hall School, Vidyasthali Kanar High School, Study Hall Centre for Learning, Digital Study Hall and Gyansetu Non Formal Education Centres came together for an awareness campaign against street violence and to promote girls’ education.They were joined by teams from all the eight Kasturba Gandhi Vidyalayas of Lucknow district. They assembled in Study Hall School on Sunday, November 9th, 2015  and then they were divided into three groups, each more than 200 strong. Raising slogans, carrying banners and placards and singing songs with gusto, they marched in the lanes and by lanes of Ujariyaon, Digdiga and Gwari villages. People climbed on rooftops and thronged the open spaces to see the street plays that were repeated many times.The Veers, the boys from Prerna boys felt proud to carry the message along with the Veeranganas. More than 2000 persons signed the pledge to stop and resist street violence. The campaign touched almost 40,000 people with the message STOP AND RESIST STREET AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

Teachers Day 2015

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“ज़िन्दगी मिल के बिताएंगे ,हाले दिल गा के सुनाएंगे,
हम तो “ आठ ” रंग हैं यह जहाँ रंगीन बनाएंगे”

 

September 3rd and 4th, 2015, the Study Hall Educational foundation family – Study Hall School, Prerna Girls School, Dosti School, Vidyasthali ,Digital Study Hall, Centre For Learning, DiDi’s a unit of sister’s in solidarity, and Prep School worked together for the biggest and widest celebration of Teachers Day 2015.

As early as 7:30 in the morning, led by its Student cabinet –  all the administrators, faculty, staff and students gathered together in the school ground to welcome the lovely teachers with their glamorous attire as they took their grand entrance in the red carpet together with their respective escorts dressed as the teacher’s themselves. Student’s celebration had various colours in the form of skits, dance, and songs.

The school band played songs from the yester years, all the teachers sang along with the band. Teachers got very delighted by the programme organized for them.

Students always look forward to Teacher’s Day with a lot of anticipation, for the sheer spirit of the occasion. Acting as teachers, they get a fair idea of the responsibility, so efficiently handled by their teachers.It requires a lot of hard work and dedication to be a good teacher and earn the affection of students at the same time.

The program was followed by a special celebration by all the staff members of the foundation .All the dear mentors received souvenirs.

They shared their memories, flowers, gifts and love. There were dances, skits, drama, and dialogues. Teachers, on this day, were reminded of their school days and felt nostalgic.All in all, it was celebration mode for everyone!

Community Mobilization Training Programme 2015

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Study Hall foundation is running the “Aarohini Programme” in Kasturba Gandhi Vidyalayas of Uttar Pradesh for empowering adolescent girls from the marginalized communities .As a part of the program, teachers training sessions are being organized for using innovative methods for informing and educating the parents about their daughters’ rights.

One such training was recently organized by the Digital Study Hall at Rampur, July 2015 for the teachers of all the seven KGBVs of the district .The teachers were made to understand the need for mobilizing the community and the importance of getting the message across without hurting the dignity of anyone .They were inspired to plan creatively for their Parent – Teacher Meetings .They enjoyed preparing and presenting issue based plays .These plays will be part of the PTMs. Members of the School Management Committee were invited on the third day. They were all parents and most were not literate .Initially, they were diffident but after the ice breaker game, they were receptive and interactive. During the feedback, they all said that they had never felt so important and so worthy in their lives.

-Shalini Chandra,Head Pedagogy, Digital Study Hall