Brainfeed Magazine_November 2021

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November 2021 Volume VIII Issue 08 `75

20 20 UNDER

SHARING AS A HUMAN VALUE

CREATING RUBRICS FOR ASSESSMENT Dr. Jayalekshmi Rajasekaran

12

Seetha Murthy

HEUTAGOGY, A LIFE CHANGING METHOD 18

Dr. V. Bindhu

20 UNDER 20 24

Samaresh Shah

34

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Readers’ Forum The cover story ‘Making children code’ was timely as the whole world is going gaga with Artificial Intelligence. Schools too have joined the bandwagon and the future generation needs to be aware of the immense possibilities of AI. It was heartening to read how girls from a remote village of Andhra Pradesh that too from vernacular background mastered Python.

Do pick up more articles on technology and I suggest you introduce a column on latest developments in technology.

The piece ‘Impulse control and self-regulation, two skills needed’ is immersive and appealing. I enjoyed reading the section where author has mentioned some games according to the age that help build impulse control and self regulation in children. It is interesting and refreshing to know techniques that comprise varied dance movements, cultivating new ways of expression with the help of sign languages and physical activities.

Dr Debamitra Mitra, Kolkota

Vartika Philips, Chennai

Brainfeed is the first print version after the pandemic and is a welcome change because an e-magazine can never replace a hard copy. The cover story for the October issue is inspiring, insightful and informative. It has been a great learning experience to read the Brainfeed regularly with streamlined content on a wide array of topics.

I have been a regular reader of Brainfeed magazine and extremely happy to have receive the hard copy after a long hiatus. It is one of the few educational magazines that not only covers pedagogy but policy and contentious issues related to the educational fraternity.

Glad to have the Brainfeed magazine on the table, again! Keep em’ coming.

Manisha Dubey, Odisha The article ‘The unsung heroes of Pandemic’ gives an insight of how our teachers have been coping with the transformation undergone in the education landscape amid the pandemic. Embracing the educational technologies have been challenging for our teachers. The author notably mentions the key points to follow for better emotional and mental well being and foster pleasant relationship with students. It was inspirational to learn from our teachers learning. As many of them finished certification and online courses to get in sync with the current teaching methodology induced with technology. I would love to read more articles and interviews of industry experts and have their insights on different issues as it expands my knowledge base.

Surabhi Mathur, Delhi

(Readers can send in their suggestions / feedback to info@brainfeedmagazine.com by 10th of every month) 4

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We are looking forward to the other Brainfeed magazines as well such as Brainfeed Junior eagerly. We are eagerly waiting for Brainfeed High and Brainfeed Primary and Junior editions too. Both my kids are fond of Brainfeed High especially the section ‘Fascinating Facts’ and ‘Did You Know’.

In spite of so much information available on the internet, Brainfeed magazine’s articles are always interesting and appealing and keep updating on the latest trends, new discoveries and happenings in the education domain.

V Ramanathan, Vellore

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Editorial

November 2021 Volume VIII Issue 08

Editor-in-Chief Brahmam K V

B

rainfeed magazine was started with an intention to make reading a habit and to foster creativity. As we enter into the 9th year in a couple of months, I ask myself if we have realized our goal. The answer is neither an affirmative ‘Yes’ nor an emphatic ‘No’. It is somewhere in between.

We have been successful to an extent in reaching out to thousands of readers across the country and through creative interventions encouraged talent and inculcated the habit of reading. The journey is arduous but not impossible.

Talent and creativity has to be nurtured. We are happy to bring to you in this edition, stories of twenty young people who have punched above their weight and have done exceptional work in different fields. Brainfeed joined hands with White Canvas India who conceptualized the idea of identifying talent and felicitate young minds.

There is no dearth of talent in the country but the availability of avenues to exhibit has been a major concern. Scores of youngsters wallow in darkness for one chance and we in our own little way have been providing a platform. We hope the twenty young people we featured in this issue inspire you.

We bring to you several articles that are not just informative but also useful in these times.

For instance, do not miss to read ‘Five ways educators can support student well-being’ by Sandra Chafouleas, Professor of educational psychology at the University of Connecticut who uses the term ‘Behavioural vaccines’ to help students wade through the post-pandemic times. Then we have Seetha Murty share her thoughts on sharing content in social media and on the how’s and why’s in her article ‘Sharing as a human value’.

As schools reopen across the country and the fraternity once again comes together, let us not let our guard down and follow all precautionary measures, lest we succumb to the dreaded coronavirus and its mutations.

Enough is enough. All of us have endured a lot. Let us now look ahead for fruitful times. Do write in with suggestions. We are all ears.

Executive Editor Harish Kakani Editor-at-Large T P Venu Art & Design Shivaramulu Barsam Circulation Hemachander S +91 91777 74851 +91 85018 26317 Printed, Published and Owned by Kakani Veera Brahmam Printed at Kala Jyothi Process Pvt. Ltd. 1-1-60/5, RTC X Roads Hyderabad-500 020, Telangana, India Published from 8-3-191/565/K, Vengal Rao Nagar SR Nagar Post, Hyderabad-500 038 Telangana, India Contact No.: +91 72070 15151 Email: info@brainfeedmagazine.com brainfeedmagazine@gmail.com www.brainfeedmagazine.com facebook.com/brainfeededumag twitter.com/brainfeededumag instagram.com/brainfeededumag

Brahmam K V Editor-in-Chief

RNI No. APEG/2013/49994

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Cover Story

Contents

20

20

UNDER

12

18

20

Dr. Jayalekshmi Rajasekaran Educational Consultant

Seetha Murthy Director, Education Silver Oaks International Schools, Hyderabad, Bangalore &

Dr Neeta Bali Director-Principal & Head of School

Creating Rubrics for assessment

Sharing as a human value

Visakhapatnam

6

www.brainfeedmagazine.com | November 21

The charm of problembased learning

GD Goenka World School, Noida

22

24

Bhavesh Thakkar Founder & Managing Director, EDInfra

Dr. V. Bindhu Principal, Hosur Public School, Hosur

School expansion in post pandemic times

28

Heutagogy, a life changing Bringing ‘behavioral vaccines’ to school: 5 ways educators method can support student wellbeing

Sandra M Chafouleas Distinguished Professor and Neag Endowed Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut

www.brainfeedmagazine.com | November 21

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Insta

NEWS 720 720

Mrinal Kutteri Hyderabad

720 720

Tanmay Gupta Delhi

720 720

Karthika G Nair Mumbai

8.7 lakh qualify for NEET 2021

T

his year over 16 lakh students appeared in the entrance test, out of which 8,70,075 candidates qualified for the exam. The National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted the NEET exam on September 12, 2021 and the result for the same was announced on November 1.

