Deepalaya - Enabling Self-Reliance

Deepalaya School, Kalkaji Extension celebrated Teachers’ Day in a unique style. The event came both as a pleasant surprise for its fresh flavor & a learning experience for the never-before activities taken up as a workshop.

“A teacher is a community worker, the one who dares & proves to be an agent of change. Humility, courage, tolerance & joy of living are some of his other qualities. This is what Paulo Freire writes in his book, and what I see for myself at Deepalaya.”

words of wisdom by Ms Anuradha Sen

Ms Anuradha Sen struck oil with those words, as she quoted the author of ‘Teachers as Cultural Workers – Letters to those who Dare to Teach’, expressing that ‘Mission Deepalaya’ fits exactly into what is considered one of the greatest education philosophy in the world. Through a poem called ‘The Builder’, the Guest of Honor & EQFI Director for Academics, congratulated the organization & its people for being ‘able to enable’, as she spoke on the occasion of Teachers’ Day at DSKE.

Devotion, music, dance, songs, painting, words of wisdom, colors of rangoli, fun & frolic, and sharing experiences – the event came as a package. It was a day dedicated to teachers, and had an array of surprises for them. The event introduced as a never-before ‘workshop’ for teachers certainly proved to be one.

From a traditional welcome, with ‘tilak’ & garlands, the workshop took off with ‘saraswati vandana’, an expression of devotion to Saraswati, the Goddess of Art & Knowledge, and was soon followed by nach baliye - dance performances by Deepalaya children. The audience, which made it to the event from all project locations across Delhi & Haryana, was thrilled when Anand from DSKE student started off with ‘main kabhi batlata nahin, teri parwah karta hoon maa’, dedicating the song to all the teachers present, and beautifully sang it along to beats of drums.

Throwing light on Dr Radhakrishnan’s life, Deepalaya Executive Director Mr Peter said, “Teaching is a noble thing to do, teaching a child makes it just nobler. But teaching children like ours is the noblest thing to do.” He congratulated & greeted the teachers for ‘helping Deepalaya work well towards the mission of Enabling Self-Reliance’. He shared his experience with the organization & its children and sent across wishes to the audience.

The ‘workshop’ saw the presence of Board members, teachers from all five formal Deepalaya schools & those from Deepalaya’s Education on Wheels (EoW) project, instructors from Deepalaya’s vocational training centres, and a couple of volunteers who shared how associating with Deepalaya made them feel like contributing to a good cause.
“I’ve been working with RJRN Deepalaya School for quite sometime now. The children are so potent, just like any other child & the kind of regard they instill in you is just commendable”, said Kabir, a volunteer with Deepalaya. Another volunteer from Germany, Verena shared similar views. “It has been a great association with Deepalaya & I really look up to their vision”, added Verena as she congratulated Deepalaya on the occasion.

Verena, a volunteer sharing her experience

Deepalaya students jamming to ‘wake me when september ends’

Students from RJRN Deepalaya School (RJRND) secured huge applause as they jammed to Greenday’s ‘wake me up when September ends’, beautifully accentuating their song of the day with strings & percussion. Amongst other highlights were dance sequences by Deepalaya School, Sanjay Colony (DSSC) & Deepalaya School, Gusbethi (DSG), who variously performed from fun numbers like ‘nagada’ to patriotic ones like ‘chale chalo’. Instructors from VTC too marked their presence through ‘bole chudian’.

Deepalaya Chief Executive & Secretary Mr Mathew’s message for the day highlighted the Indian tradition of ‘Gurukul’ as an age old institution where ‘the students & teachers share a close relation based on feelings of respect & responsibility’. He congratulated the teachers “for living up to that sacred institution of teacherhood in a world, where values are constantly eroding”.

“This is your day. And we’ve got a couple of surprises to make it last a lifetime!” Thus went the announcement & began the workshop, which soon translated into an array of unexpected, out of the box activities for the teachers. There was a tug of war competition, which came as a pleasant surprise for the teachers & instructors, as they were invited in groups of 10 to compete with other schools/projects. What’s more, the winners took pride in walking down the ramp soon after. Another activity which interested the audience was the QA round, where facilitators from Deepalaya Human Resource Centre (HRC) asked questions on children’s behalf – questions that were silly, questions that were naughty, but questions that were fun – to ask, to answer or even just listen to!

A day before, the Deepalaya HRC had organized a painting competition where the staff expressed themselves through canvas & paintbrushes. These paintings, more than 50 of them, sent out diverse themes & messages. To everyone’s surprise & admiration, they made their way to the auditorium entrance at DSKE, only to wish the teachers & make them feel great. The HRC team also shook a leg to the beats of ‘pappu can’t dance’, which it dedicated to all the Deepalaya teachers & children.

The teachers were presented with tokens of gratitude after the event, which concluded with smiles & shines all around.

United We Pull