Earth Day Celebrations at The Indian School-Second Shift Making a Difference

The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it. 22nd April, Earth Day, which was observed at our School on 21st April, is about appreciating the uniqueness of our planet Earth, while at the same time, educating ourselves about what we have and what we are losing by acting in ways that arent environmentally friendly. The day also reminds us that we need to take action now to protect our environment before its too late. [gallery link="none" ids="10645,10646,10647"] On this occasion, the children of The Indian School-Second Shift zealously dived into the day with each class conducting varied activities to help the children know and empathise with our planet better. Some creative craft and colouring exercises apart, the children were shown an audio- visual and also sang songs about the importance of Earth Day. We started with a Tree Plantation Drive organised in collaboration with the Climate Reality Project, India. Honoured guests from embassies included, H.E. Ma.Teresita C. Daza, Ambassador, Republic of Philipinnes, H.E. Hatem Tageldin, Ambassador, Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Ms. Akhilesh Mishra (Ambassador's spouse) and the Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Maldives, Mr. George N. Sibley, Minister Counselor (Economics, Environment, Science & Technology), Embassy of the United States of America, Ms. Lee Alison Sibley, Earth Day Network, and Mr. Aditya Pundir, Country Manager, TCRP, India and Dr.Poonam Batra joined the School leadership and children to plant saplings on the School campus. Through this awareness drive the children are to be engaged in maintaining the tree saplings through the year. This will ensure that every student is an environmental and climate literate citizen, ready to take action and be a voice for change. Following this event, was a special assembly conducted by the students of class 5A , describing the importance of the day and that of tree planting through a skit and a specially composed song vrikshalagao, pedbachao. As another Earth Day initiative, cloth carry bags from our neighbourhood convenience stores were painted by the children with messages and illustrations on saving trees, saving water etc. Once painted, these were returned to the shops for their use. This initiative was much appreciated by the shop owners and the children enjoyed the exercise immensely. In the Pre Primary section, students were informed about the importance of Earth Day. An innovative ' trash fashion' parade was organised for the students of Pre Primary. Students walked the ramp clad in upcycled outfits made of old newspaper, paper bowls, plastic, gunny bags! Students planted saplings and made bags from recycled paper. They were told about the importance of trees and recycling. The aim was to sensitise the students about how valuable trees are. The children took turns to speak a few lines conveying the message of keeping our surroundings clean and in turn taking care of the Mother Earth. The extensive events organised went a long way in introducing and orienting the young minds to develop a continuing compassion for Mother Earth and thus making a difference.