The All India Rank (AIR) 1 holder is from Hyderabad, Mrinal Kutteri is the topper with 720/720 marks.

The other two toppers, namely Tanmay Gupta from Delhi and Karthika G Nair from Mumbai, secured AIR 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

The overall NEET result highlights the increase in the number of aspirants from 2020 to 2021.As per the data, 13, 66,945 candidates appeared for the exam in 2020 and 15, 44,275 candidates in 2021, there has been an uptick of 1.09%.

Aspirants can view the exam results on the official website neet.nta.nic.in.The cut-off list of 8

NEET 2021 was released along with the result by the NTA. Minimum NEETcut-off scores are requiredto clear the exam and it differs for all categories. For general category, the minimum cut-off is 50th percentile and 720-138 is the cut-off scores.

If we look at the gender-wise result statistics, 4, 94,806 female candidates cleared the exam, while the boys number was 3, 75,260. The data clearly reflects that girls outshone boys this time.

Post the NEET 2021 result, the NEET counselling 2021 process will start for qualified candidates.

The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) will organise the counselling for 15% All India Quota (AIQ) seats, central universities, AFMS, and AIIMS. While the state counselling bodies will conduct the counselling for the remaining 85% state quota seats from government and private MBBS colleges.

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Super 30 fame Anand Kumar inks deal with Japanese startup

A

fter furnishing decades of teaching and mentoring to tons of underprivileged students from Bihar and other neighbouring states for admission to IITs, NITs and other prestigious engineering institutions, Anand Kumar, the mathematician virtuoso has collaborated with Japanese EdTech company – ‘I am beside you’ to teach and mentor Japanese students.

He will guide Japanese students in maths and will also mentor them for entrance exams for admissions to higher education institutions in the country.

The lessons in audio-visual format in English and Hindi will subsequently be translated/ dubbed into Japanese language for the native students’ convenience.

However, unlike Super 30, which aims at teaching Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics to prepare students for JEE Advanced, this move would only focus on teaching Maths.

CBSE releases Class 10 sample papers of all subjects with solutions

T

he CBSE has released sample papers of all the subjects for class 10 board exams so that students can practice the new format with MCQs, along with the solutions. There has been change in the exam pattern from this academic year and students should get accommodated with the new pattern.

The CBSE class 10 board exams for term 1 are scheduled to be held in November-December 2021, for which student must be prepared to solve the new exam structure and gauge the difficulty level of questions. They should understand the questions carefully and get adjusted with the new pattern.

Moreover, the new exam pattern is bit confusing for the students and teachers, as board mentioned that term-end exam will be of 40 marks, with 40 MCQs type questions but some subjects paper have up to 50 questions. However, the board insist that students should focus on the new exam format and understand the questions properly rather than fussing about the number of questions or marks per question.

Jharkhand schools and colleges to go for new NCC curriculum

A

s per the National Cadet Corps (NCC) Additional Directorate General of Bihar and Jharkhand, new NCC curriculum will be incorporated in schools and colleges of Jharkhand, Major General M Indrabalan said on Wednesday.

A statement issued by the state government states that, a choice based credit system would be the parameter for the new syllabus and the Jharkhand government has given approval for the same.

The official also mentioned that a proposal for the training session is already in place at Tilaiya Dam. The statement further elaborates that according to the new education policy, NCC will now be implemented as a subject in universities, which is a unique step taken by NCC. However, over the years, NCC has made many amendments in the

cadets training. The induction of NCC programme in universities will open a new window of opportunities for candidates who aspire to be defence officers.

Now, as per the new scheme, NCC cadets would have an extra edge of gaining marks and also get academic recognition. Until now NCC cadets were getting benefits according to the state policies and were only considered as an extra curriculum activity.

The NCC official also stated that schools and colleges with poor performance that are identified for imparting NCC training programmes would be served notice. Also, new professors have been appointed for NCC cadets training. Jharkhand has initiated the training session for the naval cadets at Patratu, and state government has given permission for the same.

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Insta News

Happiness and well-being takes centre stage at Dubai schools

T

he fifth annual edition of Dubai Student Well-being Census under the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) has been underway from November 1. More than one lakh students and over 20,000 private school staff will participate in the census.

The students and school fraternity will touch upon topics related to relationships with faculty at school and at home.

How students engage in teaching and learning environment, their feelings, experiences and thoughts about their future career goals. They will also talk and share their insights about happiness and well-being.

The director-general of KHDA, Dr Abdulla Al Karam, stated that the census will usher school fraternity with crucial and reliable data to make changes in teaching and learning pedagogy for a purposeful impact on well-being.

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IIT Delhi, Bombay top QS Asia Rankings 2022 among best 50 Institutions

D

elhi University, along with IISc and five Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have marked their prestigious position among the top 100 educational institutions in Asia.

IIT Bombay managed to clinch the 42nd position, whereas IIT Delhi and IIT Madras managed to bag the 45th and 54th position in the QS Asia rankings chart.

IIT Kharagpur, Kanpur has grabbed 60th and 64th position, respectively. Whereas Delhi University and Indian Institute

Tribal students from Maharashtra shine in NEET 2021

S

uraj Pungati (19), a native of Gadchiroli’s Nagargunda village and Sawan Shilaskar (21) from a small village Ghota in Melghat region of Amaravati district scripted success in this year’s NEET 2021. Suraj scored 378 out of 720 and Sawan 294.

Both are from marginal farming background.

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of Science (IISc), Bangalore have got the 77th and 56th spot in the prestigious QS rankings.

Last year, IIT Bombay was at 37th rank but this year it improved its place and secured an exemplary score of 71 out of 100. However, this year other central universities like Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) have managed to grab a spot among the best 200 league of universities. Five universities from China continue to rein its position in the top 10 league.

An NGO called Lift For Upliftment (LFU) has been organising free coaching classes run by MBBS students and doctors in Pune. The NGO teaches underprivileged and marginalised students who cannot afford costly private tuitions.

Every year many students from the NGO clear NEET, including a few from tribal communities of Maharashtra. Many of the LFU pass outs are now studying in medical colleges.

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Assessment

A+

Creating Rubrics for assessment

- Dr. Jayalekshmi Rajasekaran

T

ests have evolved from general grading to multidimensional sets of scoring, as have the teaching pedagogies from text book-oriented learning to competency-based learning. For a student centred approach, for continuous and comprehensive evaluation, rubrics can inform and inspire students’ performance.

collaborate before beginning the assignment to frame the criteria, incorporate student feedback, and improve the tool’s validity and reliability. This will take the form of a matrix, with each criterion having three to five levels of achievement.

Rubrics are preferred over norm-referenced assessments because they are criterion-

What is Rubric A rubric is a measuring tool that defines the parameters that are used to compare and quantify a performance, behaviour, or product. This authentic grading method,rubric, calculates students’ results based on the sum of a full set of criteria rather than a single numerical rating. The tool’s unique feature is that students and teachers 12

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referenced.

