“The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.” Denis Waitley
To mark the 74th Independence Day of India, Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram held a week-long celebration. The different departments of the school organised a plethora of virtually interactive events and competitions for the students. This allowed the participants to express their patriotic ideals and showcase their talent even in these unprecedented times.These trying times did not dampen the spirit of pride and patriotism in the students as they participated in these events with great zeal and enthusiasm.
DAY 1 – 10 AUGUST 2020
INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE: COLOURS OF INDIA
The Performing Arts Society, under the guidance of Ms. Renu Bassi organised many events to celebrate independence day in their own unique ways. In the Dance competition the participants performed a solo dance on a pre-recorded track wearing traditional Indian attire. They were assessed on the basis of their expressions, originality, rhythm and choreography. Mr. Ashok Singh and Mr. Daniel Freddy judged the participants of Classes IX – XII and Mr. Ashok Singh Miral assessed the participants of Classes VI – VIII.
WESTERN VOCAL: VOICES OF THE NATION
Students sang self-composed songs on the theme of ‘freedom’ with the help of a karaoke track or any musical instrument. The criteria for judgement was tonality, diction, originality, relevance to the theme, and the overall presentation. Mr. Sothingam Shaiza judged the participants of classes VI – XII.
WESTERN INSTRUMENTAL: SOUND OF FREEDOM
Students presented an original composition using any Western instrument, underlining the theme of patriotism and freedom. The event was judged by Mr. Leimi Kashung. The criteria of judgement was originality, creativity, title/musical relevance to the theme and the overall presentation.
INDIAN VOCAL: AZADI KE TARANE
Participants presented classical, self composed and modern day Indian songs with the help of karaoke tracks and live instruments. They were judged on the basis of lyrics, rhythm and beats. The event was judged by Mr. Suman Kalyan Sangiri.
INDIAN INSTRUMENTAL: SOUND OF THE SPIRIT
The students played instruments like Tabla, Harmonium, Sitar and Keyboard and were assessed on the basis of proper tuning of the instrument, synchronisation of raag / tal, clarity of bol / sur and the choice of composition. The judges for the event were Mr. Kuldeep Mishra and Mr. Salim Kumar for classes IX – XII while classes VI – VIII were judged by Mr. Kuldeep Mishra and Ms. Renu Bassi.
RESULTS:
DAY 2 – 11 AUGUST 2020
हिन्दी
The Hindi Department under the guidance of Ms. Fatma Kirmani organised many events to keep the flame of patriotism burning in the hearts of the students.
चरित्र अभिनय प्रतियोगिता (VI – VIII)
This was an online role-play competition wherein participants assumed the personalities of the great leaders and freedom fighters of our nation and aptly enacted their roles. Participants of class VI were judged by Ms. Sapna Sharma and Ms. Sangita Bajpai while classes VII and VIII were judged by Ms. Priyamvada and Ms. Rupali Mahindru on the criteria of the content, acting skills and presentation.
कविता पाठ एवं गीत गायन (IX – XII)
The Hindi Department organised a solo Poetry Recitation and Singing competition wherein participants composed original poems or songs paying reverence to India’s past and honouring its heroes. The jury comprising Ms. Suruchi Bhardwaj and Mr. Manish Jain assessed the compositions on the basis of quality, originality, diction, grammar, style of singing, the performer’s confidence and emotional elements of their performance.
ENGLISH
The English department with Dr. Atika Dayal at the helm splashed the colours of freedom and sacrifice to inculcate a feeling of patriotism and gratitude towards our national leaders by organising events for the students of Classes VI to XII.
English Poetry Recitation (VI – VIII)
This competition provided students with a platform to express their patriotic ideals and nationalistic fervour by reciting self-composed poems. The jury comprising Ms. Anupama Rawat and Mr. Vaibhav Popli assessed the students based on accuracy, pronunciation, clarity of expression, overall delivery and presentation.
English Speech Recitation (IX – XII)
In this competition organised by the English department, participants were granted 1.5 minutes to deliver an original speech celebrating the spirit of the Indian freedom struggle and acknowledging the tales of the leaders’ valour and sacrifice. Students were judged based on diction, pronunciation, delivery, presentation, grammatical accuracy and relevance of content by Ms. Binu Channan and Ms. Ruma Madan.
RESULTS:
DAY 3 – 13 AUGUST 2020
The Foreign Languages Department under the guidance of Ms. Rashmi Malhotra organised various events to inculcate the feeling of patriotism in the students.
FRENCH
LA POÉSIE: POETRY RECITATION
Participants recited a self-composed poem on the theme ‘Le Patriotisme’ (Patriotism). The judges, Mr. Randeep Singh and Mr. Vaibhav Popli, assessed the participants on the basis of fluency, pronunciation, voice modulation, creativity and originality.
LE PATRIOTISME: CHARACTER PORTRAYAL
Students portrayed various freedom fighters and enacted their famous and awe-inspiring words in French. They were judged by Mr. Randeep Singh and Mr. Vaibhav Popli on the basis of fluency, pronunciation, voice modulation, creativity and originality.
SPANISH
SPEECH COMPETITION (IX-XII)
The Foreign Languages Department organized a speech competition wherein participants spoke on topics related to independence day. They were assessed by Ms.Preeti Bara on the basis of creativity, originality, fluency, pronunciation, voice modulation, diction and content delivery.
