NIRMAN Monthly - February!

Education · Research · Arts

Hello readers,

2020 has kept us on our toes so far! In this newsletter, we show you a glimpse of workshops in our school, talk about the need for arts in education, share pictures from our sports day, and talk a little about ourselves. We hope you enjoy reading!

The NIRMAN Newsletter Team

Meet Riya. After pursuing her M.A. in Education, her heart was set on teaching and that's how she reached NIRMAN. She joined us as a full-time teacher and research assistant in the June 2019. Riya teaches English and Social Studies to our primary and middle school students. Second to teaching is her love for children's literature and libraries. She manages the Southpoint Libraries on campus and also works on designing for our school's events.

Meet Harshita. She has been associated with Nirman for the last 8 years. Currently, she is the academic in-charge of ‘The Southpoint Preschool’. She also coordinates the visitors and events of the Centre for Postcolonial Education, NIRMAN's research centre, and manages the admissions and publicity for the new academic session of the school. She likes to explore the scope of bodywork in teaching new concepts to children. In her 8 years, she has created some fascinating thematic dances with her children. Reflecting and learning from one’s own life experiences, and enabling others to do that as well, is one of her passions too.

Meet Ankita. After interning at NIRMAN for a month and a half last year, she decided to join us as a full time teacher and research assistant. She teaches middle school English and Social Studies and English in our preschool at the Betawar campus. She also teaches light music and has helped shape The Southpoint School Children's Choir. She plans to start Ukulele Lessons for adults and children soon. Do reach out to us to help us raise funds for some ukuleles!

Workshops at NIRMAN

Throughout the school year and as a part of our research centre, we conduct plenty of workshops. Last year, in December, we organized multiple thematic workshops during the Varanasi Children's Art Festival.

Storytelling conducted by Gaurav Saini, a resident artist at Nirman. Gaurav conducted an interesting storytelling session for students of Classes 3, 4 and 5. The story session was arranged in an intimate, cozy corner. Children thoroughly enjoyed the story ‘Satya’s Boat’, read aloud to them and enacted with them in the session.

Arts Workshop conducted Snehlata Yadav, a well known artist of Banaras. She conducted two arts workshops. With class 6, she created an interesting Mandala using leaves, stones and sticks. With classes 7 and 8, she taught them Shadow painting using cartridge paper, oil pastel colors and their imagination. The children thoroughly enjoyed this process. The visitors to the festival were mesmerized by the final outcome.

Dance workshop by Aditi Vatsa, a dance facilitator from Delhi. Aditi conducted a Dance workshop with classes 6, 7 and 8. After some warm up exercises and energizers, she taught them two circular dances. The participants shared how they were able to shed their inhibitions and were at ease in expressing their emotions through body movements as a result of this workshop.

Three civic workshops were conducted by Professor Sanjay Srivastava, Faculty member from Department of Political Science, Banaras Hindu University. He was assisted by his students and research scholars from the department. The sessions were about Traffic lights (for classes Nursery, K.G., 1 and 2), about National Symbols and our freedom fighters (for classes 3, 4 and 5) and about Parliamentary elections (for classes 8,9 and 10). The sessions were thoroughly enjoyed by the students and enlarged their knowledge base.

A music workshop was conducted by Ankita Acharya, Social Studies teacher and Research Associate at Vidyashram – The Southpoint School, in which students of Classes 1 to 4 were taught how to make music using their bodies. The children learnt many new things about sounds and rhythm and had fun in the workshop.

Sports Day at Vidyashram - The Southpoint School

Events at Vidyashram- The Southpoint School aim at bringing out the best in each individual child and helping them to express their unique selves. We celebrated our Sports Day at Nagwa and Betawar Campus on 26th January and 1st February respectively. The races tested the mental and physical capacities of the participants and some team games taught them cooperation and the possibilities of 2 and 2 work together as 1.

Apart from student races, there were also games for parents, teachers and staff, which were thoroughly enjoyed by them.

The need for Arts in the School Curriculum

NIRMAN began its journey in 1990 with the vision of creating an integrated school providing excellent education to children from all walks of life. The Arts have been an important part of Vidyashram-the Southpoint School since.

The impact that the fine arts have on a student's mind has been studied and understood extensively all over the world. Our specialisation is to integrate art in the teaching of all our subjects. In the lower grades it comes in the form of activities like colouring between lines, which helps students develop fine motor skills, and free hand drawing, which gives them a space to express themselves. In the higher grades, they are encouraged to learn about the rich fine arts found around India and the world and learn about artists. They participate in art workshops, do wall paintings, and create their own books and art pieces.

In another newsletter, we will discuss the other arts we use: theatre, music, dance, and film!

Watch our Director, Dr. Nita Kumar speak about the need for arts in the school curriculum.

Do like, share, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We will be launching a series of such videos, so keep watching this space!

Sponsor a child at NIRMAN!

In order to fulfill our mission of running a fully integrated school, we need partners such as you! If you sponsor a child, you are not only gifting a child a joyful school environment but you are also helping to break the cycle of poverty and low skill level that is the fate of millions in this country. Do reach out to us to know more about our Sponsor-a-Child Programme.

NIRMAN

The NIRMAN Monthly Team