When normreferenced evaluations, such as tests and quizzes, include a single correct answer, criterionbased assessments are used to determine how well a person meets the task’s requirements.

When a group works together to create a rubric, it encourages shared standards and grading practices.

Format for Rubrics

1

2

3

SCALE LEVEL

SCALE LEVEL

SCALE LEVEL

DIMENSION 1

DOD

DOD

DOD

DIMENSION 2

DOD

DOD

DOD

DIMENSION 3

DOD

DOD

DOD

Etc. DIMENSIONS

DESCRIPTIONS OF DIMENSIONS

Parts of a rubric Rubrics are composed of four basic parts namely, task description, scale, dimensions and description of dimensions.

Task description is the title of the task assigned by the teacher on which students are expected to perform. The Scale provides the levels of performance. It helps in assessing how well or poorly students performed a specific assignment. Beginners who are attempting to construct a rubric often start with three levels of success, which they later expand to five. The Dimensions show the assignment’s learning objectives.

The instructor divides each task into different dimensions

and assigns a weight to each dimension to emphasise its importance. It assists students in comprehending the various components of a task as well as the skills they must demonstrate when performing a task. The Description of the Dimensions goes into greater detail on what to expect for each dimension on the scale. This takes a great deal of time to develop, as it requires the teacher to clearly express expectations.

Types of rubrics Rubrics are mainly two types, analytic and holistic. For holistic rubrics, the levels of achievement are listed down the first column, and the descriptions of each level

of achievement for all criteria are listed in a second column.

It lists three to five levels of performance, along with a broad description of the characteristics that define each level. The levels can be labelled with numbers (such as 1 through 5), letters (such as A through F) or words (such as Beginning through Exemplary).

A holistic rubric provides a single score based on an overall impression of a student’s performance on a task. Creating a holistic rubric takes less time and grading is faster. The main disadvantage of a holistic rubric is that it doesn’t provide targeted feedback to students, which means they’re unlikely to learn much from the assignment.

The holistic rubric for assessing a project work is given below Score of 3

Score of 2 Adequate

Score of 1

Project is thorough and is in agreement with directions given. Has shown own ideas and creativity and presented in an attractive way

Instructions are carried out to an extent, has some original ideas and the presentation is neat attractive way

Directions were not taken seriously, used other peoples ideas, and the project is messy

Proficient

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13

How to develop rubrics The instructor must first decide and articulate the learning outcomes (concepts, abilities, and so on) that will be evaluated, as well as the type of rubric that will be used. The next step is to identify the requirements and establish performance standards. Based on the rubric, specific and measurable description has to be given

Rubrics are a commonly used method for evaluation today, but only a small percentage of teachers use them, and a substantial number of teachers are

unfamiliar.

are

properly

Rubrics

that

designed

and

implemented provide timely and detailed reviews, promote critical thinking,

and

clearly

display

areas of students’ strength and weakness.

Exceptional

Unsatisfactory

Poor

CATEGORY

5

Satisfactory

Content

Covers topic indepth with details and examples.

Subject knowledge is excellent

Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Subject knowledge appears to be good.

Includes essential information about the topic but there are 1-2 factual errors.

Content is minimal OR there are several factual errors.

The workload is divided and shared equally by all team members.

The workload is divided and shared fairly by all team members, though workloads may vary from person to person.

The workload was divided, but one person in the group is viewed as not doing his/her fair share of the work.

The workload was not divided OR several people in the group are viewed as not doing their fair share of the work.

Product shows a large amount of original thought.

Ideas are creative and inventive.

Product shows some original thought. Work shows new ideas and insights.

Uses other people’s ideas (giving them credit), but there is little evidence of original thinking.

Uses other people’s ideas, but does not give them credit.

Project is neat, organized, and easy to understand.

Project is complete with strong evidence of effort.

Project is neat, organized, and easy to understand.

Project is complete with some evidence of effort.

Project is either messy, disorganized, or hard to understand. Project is either incomplete or does not show strong evidence of effort.

Project is messy, disorganized, and hard to understand. Project is incomplete and does not show effort.

Workload

Originality

Polish

14

underneath the performance levels. Before implementing teachers have to discuss about the rubrics with students to see where their students are and where they need to change. The validity of the tool is increased as students take ownership of their learning, understand teachers’ expectations and take actions to improve their performance.

Sharing and reviewing the rubric with colleagues will help determine its reliability.

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4

3

2

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Perspective

Sharing

as a human value

Seetha Murthy

Director, Education Silver Oaks International Schools Hyderabad, Bangalore & Visakhapatnam 18

www.brainfeedmagazine.com | November 21

S

ocial media has ushered a new revolution in ‘sharing’. Harmless profile pictures and travel photos overtime gave way to posting baby showers, first day at school, graduation ceremony, changing jobs, break ups, cuddling with pets, growing exotic greens in the kitchen garden and what not!

Never in the history of mankind has there been such an urge to share details (Read even personal details).

If pictures have a way to either annoy or enthrall, WhatsApp forwards of all kind blind people and raise questions on the credibility of information. What is more! People share these questionable forwards with great haste including the ubiquitous ‘Good morning’ message without minding the time zone.

These carefully constructed malicious messages are shared with such zest that one can begin to question the very meaning of ‘sharing’. While it may satisfy the ‘attention needs’ for many, it can also lead one into a myopic world of superficial sharing at the cost of defeating the importance of true sharing. And this indulgence is largely in the adult world. If adults change the credibility of sharing as a human value, how can we impart the value of sharing in children?

How do we teach them what is worth sharing and why sharing is important? At one level, sharing has an emotional value and at another level, it has a learning value. When we share, we feel relieved or learn a new lesson.

If parents create the right environment for children to share their fears or mistakes, they never need to worry about losing them to bad choices or wrong friends.

If teachers ensure open climate for students to share their weak points, much more can be achieved in student progress.

To ensure these values are imparted to children, adults need to reflect on what sharing means, how it helps, what can be shared and what should be confidential. With whom to share and what can be shared are some of the points which can be carefully thought over. Those who are confiding and those who are confidants, both should have trust and integrity while sharing.

Many lose friends, jobs or respect only because they become victims of their own sharing. Firstly, adults need to become aware on the boundaries and limits on what to share and to whom. With easy access to known and unknown people and each platform provoking people to share and increasing trend in sharing as a loosely used trait, it is high time that we look at lessons on ‘sharing’ as a value to build human relationships.

Sharing as a human interaction can add value to human existence and relationships and might help in making a better world.

When Arjun shared his trepidations with Lord Krishna, the outcome is a lesson the world is learning even today-the Bhagvad Gita

”

Sharing is caring is what all were taught but social media has changed it all. www.brainfeedmagazine.com | November 21

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Pedagogy

The charm of problem-based learning

T

here is a lot of debate on project-based and experiential learning.