SLOGAN WRITING & PRESENTING (VI-VIII)
Participants read and presented the slogan on topics related to patriotism. They were judged by Ms. Jaishree Sharma on the basis of their content, creativity, originality, presentation and delivery of slogan.
GERMAN
ERST EINE MINUTE (JUST A MINUTE) -(VI – VIII)
This was an event organised by the Foreign Language Department of Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram wherein participants recited short, enthusiastic compositions in German on the main theme of patriotism. Ms. Payal Sachdeva judged them on the basis of fluency, pronunciation, originality, voice modulation, and overall presentation.
OUR NATION’S PRIDE (IX – XII)
In this event, participants selected speeches penned by an Indian Freedom Fighter and then undertook the arduous task of translating and reciting it in German. They were judged based on fluency, pronunciation, voice modulation, creativity, originality, content and presentation by Mr. Gurpreet Singh.
SOCIAL SCIENCE
The Social Science Department of Delhi Public School R.K. Puram under the guidance of Ms. Shruti Mishra, Ms.Vandana Chandoke and Ms. Rupa Das organised events to bring out the patriotic fervour in the students on the independence day.
DRESSES OF INDIA
This event organised by the Social Science Department for Classes IX to XII offered participants a platform to showcase the traditional attires of India. The jury comprising Ms. Arti Trivedi, Ms. Shruti Mishra and Ms. Vinita Punjavani assessed the participants based on presentation, authenticity, research and confidence.
CHARACTER PORTRAYAL/ROLE PLAY
This was a role-play competition where contestants from Classes VI to VIII portrayed the great leaders of India’s freedom struggle, enacting and emulating their words with great fervour. They were assessed by Ms. Binu Chanan and Ms. Shruti Talwar on the basis of content, attire, acting skills, confidence and overall presentation.
SOCIAL SCIENCE SPEECH COMPETITION (IX – XII)
In this event, 40 participants from Classes IX to XII gave speeches on topics relating to our nation. Participants were assessed by Ms. Shraddha Parmar, Ms. Anubha Gopal, Ms. Vibha Sidhu, Ms. Livano Banerjee and Ms. Vithika Rahul and Ms. Rupa Das on the basis of their content, diction and pronunciation, confidence, relevance to the topic, modulation and overall presentation.
AAZADI KE RANG: RANGOLI MAKING COMPETITION
The students were asked to create rangolis on the spot, correlating to the theme of Independence Day. They used flowers, and different colors to create vibrant patterns. The judges, Ms. Madhu Rai and Ms. Archana assessed the rangolis based on design, creativity, symmetry, colour combination and neatness.
RESULTS:
DAY 4 – 14 AUGUST 2020
FINE ARTS
The department of Fine Arts, under the guidance of Mr. Amit Rajput, participated in the Independence Day celebration by organising events for the students of Classes VI to XII.
INDEPENDENCE DAY COLLAGE MAKING AND SLOGAN WRITING (VI-XII)
The event aimed at giving students an opportunity to showcase their creativity on topics related to Nationalism by making a collage while using a well thought out slogan to provide a holistic view of the same. Presentations were showcased which evoked the feelings of nationalism.
The Judges, Mr. Amit Rajput and Ms. Jatinder Kaur, assessed the participants on the basis of their content, creativity and aesthetic presentations appeal.
RESULTS:
On 15th August 2020, the school conducted a virtual livestream to celebrate the 74th Independence Day of India. The livestream displayed the winning performances from the online events conducted in the past week and was a spectacular amalgamation of dance, music and speech performances on patriotic themes by the students of DPS Vasant Vihar, DPS East of Kailash and DPS R.K. Puram. Students of the Senior School and the tiny tots alike, prepared performances in their homes and recorded them to make it a visual treat. The livestream was organized under the able guidance of the Activity Incharges Ms. Binu Chanan and Ms. Kaveri Dhar and with the unflinching support of the Computer Science department, under the able leadership of Mr. Mukesh Kumar who assisted in putting the whole show together. In spite of remotely collaborating, the nationalistic zeal of the students and faculty did not fall short.
The Principal, Ms. Padma Srinivasan, addressed the gathering by congratulating all students and staff for enthusiastically uniting to celebrate and honour the nation despite the current tough and troubling times.She mentioned a recent Man Ki Baat address, in which the honourable Prime Minister urged his countrymen to take a resolve to get freedom from Coronavirus on the 15th of August. In order to achieve this, he urged all to take a pledge to follow all the precautions laid down to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
Ms. Padma Srinivasan also congratulated Aryan Gulati,,a class XII student of DPS R.K. Puram who has developed a Machine Learning based web application called LungAI to detect and predict Covid-19. The software was selected as the winner in the Sustainable Environment category in the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Ideathon organized by the HRD Ministry and will be awarded with a prize of 2 lakhs to further implement the idea at the national level with the Government of India.
The Principal, Ms. Padma Srinivasan concluded her address by quoting Nelson Mandela – “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. She urged the students to remain together, hope and pray that all of us get freedom from covid soon and get back to our normal routines. She also said that DPS R. K. Puram as an institution will make many more contributions to make our nation truly Aatmanirbhar.
The livestream concluded with the National Anthem.