Maris Stella students take out ‘Peace March’

Vijayawada: The students and staff of Maris Stella College took out a ‘Peace March’ here on Wednesday commemorating the 78th anniversary of Nagasaki Day on which anti-war and anti-nuclear protests were arranged in many countries to promote peace and create awareness about the risk of nuclear weapons and other weapons like chemical and biological weapons.

They paid tribute to those who lost their lives in the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945.

For 78 years, Hiroshima and its survivors, known as ‘hibakusha,’ had tirelessly worked to prevent the use of nuclear weapons.

As many as 2,000 members participated in the march including staff and students holding placards bearing slogans ‘Say no to war,’ ‘spread peace to the world,’ and ‘End wars or the world ends’ were displayed.

To raise awareness among youth about the critical issues related to ‘Weapons, Wars, and the Wreckage’, the Department of Physics organised an Inter-Collegiate Physics Inspire Club Meet–2023 and conducted several events on August 8, 2023 including an essay-writing competition on ‘A Nuclear Weapon-Free, Peaceful, and Just World,’ a drawing competition on “Atomic Energy: Development & Disaster,” and a PowerPoint presentation on ‘Nuclear and Radiation Accidents’.

Additionally, two short films ‘Bombs: Special’ by Kyle Hill and ‘Why Oppenheimer deserves his own movie’ were screened. As many as 40 students from inter-collegiate and 110 Intermediate and degree students of Maris Stella participated in various competitions. Prizes were distributed to the winners by Principal Sr Jasintha Quadras, Physics HoD Dr G Little Flower, senior faculty member P Padmalatha, other members of the Physics department and R Srinivasa Rao and B Karuna Harika from Language departments present.