The traditional way of learning involves students studying the syllabusfollowed by an assessment but there are several questions whether the needs of the learner are fulfilled.

Dr Neeta Bali Director-Principal & Head of School GD Goenka World School Noida

Many educatorsare attracted to more learner-centered approaches where the learners’ needs are centered on content.

One such approach is called ‘Problem-based Learning’ (PrBL) here students are assessed on their ability via problem-solving process. A recent research based on PrBL provides the learner greater long-term benefits as compared to traditional learning.

Many successful and progressive universities around the world make use of this learning in their courses. Based on the Constructivist Theory of Learning, PrBL helps develop critical and creative thinking; become an effective problem-solver; increase motivation; encourage lateral thinking; improve communication; networking skills and is based on real-time situations.

This training strategy uses openended/ill-structured problems

20

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that mirror real-world problems.

A method like this helps students transfer what they have learned beyond the classroom, prepare for professional workplaces, environments and life in general in the rapidly changing world. Additionally, the openended nature of the problems gives students the flexibility to approach them from different angles and take different thematic side-lines according to their personal views.

This allows them control of the learning process, capturing their interest and thus motivating them to learn. In other words, the student takes ownership of the problem thus enhancing their engagement and responsibility for the learning process.

The obvious attraction of problem-based learning is the motivating element for young learners and also makes it interesting and fun. The project work allows ‘life itself’ to form part of the classroom and opens multiple doors of opportunities for learning. Apart from the fun element, PrBL involves real-life communicative situations such as analysing, decision making, making changes as appropriate, organise, delegate and even collaborating skills from other subjects to achieve a common goal.

New Frontiers

School expansion in post pandemic times Bhavesh Thakkar

Founder & Managing Director, EDInfra

he best outcome of Covid pandemic was the exposure to online education and realization of the importance of offline education as well. It was important to go online during the pandemic and the learnings included a redrawing of education system.

T

tier III cities. The expansion of schools has become more wise and swift. Many brands have learned the fact that having their schools (or school branches) in these cities is beneficial not only to students but also to the education system as it strengths the system by delivering the education even in the smallest to biggest cities.

With the pandemic receding, education sector is focusing more on coming up with infrastructure. The measures are well taken care of to ensure safety of children.

Online pattern took education to remote areas but limitations as the issues of network and multiple children in family learning through same devices making the access limited to every child. Also, imparting online education across the nation and remote areas can be temporary solution but not the permanent one in this big nation. Just providing schooling is not the objective; it has to be of quality. This can happen when the students can be vouched plus guided and this is possible only in offline education.

The investors have also shown major inclination towards the private education sector as it was and is going to be one of the big sector to invest in while uplifting the education system.

The private sector of schools is seeming to chart big expansion plans and re-draft their growth. These are one of the best times to bring education brands in tier II and tier III cities. The support from government to private sector has also been improving thus enabling the school groups to have comparatively smooth establishment.

The schools groups have in-fact learned this and are showing major interest in expanding their brand in even tier II and 22

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The offline education is and will always remain of major importance as it not only contributes to child’s growth within the class but also outside the classroom. The void of benefits in extra circular activities and social environment can only be fulfilled in schools. Thus, schools are focusing in improvising & making school environment safe while swiftly working on expansion.

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Learning Path

Heutagogy, a life changing method In heautagogical teaching the purpose is to establish an environment where students can determine their own goals, learning path and resources Dr. V. Bindhu

Principal, Hosur Public School Hosur

T

24

he ongoing pandemic Covid -19 has led to novel shifts in teaching platform,from the classroom to online.

This shift is accompanied by child’s productivity and effectiveness in learning concepts. Lively sessions are not easily translated through the screen with children sitting in isolation. Learning takes many forms, outside of set curriculum or walls of a school.

A multidisciplinary form of education which enables the development of skills like critical thinking, problem solving, adaptability integrating Artificial intelligence, machine learning, vocational skills, multiple languages and Indian culture is what is envisaged by the NEP 2020.It is imperative for schools to create students who think out of the box to find out solutions to the multiple issues and problems faced by the country.

The children can learn to cook,knit,grow plants,dance,play musical instruments, perform magic,play chess,read stories or write poems and stories. Some watch movies,play games,make robots or do some scientific experiments at kitchen.

Some may simply day dream or indulge in make believe plays. The possibilities are endless. When we allow children to explore their multiple intelligences, it results in surprising discoveries.

In this context one needs to look at the difference between pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy. In pedagogy, the term which is familiar to everyone, the school and teacher decide what the students will learn and how they will learn. In heutagogy, the student decides what to learn and how to learn and what all resources to be taken, including teacher. Instead of simply completing the tasks teachers assigned, the students go deep into the complexities of the subjects.

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Learning Path

In andragogy, the teacher is a mentor and students find solutions to the tasks teacher sets.

The aim of heutagogy is to develop love for lifelong learning in children which will make them ‘Life ready and Job ready’. It is informal and takes place mostly outside the classroom. The teacher serves more as a coach or facilitator.

Heutagogy (pronounced as hyoo-tuhgoh-jee) a term derived from the Greek was coined by Hase and Kenyon in 2000 to describe self-learning independent of formal teaching.

The overall purpose of pedagogical teaching is providing basic skills of learning, In andragogical teaching the goal is to make students self-directed but in heautagogical teaching the purpose is to establish an environment where students can determine their own goals, learning path and resources. The learner

is at the centre of the learning process, rather than the teacher or the curriculum.

In the current situation of online teaching and blended learning, the skills required to be an effective learner have changed drastically. In order to make learning joyful and to make a shift from rote learning to competency-based learning, teachers have to seek to heautagogical approach in teaching. The learner evolves from passive recipient to active engagers and they become good analysers, problem solvers and critical thinkers The important concept of heautagogy is that of double loop learning. In this style of learning, students not only think deeply about a problem and the actions they take to solve, they reflect within and gain insight into what they are learning and how they are learning. This is the true philosophy of experiential learning and activity-based learning.

Some steps for applying heatagogical approach 1.

Learner and teacher work together to identify learning outcomes,methodology,activities and how their learning will be assessed.

2.

Students create a curriculum for themselves that is flexible to their needs. This will help students to be more empowered and more responsible. They are getting a freedom of choice to complete the tasks.

3.

Students design their own assessment rather than undergoing standard tests. This creates a less threatening environment for students and can encourage deeper learning. Students will be assessed if the agreed upon Learning Outcomes are achieved.

4. Students have to work together to share knowledge and reflect on their progress. The collaborative approach helps children to learn from each other which is an important life skill of 21st Century. In the team learning, all help each other and gain from each other.

