World Health Day - Kusum Sharma

April 7 of each year marks the celebration of World Health Day. From its inception at the First Health Assembly in 1948 and since taking effect in 1950, the celebration has aimed to create awareness of a specific health theme to highlight a priority area of concern for the World Health Organization.

Over the past 50 years, this has brought to light important health issues such as mental health, maternal and child care, and climate change. The celebration is marked by activities that extend beyond the day itself and serves as an opportunity to focus worldwide attention on these important aspects of global health.

Theme 2021: Building a fairer, healthier world for everyone

In recent years, countries in the Western Pacific have experienced rapid economic growth, migration and urbanization. This created opportunities for better lives for many but left others behind. The COVID-19 pandemic has undercut recent health gains, pushed more people into poverty and food insecurity, and amplified gender, social and health inequities.

Courtesy- https://www.who.int/westernpacific/news/events/world-health-day

Kusum Sharma

The Fabindia School

ksa@fabindiaschools.in

Freedom and Peace - Prerna Rathod

What is freedom? Every living being on this Earth has a different approach to

freedom. For a bird it would be to fly high in the blue sky, for a cow or a dog it would be to roam around freely and not just to stick to the rope, for an elephant or a lion it would be to roam freely in the jungle and not to perform in a circus. But for a human being, there are different aspects of freedom. Well, these boundaries of freedom are developed and accepted by societies themselves.

For a boy hanging around with his friends late in the night is no big deal instead it would be a restriction in the freedom of a girl if not allowed to do so. So who should we blame in this situation, is it the girl who is born with the female gender instead of male, or it should be the parents who are restricting the child? It’s the idea which generates in one’s mind to destroy the freedom of others just to satisfy their own freedom. For all the incidents taking place in this era, might it be kidnapping, rapes, etc, are due to these reasons.

Instead of blaming anyone, we should find solutions and ways to deal with it. So I would conclude that freedom is when you have the right to do anything which would not violate the freedom of others and would help for the betterment of society. And when there is freedom for everyone I am sure there will be equality, happiness and peace in our lives. So you will see “Freedom” is interlocked with “Peace”, i.e, where there is freedom there is peace. It is applicable in every home, society and country. This reminds me of a famous quote:“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”

Prerna Rathod The Fabindia School prd@fabindiaschools.in

Simplicity and Trust - Byju Joseph

Simplicity means simple in all aspects and it is the way to live in a society. It is a precious quality to be possessed by each one of us. It is the humble nature of a person. The person who leads a simple life is always humble in his actions. We can find it not only in his appearance but also in his entire behaviour. He always considers others and gives chances to others without thinking of his own profit. He always tries to avoid luxurious life and satisfies with the basic essential resources.

It is not an easy thing to be simple at every time for everyone. Self-control and strong will power are needed to be simple. At the same time, courage and patience are also essential to lead a simple life. Simplicity leads to kindness. Our former Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri was famous for his simplicity. Although he had all facilities and power he never used his office car for personal purposes. He took out a loan to buy a car for his family. The life of our former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam is another example of simplicity. He never wished to earn money and properties. His last belongings were some clothes, a watch and books only.

Trust means a strong belief in someone. It is the base of a relationship. Each and every relationship is built on trust. Being human beings we have relations with others. To make the relationship strengthen, trust is very important. Friendships, families, companies, institutions or any such firms exist on trust. It is time-consuming, it takes much time to be created but it takes a moment to be destroyed. So it should be taken care of. In any way, if it breaks, everything will be in vain.  So it is very important to build trust among all stakeholders and it should be strengthened day by day by our actions in an effective way.

Simplicity is an integral part to develop and nurture trust everywhere. Trust among each individual in a firm is very important for success. As an example, in a school, the principal has the trust of each teacher and that’s why he/she designates each teacher for a particular class to teach. Students and their parents also have trust in teachers. Trust is a bonding and it is developed among students, parents, teachers and management. This bonding becomes stronger by the attitude, behaviour, hard work, dedication, understanding etc. of the stakeholders.

As role models, if teachers show simplicity at all times, students will follow and practice it. This simplicity gradually leads to the formation of trust and the same will help the students for their character formation. Teachers’ satisfaction lies in their students' bright future. So let us work hard to achieve the same.

Byju P. Joseph, The Fabindia School 

Happiness and Tolerance - Odyssey SHS

Happiness is that feeling that comes over you when you know life is good and you can’t help but smile. It is the essence of living. Life is not about surviving but enjoying each day with love, hope and aspiration. An individual loses happiness when he feels detached from the finer aspects of life. A self-contented person finds happiness in the simplest of things whereas an unhappy person finds it difficult to experience subtle pleasures in life. If that individual is a young boy, the situation becomes alarming. When a child carries an angry and forlorn look, it is a serious issue. Rajiv joined Sacred Heart School in 2009 as a student of class 4.

From the very beginning, one could sense a young rebel in him. He disliked studying and completing his assignments. It was an arduous task to make him sit still for a minute in the class. Rajiv loved to create disturbances in the classroom and revelled at being reprimanded. His sheer disobedience for school rules made him audacious most of the times. Nothing made him smile. He always wore a grumpy look and argued with teachers nonchalantly. Teachers tried to rein his wild spirits but all in vain. Rajiv lived a careless life who could never be bogged down by detentions and suspensions.  

However, there was one thing that soaked up all his negative energy and made him focused. It was the football field that made him happy. He loved to play football. The teachers noticed his love for the game and acknowledged his achievements in the sports field. Gradually the young boy started showing some improvement in his behaviour. The constant praises from the teachers and his peers started working wonders for Rajiv. Over the years, this change transformed him drastically. He was no longer sad or unhappy. There was always a smile on his face and he yearned for the love and affection from the teachers. This led to his improvement in academics. The young Rajiv was now a grown-up student of m class 12. The teachers felt a sense of pride and satisfaction when he successfully completed his board examinations. Rajiv had matured with time and found his happiness in life.

Tolerance is being patient, understanding and willing to accept the ideas of others. There was a boy named Peter studying in grade six. He was a hardworking and innovative student. In the beginning, he behaved well with everyone but slowly he began to change in such a way that he didn’t miss a single day to irritate his teachers. It was very difficult to keep him in the class. He used to create confusion in the class, in the hostel and wherever it was possible. The management was deciding to expel him but the teachers took a brave stand. Peter was not just a student for them. He was a big responsibility and they refused to give up on him. 

Some senior teachers thought of talking to him and making him realize about his misbehavior  in the class. Some of the teachers took bold steps to bring some positive changes in him. Teachers like R K Das Sir and Niloy Hait Sir took the initiative. Their sincere efforts paid off in the end. He understood his weaknesses later on and realized his mistakes. Slowly he began to change himself in a positive way. He started thinking positively about the school, about the teachers and about his classmates.

- Abhishek Rai <abhisacredheart3@gmail.com> for Odyssey at Sacred Heart School Siliguri