Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram organized a workshop, titled ‘Capacity Building, Legal and Social Awareness’ for all the staff members on the 8 September, 2018. The workshop was divided into five interactive sessions conducted for the teachers in the Audio Visual Hall. The purpose of the workshop was to create awareness about issues relating to Physical and Mental Health, Learning Disabilities, Juvenile Justice, and the POCSO Act. These enriching workshops were coordinated by Ms. Vandana Chandhoke and Ms. Niva Chhonkar.
Session 1
Impact of Air Pollution on Health
Resource Person –Dr. Arvind Kumar
The workshop commenced with the Principal, Ms. Vanita Sehgal, felicitating the speaker, Dr.Arvind Kumar, Pulmonologist & Thoracic Surgeon at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Dr Kumar began the session by drawing a contrast between the colour of the lungs of a newborn and a 20 year old who has been exposed to polluted air. He emphasized that people staying in polluted cities are all smokers, in the sense that their lungs are affected by the particulate matter. He added that the adverse effects of air pollution results in allergies, asthma, and various other respiratory diseases, tuberculosis and lung cancer being the most dangerous ones. He spoke about the measures that one must take to have healthy lungs. These measures included spreading awareness about the issue through educating people, avoiding dust and smoke, planting more indoor plants to intensify the fight against air pollution for a cleaner and greener tomorrow. The Vice Principal, Ms Anita Singh, extended the vote of thanks.
Session 2
Social Skills & Identification of students with Special Needs
Resource Person – Dr. Vishal Chhabra
The session began with the speaker Dr. Vishal Chhabra, Psychiatrist at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, Okhla, elaborating on social skills for handling emotions in children. He also addressed the issue of handling children with special needs. He spoke about different kinds of social skills and emphasised how group activity can help in enhancing interpersonal skills. He shared a few techniques used in Positive Psychology as a part of problem solving skills. The latter half of the session focused on Developmental Disabilities in children, Specific Learning Disabilities like, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, Dyslexia, and Intellectual Disabilities. The resource person also touched on the psychological problems in children like ADHD, Conduct Disorder, Abuse, Bullying, Depression, etc., and sensitized teachers about dealing with the children with special needs. The Headmistress,
Ms. Rashmi Malhotra, extended a vote of thanks and concluded the enriching session.
Session 3
Diet and Weight Management
Resource Person – Ms. Aditi Mehrotra and her team.
Ms. Aditi Mehrotra, a Nutritionist at Arney Fit Kids told the teachers that a good and healthy diet is a lifestyle change. It is about deviation rather than deprivation. She stated that humans are more focused on satiating their food cravings rather than their hunger, unlike animals who stop eating when their hunger is satiated. She elaborated on the need to include seasonal fruits, a Rainbow diet, and natural supplements to develop intelligent eating traits. She spoke about the occupational hazards faced by teachers, as regards their postures, voice, mental fatigue, and stressed on drinking water at room temperature to counter most of these ailments. She advised the audience to be aware of trans-fats, artificial colours, adulterants, pesticides, and flavour enhancers and encouraged them to have a balanced and healthy diet. A member from the resource person’s team demonstrated a few exercises that could be done to relieve stress in the body. An activity was conducted by the resource person wherein a teacher volunteer was asked to mark the various colours she had included in her diet on a given day. This was done to stress the importance of including a variety of colours in one’s diet. Ms. Mehrotra also shared the reasons for food cravings and gave tips to control food cravings. The interactive and enriching session came to an end with the Vice Principal, Dr. Renu Nayar, proposing the vote of thanks.
Session 4
Social Responsibility and Healthy Peer Relationship
Resource Person –Dr. Sanjeev Kumar
The session began with the Vice Principal, Dr. Renu Nayar. felicitating the resource person, Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, a Communication Consultant. Dr Kumar commenced his presentation by showing a visual related to perception and emphasized how teachers can help students see things differently by guiding them to a new perspective. He elaborated on how learning, behaviour, and action are all related to perception and teachers must be able to anchor information to make learning more interesting. Using two activities, he demonstrated how the ‘Curse of Knowledge’ hinders our ability to see past our own expertise. He further reinforced the need to innovate and bring together the different pieces of information to construct coherent knowledge. He concluded his session with the idea that in order to control the outcome, one needs to change the method. The session was very enriching and one where the teachers participated enthusiastically. The Vice Principal, Ms. Anita Singh, proposed the vote of thanks for this very interactive session.
Session 5
Legal Counselling on POCSO, Juvenile Justice Act and Anti Bullying
Resource person – Mr. Aditya Das
The session was conducted by Mr Aditya Das, an Advocate who is also an alumnus of DPS R.K.Puram. The resource person commenced the session by elaborating on the two acts framed by the Union Government concerning Juvenile Justice and the POCSO Act,2012. He explained about Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) and the other components that are included in the Act. He further sensitized the teachers about the rights of students, the roles and responsibilities of the teachers, and the school management along with the parents. The major causes of CSA in India stated by Mr Das, referring to the NCPCR document were taboos in discussing sex and sexuality, tolerance to gender based violence, a culture that believes and values adults over children, and the impact of reporting child sexual abuse. He stressed that teachers must be very vigilant yet sensitive towards children especially in their interaction with them. He advised the teachers to be more aware about any change in the pattern of behaviour in children and to inform the management timely so that appropriate action can be taken.
The session ended with the Principal, Ms Vanita Sehgal, urging the teachers to be more vigilant and empathetic towards children. The Vice Principal, Ms. Renu Nayar, proposed the vote of thanks.