Heautagogy is a powerful learning strategy to learn and grow throughout their lives. It is the goal of all educational institutions to prepare students for success in life. Through flip classrooms, multidisciplinary projects and assignments we have to make the shift possible among all level learners.

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www.brainfeedmagazine.com | November 21

With Best Compliments FROM Ahlcon Group of Schools

In Insert Sanjay Yadav, Principal Ahlcon International School

In Insert Dr. Deepak Raj Singh Bisht, Principal Ahlcon Public School

Constructing Digital Flyover @ Ahlcon International School, Delhi 'If kids can't come to school, the school comes home'Ahlcon International School established in the year 2001 is a progressive, liberal, English medium, Senior Secondary, co-ed school with 2600 students, 200 staff working under the able guidance of Dr.Rohini Ahluwalia (Chairperson ) and Dr. Ashok Pandey (Director). Ours is a Vision driven school, focusing on the development of complete personality of each child, through imbibing values, capacity building, extensive use of technology and providing an excellent learning environment.

Ahlcon International School is recognized as a world class centre of learning, a leader in imparting joyful, relevant, and value-based education to each child and to ensure complete fulfilment of the aspirations of all stakeholders.

We ensure quality in our educational services through optimizing intellectual and infrastructural resources, capacity building, practicing ethical and transparent management principles and adhering to the core value system.

Even in recent times, when the buildings were locked, no one could lock the spirit of our educators. The school proved to be hub of positivity by flowing like gushing streams, finding its way to reach the learners, to fulfil our aim of imparting joyful learning. We constructed our own digital flyover.

“The capacity to learn is a gift.

The ability to learn is a skill.

The willingness to learn is a choice.”

True to this quote by Brian Herbert, Ahlcon Public School has always made the choice to embrace and hone the gifted skill of progressive learning.

Established in 1988 by Shanti Devi Progressive Education Society, located in the national capital of Delhi, the CBSE affiliated co-educational institution has earned an excellent reputation for high-quality academics blended with cocurricular, arts, and sports. Presently, more than 3000 young minds are mentored by 150 wellqualified teachers under the able guidance of Mr. Vikaas Ahluwalia (Chairman) and Dr. Ashok Pandey (Director) with the high spirit of inculcating scientific temper and technological spirit deeply connected with profound spiritual, moral and cultural values. Ahlcon’s mission continues to equip our 21 century learners with life skills, promote academic independence, foster social responsibility and inspire a passion for learning. The school provides a safe environment in order to empower each student, through shared responsibility, creativity and human interdependence to develop their unique talents and to become competent and compassionate global citizens. The pandemic has definitely not locked our spirits or zeal, instead given wings to us, Ahlconites, to explore different or alternative platforms and methodologies to keep our young and energetic student community to be enthusiastically involved in progressive learning.

Ahlcon International School Mayur Vihar Ph - 1, Delhi 110091 Phone : 91-11- 4777 0777 Email : ahlconintl@gmail.com Website : www.ahlconinternational.com

st

Ahlcon Public School

Mayur Vihar Ph - 1, Delhi 110091 Phone : 91-11-22750565 , 91-11-46347777 Email : mail@ahlconpublicschool.com, Website : www.ahlconpublicschool.com

Well-Being

By Sandra M Chafouleas

Bringing ‘behavioral vaccines’ to school:

5 ways educators can support student well-being

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s many schools in the U.S. figure out how to safely and fully resume in-person instruction, much of the focus is on vaccinations.

But there’s another type of “vaccine” that may be beneficial for some returning K-12 students that could be overlooked.

Those are known as “behavioral vaccines.”

Behavioral vaccines are not some sort of serum to help control how children behave. There are no needles, shots or drugs involved.

Behavioral vaccines are simple steps that educators and parents can take to help support child well-being throughout the day.

Those actions can be as easy as offering students a warm welcome when they enter the classroom. Studies have shown positive greetings can reduce 28

disruptive behavior and increase academically engaged behavior.

Written notes of praise from teachers or other students – such as a thank-you note for helping someone with a math problem – are another example of a behavioral vaccine. These sorts of notes have been found to reduce problem behavior during recess.

Behavioral vaccines can also entail activities like breathing exercises to help students feel calm or aerobic play to reduce stress. Each simple action can be used alone or in combination to deliver supports that promote well-being.

Challenging times

As a concept, “behavioral vaccines” have been around for centuries. Intended to prevent disease and promote public health, a behavioral vaccine is

www.brainfeedmagazine.com | November 21

a simple action that can lead to big results. Think about handwashing or seat belt-wearing – behaviors to promote physical well-being and prevent larger problems for individuals and within communities.

As a school psychologist who focuses on matters of student mental health, I believe behavioral vaccines can help improve the social, emotional and behavioral well-being of students. I also think these vaccines are especially important as schools seek to fully resume in-person instruction.

Over the course of the pandemic, there have been reports of increased teen stress, negative states of mind and even more suicide attempts as students struggle with isolation, disruption of their routines and remotelearning fatigue.

Well-Being

Since schools can play a critical role in child development, they represent an ideal venue for public health interventions. With those things in mind, here are five ways that schools can offer behavioral vaccines to returning students:

A fancy curriculum or a lot of time is not needed – adults can embed simple, easy-to-do strategies throughout the school day. These strategies can include helping students visualize their best possible selves or practice calming breaths.

1. Build strong connections with every child

Figure out which techniques help children be their best.

Some students may need to be physically active to boost positive emotions, whereas others may benefit from just being quiet and sitting still.

Positive relationships are key drivers of healthy development.

Strong social connection buffers against other risks present in young people’s lives, such as belonging to a group that is seen as a minority, living in poverty or having family members who fall ill. When school provides supportive social connection, it can help reduce vulnerabilities.

Teacher support and connection has been shown to help students feel better about being in school.

Behavioral vaccines focused on supportive connection can involve offering an enthusiastic hello when meeting, building confidence about assignments by giving wise feedback and encouraging students to ask questions. It can also involve taking interest in life outside of the classroom, and adding a daily routine of sharing appreciation for others.

School teams must carefully monitor their use of exclusionary discipline to make sure it does not disproportionately affect certain subgroups, such as Black students, boys or students with disabilities.

3. Include adults

5. Recognize different student needs

Behavioral vaccines can apply across the entire school system – including for every teacher and adult in the setting. Just as with students, teachers can benefit from opportunities to choose and incorporate strategies for reducing stress and bolstering well-being. Peer-to-peer written praise notes, for example, have been found to work for teachers as well as students to increase positive feelings and connection.

Student well-being is connected to teacher well-being. Since the classroom is the primary place for nurturing child well-being in school, prioritizing each teacher’s well-being is critical.

In typical circumstances, children develop at different rates, times and ways. Every student will enter school with a different set of risks, some that were previously present and some magnified.

