Hyderabad: St. Peters High School Annual Day celebrated with a difference

Hyderabad: School annual days are common. Mostly considered as matters of routine practice. But, some schools think other way round. St. Peters High School from Bowenpally turned its annual day held this weekend at its school premises at Bowenpally, as an International Youth Leadership Programme. They informed, educated and entertained 2000-plus audience through cultural programmes around the theme" It's Time, Act. – Youth for Global Impact".

The event projected students as change makers. The school used it as an opportunity to teach students and their parents some useful lessons showcasing best practices followed by some school across the world.

'When school functions are becoming routine and mundane, something unique must happen to make them interesting and useful. We took it as an opportunity to teach useful lessons of Conflict, Stress, failure management, fitness, leadership skills etc and others. We don't want our annual day to be a mere entertainment evening', said Dr. K Suvarna, Principal, St. Peter's High School.

We have identified 22 best practices adopted by few schools from across the world such as Pakistan, Kenya, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Tibet, Israel, Thailand, Netherland, Indonesia, Philippines, Tanzania, Sweden, Ukraine and Slovenia, and demonstrated them using sound, song, storytelling, action, drama, dance and other tools to inform, educate and entertain through our annual day from stage. And we have involved 1500 students, almost 60 to 70 per cent of the school's strength from grade 4 to 10th informed Dr. K. Suvarna.

The show was curated over a period of time. The research and practice began three months before the Annual Day shared T. Alphonse Reddy of the School. The programme began after customary prize distribution and other formalities. Then followed presentations of best practices.

The practices included Forest Bathing as practised in some Japanese Schools; Curb Climate Change as practiced in Indonesia; Singing Bowl Therapy as practiced in Tibet; Laughing Yoga from India; Scholastic and co-scholastic practices of Ukraine and Slovenia; Nutritional Food Choice of Thailand; Novel Culinary Adventures of Mexico; Drastic Plastic--Say No to Plastics as implemented in China and Philippines; Lebanese way of teaching Technology into Teaching; Creation of Zero Hunger Zones as seen in Tanzania and Sweden; and Cycling, the Netherlands way of physical fitness for heartful living and Happy Schooling Pakistan way etc and others.

Aftab and Milka played the roles of two Japanese Sayaka Fujiki and Ryotaro Fujimura and presented how Murasakino High School implements Japanese health and wellness practice of Shinrin-Yoku or forest bathing. It is a simple and therapeutic act of spending time in a forest, which ven Japanese doctors promote it as an antidote to hectic urban life. It serves as a digital detox, does wonders for physical and mental well-being. It has become a vital part of Murasakino High School's Wellness Practice. Each student takes forest bathes for an hour every weekend. The results are amazing. The team which presented the concept suggested all school to take it up. They concluded their presentation with Japanese customary greetings Arigatougozaimasu (Thankyou), arigatougozaimashita. (Thankyou).