ISA Exhibition: A Report

23rd February 2017

On 4th of February, Indus Valley World School, in collaboration with the British Council held an exhibition to showcase the various artefacts made by the children as part of the ISA project. Enthusiastic children from the pre-primary to the senior secondary level prepared exquisite craft items to match the themes of the seven chosen activities.

The little children worked very hard for ‘Activity 1: Thanksgiving, the Harvest Festival’. Fresh vegetables and fruits were displayed along with the beautiful cutouts showing plethora of rituals and activities intrinsically linked to harvesting.

Under ‘Activity 2: Go Bananas’, students provided information on banana delicacies, different other uses of banana, the several places in South Korea and India, where bananas are grown and this was possible through exhibits like colourful charts and cutouts.

In case of ‘Activity 3: Brave Little Kites’ , the name says it all as the shades of bright colours on the kites looked dazzling and a comparison between birds and kites was projected.

‘Pollution’, being the theme of ‘Activity 4’, the children handcrafted vases, masks, dolls etc. from waste items and the title to this particular section ‘Best out of Waste’ captured the attention of the eager onlookers.

As part of ‘Activity 5: Rediscovering the City of Joy Kolkata: The Forgotten Capital’, the old world charm of the city was revived through charts and models on heritage sites, the delectable Bengali sweets like rasagolla, sandesh and the transport system of Kolkata. The Durga idol made of paper pulp and hay was the cynosure of all eyes.

‘Activity 6: A Window to the Life of the Tribals’, revolved around the every day life of the tribals and the extraordinary natural scenery as the backdrop was in perfect compliance with the makeshift tribal hut.

‘Activity 7: Dances of India’ was primarily based on the facts and figures on varied dance forms of India and the partner countries. This was presented through flash cards, clothes worn during performances and write ups of children on Kathakali, Bharatnatyam, Odissi on one hand and hip hop, jazz and Candyan dance of Sri Lanka on the other.

Mr. Sourabh J.sarkar, founder of Karmayoga for 21st century was the Chief Guest of the day and addressed the students stressing on the fact that at a physical and mental level such exhibitions are useful in integrating school education with life. Jen You, another distinguished guest from South Korea confessed that she learnt more about the city’s culture, heritage and lives of people from the exhibition. Such exhibition shapes the students and helps them go beyond just bookish or pedantic knowledge. Eminent visitors like Mr. Tanmoy Das and Sukanya Das hoped that the exhibition would be transferred to our consciousness as a blend of education with life. Principal of BDMI Mrs. Vijaya Chowdhury acknowledged the students’ efforts and was of the view that children gathered hands on experience which would help them to grow as individuals in future.

Parents were all praise for the exhibition and Jenia Mukherjee and Subhadeep Das, guardians of Sourajit Das were of the view that the exhibition was an excellent attempt beyond conventional textbooks which would help the students to evolve as mature citizens. The very next day, Mr. Sailesh Khaitan, the honourable Chairman of IVWS visited the school and congratulated the students for their wonderful effort.

Photographs : Display Photo