2. Foster positive motions

4. Be mindful of disciplinary practices

Positive emotions such as joy, pride and interest affect learning.

Experiencing positive emotions helps children be more aware, focused and ready to solve problems.

As students return to fully inperson classes, they may bring social, emotional and behavior challenges. Recent estimates suggest over 37,000 students have already lost at least one

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parent to COVID-19. Students also have missed time to learn and practice classroom skills, such as how to take turns, understand others’ perspectives or even work quietly. Being empathetic toward student experiences will be critical to reducing reliance on suspensions and expulsions.

www.brainfeedmagazine.com | November 21

As British writer Damian Barr stated: “We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. Some are on super-yachts.

Some have just the one oar.” Each child’s boat is different. Some will need more than others to keep moving in the right direction and stay afloat.

Schools need to be prepared to deliver different types and “doses” of behavioral vaccines.

Having a variety of behavioral vaccines at the ready can help schools more quickly bring about well-being for all students.

(Sandra M Chafouleas is a Distinguished Professor and Neag Endowed Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut.)

EW SPOTLIGHT FEATURE

Shalom Group of Schools, Gurgaon

The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence -- Rabindra Nath Tagore personality who exemplify physical health, wellness character and core values. The focus is on nurturing the minds to empower them to find solutions to the difficult life situations and problems that humanity is facing and become valued global citizens.

The beautiful campus of Shalom Group gives a feeling of extended home environment. The architectural beauty is enhanced with lush green lawns. Open spaces, play grounds, herbal gardens and a swimming pool. Our schools have well ventilated class rooms, well-spaced-out Labs, and well-stocked libraries as an integral part of the modern set up for the children to explore.

Founder & Chairperson (Dr. Lilly George) with Winners at Yale Our continuous endeavor is to: We at Shalom manifest in every thought, word and

empower each child to achieve his/her action our philosophy and mindset for a new age highest potential education. The educational scenario has undergone a

focus on developing skills and competencies drastic change as the fallout of pandemic that has left through hands on experience children with no choice other than being home bound.

expose them to creative art for emotional growth and understanding Shalom group is making rapid strides by establishing

empower them through group work, Debate, present day educational pedagogy in its schools. The discussion, research analysis and child of today cannot be taught with traditional documenting. methodology and learning has to be facilitated by

encourage them to participate in various understanding individual aptitude and capacity. The Activities potential of every child needs to be optimized by

focus on Language Expertise- Listening, following suitable pedagogical practices.

Speaking, Reading and Writing by providing With a clear vision, foresight and prudence of our extended learning opportunities Founder and Chairperson Dr. (Mrs.) Lilly George,

focus on their physical fitness by organizing we have been able to curate a unique space for every various games and sports. child as per his/her interests, abilities and ambition.

focus on their nutrition facts with awareness With her love for children and her passion for of health and hygiene education, Dr. George envisages nurturing such

enhance their love for nature and children who are the masters of self and able to lead the environment by organizing nature walk tree world by knowledge, analytical skills, problem solving plantation and many other activities. abilities and integrity of character. The empowering

nurture their mind with inspirational fuel is the core values like confidence, courage, episodes and short stories. compassion, conviction, commitment and

nurture their emotional wellbeing by consistency. An embodiment of grit courage, poise and providing them sessions on life skills excellence, Dr. George is the strength and inspiration

Community Outreach for every member of Shalom family and leads them Through discovery, innovation, exploration and with example. creative expression students receive rich learning Shalom group is a community of learners who are opportunities while building a positive school committed to provide a stimulating environment with culture whereby every child is received with academic rigor by making learning so engaging that unconditional positive regard and acceptance. All every child learns effortlessly and feels excited about the achievements of our children are duly academics. We develop a culture of excellence that appreciated and celebrated. We welcome our st includes robust instructional plan aligned with the 21 children with open arms and foster best home century skills. We seek to develop well rounded school relationship. for details please log on : www.shalomhills.com

Cover Story

20 20 UNDER

Guests and Jury Members

Air Marshal Anil Khosla (Retd)

Ramanan Ramanathan

Prof Raghuvir Singh

Aarati Savur

Vinesh Menon

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Celebrating Talent T

he confidence of childhood is fragile. It could be preserved or ignored. Many a budding talent goes unnoticed and worse is killed even before it blooms due to the lack of simple interventions such as a pat on the back, pep talk, a bit of mentoring and most importantly, an opportunity. Under the leadership of Samaresh Shah who is the founder White Canvas India conceptualized a talent hunt and thus was born the ideaIndia 20 under 20. Brainfeed magazine spearheaded by K V Brahmam has been vocal on the need to keep alive the reading habit and teamed up with White Canvas in the 20 under 20 India talent hunt.

A felicitation ceremony was held on September 12, 2021 with Air Marshal Anil Khosla (Retd), PVSM, AVSM, VM, former vice chief of Air Staff and Ramanan Ramanathan, former (First) Mission Director, Atal Innovation

Dr Manisha Mehta

Dr Aperna Volluru

Mission, Additional Secretary at NITI Aayog, Government of India.

The search for talent across the country started in September 2020 and the response was overwhelming with more than 8,000 applicants. The jury comprised Aarati Savur, CEO, Parisar Asha, Valentina Mishra, CEO, Dla Valentina, Vinesh Menon, CEO, Ampersand Group, Dr Aperna Volluru, founder and chairman, Ritzy Group, Amya Madan, founder, Ecrivons, MNR Gupta, CEO Global and director, Ritzy Group, Dr Manisha Mehta, IB Head, G D Goenka World School. Prof Raghuvir Singh, vice chancellor, TMU University and Capt Shalini Singh, Motivational/ TedX speaker, ex-Army officer.

During the online rounds, Samaresh Shah did the honours.

It took six months for the first elimination round to zero down on 2,000 candidates which was followed by a live task for the next 500 candidates in which they

Valentina Mishra

Capt. Shalini Singh

performed as per their category.

It took another three months to further narrow it down to 100 from which the final 20 were chosen. The selections were made on the premise ‘How their talent was making a difference in the lives of people’.

The winners are from various corners of the country from Midnapore to Bengaluru, Hyderabad to New Delhi. Some have been engaged in public service, a few have gone into innovation, and others have excelled in arts and music. The range of talent available in the country is heartening and gives hope that these young minds will be the leaders tomorrow.

As you read these stories of young boys and girls, we hope they will take their place in your heart and mind to give you pleasure and inspiration. The profiles are as per alphabetical order.

Samaresh Shah

Spandana Kakani

Cover Story

Chess prodigy She wears several hats. A chess player, software engineer, practices Kathak, loves playing music and has a YouTube channel ‘The Naughty Musician’ and completes her school assignments in time.

