Nupur Verma, Himani Mattu; KEEKLI Interns – St Thomas School Students, 16th October, 2019, Shimla
In an endevour to boost the creative skills of the students, an Inter-School Block Level Spell Wizard Competition was organized by the Bharti Foundation in collaboration with SPD Office at Govt. Sr. Sec. School Phagli. The purpose for this competition was to enhance skill development through co-scholastic activities and external competition. Earlier, the spell wizard competition was held at the school level, and the winners were qualified to compete in the block level.
In this competition, nearly 40 government schools participated across Shimla, namely, Govt. Public School Summer Hill, GSSS Taradevi, GSSS Totu, Govt. Model Sr. Sec. School Shoghi, and Govt. Public School Chaura Maidan among many others. The participants were from 24 primary schools and 16 upper primary schools. The Jury members for the event were Rama Raitka, Principal Govt. Sr. Sec. School Phagli; Neeraj Mahajan, District Institute of Education and Training Shimla; Renu Bala, SPD Office and Angmo Katwal, State Project Coordinator.
Brajesh Kumar Bhardwaj, Project Coordinator Himachal Pradesh said, “We believe in the overall personality development of an individual, things related to life skills and enhancement of leadership qualities should be taught to the students. More stress is laid upon English language. It is estimated that approximately 100 schools are tiedup with this organization, and financial support at small levels is also given to them.”
Bharti Foundation organization was earlier under the educational sector from past 15 years, but since last 5 years they are associated with the government sector. The main purpose of this organization is to provide quality support to existing government schools.
During the Spell Wizard Competition, two rounds were conducted to select the winners. Students from Govt. Public School Summer Hill bagged the first position, while there was a tie for the second position between Govt. Public School Panjari and GSSS Taradevi; and Govt. Public School Chaura Maidan secured the third position. In the junior category, GSSS Shoghi bagged the first position, Govt. Public School Summer Hill came in second while GSSS Totu secured the third position. In the senior category, students were felicitated with awards and certificates. These winners have now qualified for the District Level Competition.
A vote of thanks was proposed by Urmil Verma, Vice Principal, Govt. Sr. Sec. School Phagli, who lauded the support extended by the Bharti Foundation; Ashish Kholi for his help; and the students from the library club actively participated throughout the programme. The event was a huge success, as the students were able to learn and explore new things, which also led to their confidence building.