Meet Aishwarya Dhoot who is aiming for the sky Aishwarya Dhoot

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Grade 7 student of Sri Sathya Sai Vidhya Vihar School, Indore is making waves in the world of chess. Initiated into the game at a tender age of 6, she has made rapid strides.

Seeing her interest in chess, her father Girish Dhoot arranged a home tutor for her and also enrolled her in a summer camp for chess. Since then there has been no looking back.

By 2019, her team won the Under 11 in CBSE National Chess Tournament. Participating in the Brainfeed Magazine and White Canvas India 20 under 20 talent hunt catapulted her to fame as she is among the top 20. As a child she crossed swords across the chess board with her father and later a three-month stint with coach Dinesh helped.

She also likes playing piano and has been into coding. Like many 36

chess players she takes inspiration from Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, Koneru Hampi, and chess coach R. Ramesh. Her rise has been steady. She took two years coaching then gradually started playing tournaments out of Indore. Only at the age of 9, she went to Udaipur, Surat, Delhi, and many more places in Madhya Pradesh.

She has won state level and national level tournaments in the under-11 category also went to Surat for CBSE-West Zone tournament from school and stood first in the same category.

At the nationals (in Delhi) her team and she won the junior national award (CBSE national chess tournament) in 2019 when she was 10 years old.

She has been coding (Software Development- Whitehat Junior) and singing. Her aim is to win the

www.brainfeedmagazine.com | November 21

world junior championship. She won 2nd position with her team in The Green Gurukul Challenge (Waste warriors) (National Challenge) Aishwarya will tie up with companies such as Enduro Sat, a leading space company and will code for a real satellite in space. The satellite will leverage the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

Aishwarya’s attributes her success to her parents whohave stood by her all-through. She credits her mother Pooja Dhoot for helping her stay focussed.

She is good at studies and gets above 95% with the help of her mother. First restrain, next blockade, lastly destroy is her plan while facing an opponent and she swears by the quote: “Main parinda kyun Banumujhe assamaan banna Hai Main ek Panna kyun Banumujhe dastan banna Ha.”

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All-rounder par excellence Aru Bisht is a budding writer, sports enthusiast and an avid trekker. She combines in her the dogged spirit of a trekker, and never say die attitude of a marathon runner. Aru is a go-getter in the truest sense of the word Aru Bisht

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ru has a way with words and is equally at ease while on sports tracks. Born in 2004 in Hyderabad, Aru had a lovely childhood starting with primary schooling with Happy Scholars and later Gitanjali School. She owes her talent to the facilities provided in school as she took to playing tennis, basketball, swimming, and skating too.

A self-confessed mountain lover, she says she has a deep connection with mountains. She hails from the picturesque state of Uttarakhand, Dehradun. An incident on a week-long trek in Garhwal Himalayas where altitude sickness affected her at 10,000 feet but her sheer will to pause and then start all over again helped her grow as a person.

instance, she participated in first ever Model UN and won a verbal commendation among 150 people from across the globe.

In addition, she participated in workshops for writing and journalism. In June, she started posting videos, talking about books that left a mark.

When not trekking or taking part in a marathon, Aru is busy doing constructive things. For

Later, Aru participated in an entrepreneurship competition where she introduced the idea of

She got a golden chance to write in high school in 2019, while in her 10th grade just before she turned 15, she started a newsletter named ‘a part from my life.’ She participated in a writing competition conducted

by Sai University called the ‘Written Word.’ She wrote on how leaders and scientists could avoid calamities such as the coronavirus pandemic and bagged the 2nd prize in this with entries from across the globe.

‘Tynkrr’ a social media platform for teenagers to post any content they want. Aru realized that Indian teenagers need a separate platform where they can express themselves freely. Her parents Archana and Shailendra Bisht support her in all her endeavours.

On Aru’s 16th birthday in 2020, she actively began promoting ‘Tynkr’ for teenagers and within a year, she realized that the idea of Tynkrr could be taken to newer heights and it can be a great platform for teenagers who could become a driving force of change. Most crucial day was 12th August 2021, Aru’s 17th birthday, when she again started ‘Tynkrring’ with a podcast.

She knows to swim, play tennis, basketball and runs 10k marathons. During the Dehradun half marathon, she ran 10 km in rain and bagged 2nd prize in under 18 category.

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Cover Story

Change maker Gender sensitisation, conservation of monuments and empathy towards all are close to her heart Divya Sijwali

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t a time when students were glued to online classes, Divya Sijwali, went one step ahead. She formed a team and sent recorded lessons to government schools including Navodaya Vidyalayas.

Her initiative ‘Sehpaathi’ meaning classmate-a student-led initiative strove to promote and achieve inclusive and gender-neutral education touching the lives of 230 students.

Divya says, “We aim at creating an atmosphere of acceptance towards marginalised communities. Our project focuses on providing employment opportunities to acid attack survivors and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. At the moment, we are working closely with Pride Circle, Amazon, Lalit Hospitality Group, Sanshil Foundation, Samarpan School and Gift Abled to further our mission of bringing inclusive education to the masses.”

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Another area that is close to her heart is gender sensitisation. Her mentor at school, Vedika Saxena who is project director, Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (WICCI) explained gender issues. Divya says, “I decided to propagate the idea of gender neutrality. I worked on creating stories that were not biased towards a particular gender.”

This resulted in books with images of gender fluidity like boys building dollhouses and girls riding on dinosaurs or girls running a bike repair shop.

Divya reinvented fairy tales and narrated them to junior school students to break the stereotypical mindsets of society.

In association with Lakshay Foundation and Chhanv Foundation, online sessions on topics like physical and mental wellbeing, presentation skills,

www.brainfeedmagazine.com | November 21

communication skills, and soft skills were conducted to LGBTIA community and acid attack victims.

She spearheaded a virtual walk to raise funds at Rani Ki Vav in Gujarat and collected Rs 14,000 for Samarpan Foundation. She works as the project head for the Society of Caretakers of Heritage (SOCH). She has also played a part in helping acid survivors from the Chhanv foundation to launch their E-commerce website. She says, “Gaurav from Samarpan schools helped us make our very own rap on UN SDGs.” Divya represented India at Global Citizens Initiative and Harvard Youth Lead the Change program. and works with the Delhi Commission for Women to implement a gender-inclusive curriculum. Her business venture received a seed funding of Rs. 20,000 from India’s Future Tycoons

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Budding social activist It is rare for a 17-year-old to wax eloquently on women’s issues.

Gurnoor Kaur Suri is an exception Gurnoor Kaur Suri

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“

I believe that unlearning and relearning marks the very basis of the changemaking model. I strongly believe in empathy as it is a stepping stone to a strong foundation.

One doesn’t need a tag of an activist, to become a trendsetter.

I feel people have the potential in them already they just need a small push” says a confident Gurnoor.

A student of Sanskriti School, Chanakyapuri, Delhi, Gurnoor thinks of herself as torchbearer of unconventional path that’s combined with the societal scope, proving her worth as a firm believer in feminist ideologies.

Starting from small steps like that of organizing informal workshops or seminars, promoting the ideals of feminism in her neighbourhood and of course at school, her engagement with the sphere of social activism now entails formal initiative, packed with a

collectivistic model. Individual platform of activism was encouraged all the more as she established two entrepreneurial setups- ‘Ehsaas’, an extension of a nationally revered organisation, and ‘Pabandi’, a youth social initiative- at the ages of sixteen and seventeen respectively.

Also, a menstrual activist,establishing ‘Ehsaas’ successfully continues to spread awareness towards menstrual hygiene, Gurnoor’s personal encounters, and observation of the process of socialisation compels her into gaining a deeper insight into surrounding spheres of sex education, positive parenting, good education, altered means of propagating awareness, and empowerment which forms the premise of her second initiative, Pabandi.

Backed with the power to influence people’s thoughts, values and perspectives by

her passion bundled voice, empowering others to pursue path of independent decision making, she has led a team of adults beyond her age.

The team formulated plans and models coupled with successful execution, spoken on various social media platforms interacting with like-minded individuals, hosted rounds of internships and discourses, produced a short film on menstrual hygiene and led the production of a menstrual guide.

It goes without saying that Gurnoor hopes that her exquisite writing caliber and of course her perspective that’s reflected in her speeches would create a history thereby making a revolutionary change in a democratic set up like ours. The 12th grade student is inclined towards the field of Liberal Arts. She is also collaborating with a researcher in publishing two research papers.

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Cover Story

On the write side George Bernard Shaw once said- “If you want to write, read.”

Jeeya Balwani does both with elan Jeeya Balwani

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earning languages is something that Jeeya Balwani likes and telling stories is what she loves. The Grade 12 student of Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar, Indore has a book ‘Heart Unfolded’ to her credit already and has completed the first draft of a crime thriller. An avid reader her favourite authors are Dan Brown and Amish Tripathi.

She gives the credit to her mother Mahek Balwani who instilled in her the spirit of enquiry. She was in Grade 9 when she started refining her skills by beginning to write short stories. She joined classes to hone her writing skills and continues to pursue them through mediums like YouTube, blogs, etc.

She completed a list of 100 quotes on 9th July, 2020. The following year, she participated in article writing contests and submitted her stories for the competition – 40

Write India. As a youngster, she had a strong knack of learning new languages, was creative, had penchant for sports, and was active in various poem recitation competitions.

She studied French for two years at school.

Speaking about her upcoming novel she says, “My mother ignited a sense of purpose and instilled in us the need to stand up. In my work there are strong female characters.” She is greatly influenced by ‘The 12 commandments of being a woman’ by Tahira Kashyap Khurrana.

Recently one of her short tales was published into a book called ‘Less is More’ compiled by Write Order. She wants to pursue a degree in Mass Communication.

Five years down the line, she sees herself as a screenplay writer.

Presently she is working on short scripts for 2-3 minute short films.

In December 2020, her first

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book ‘Heart Unfolded’ has small quotes and short stories for readers to explore. The 112 page book comprises 25 quotes and 25 tales- a compact book with the tales not extending beyond a few lines. Jeeya says, “The second book- a novel will have mystery, thrill, comedy, suspense and crime.”

“We all live in an unheard and untold saga of stories that needs people to be all ears. Let the ink leave a trail and mark for youngsters to pursue their dream of writing,” she says.

Besides writing, her passion also lies in the fashion industry and alongside she longs to write for fashion magazines. One of her favourite quotes is by Maya Angelou’s that says, ‘If you don’t like something, change it.’ Jeeya Balwani is already doing it and how!

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Game on A gamer Nihil Dharsan’s mission is to make people aware that gaming can be a career option Nihil Dharsan

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ike most children of this age, M A Nihil Dharsan too has been smitten and hooked to gaming for years. Born to Manivannan and Deepa on 26th April, 2004 in the city of Chennai but brought up in Coimbatore his love for gaming started with playing video games on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation portable. He became a gamer at the age of 4 and by the age of 8 he started participating in gaming tournaments.

Nihil finished his schooling in Vidyaa Vikas International School, Coimbatore. As a kid, he would often visit his grandmother’s house to play video games all night. Interestingly, his uncle bought a new game called INFAMOUS 2 and he played that game whole day and night without sleeping and went to school the next day with weary eyes.

By the age of 17, he has participated in various gaming tournaments and won many competitions including cash prizes. He also started streaming at 17 in a gaming platform called Twitch. He became a Twitch affiliate within a month which allows him to earn money through streaming.

He also gives counseling to the people who are addicted to video games, not just the player but player’s parents too. So, he also spoke to the parents of a boy from Japan, his best friend, Elija Perry. Interestingly, they both met through video games itself and developed great bond of friendship instantly.

He got a chance to prove his gaming mettle to the world when his English teacher casually informed him about a competition for all youngsters

under the age of 20 called “India top 20 under 20 by White Canvas India and Brainfeed magazine”. Being chosen out of 8000 youngsters, he emerged as topper by featuring in the list of top 20 winners and considers this as a milestone.

In 2020, he also signed for Californian E-sports team called Nemesis gaming for Call of Duty youth division. But after a year he left nemesis gaming to start up his own E-sports organization in India and bring up all bright talents in India.

Today, his dream assignment is to make his E-sports team “THE MANKIND GAMING” that can take part in bigger leagues across the globe. His message to youngsters is that “Gaming is definitely not a crime and that it can be easily taken up as a great career”.

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Cover Story

Teaching each one at a time They say big things come in small packages. Namya Joshi, all of 14 fits the bill perfectly Namya Joshi

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hrough out the world, the education fraternity is making efforts to achieve UNSDG Goals 2030.

Namya Joshi, a student of Sat Paul Mittal School, Ludhiana is doing it her way-through #EachOneTeachOne. She has spent three years creating and organising free of cost coding workshops for around 10,000 teachers and girls in India and abroad. Also, she has spread awareness about the social issues using game-based learning with STEM to offer remedies for varied issues faced by youngsters.

During a casual conversation with her teacher, she got glued to a game called Minecraft. She heard that the game is used for gaming, she realised that the same can be used for higher education too. Namya created her first lesson about Egyptian civilisation where both teachers and students were elated with the outcome. Besides, the teacher observed that students 42

were deeply involved with selfpaced learning since they could re-visit ideas that they couldn’t grasp well.

She has already spoken at KEOS2019–a global education conference in Finland, where she arranged a workshop for various esteemed professor of renowned universities, has won the National Minecraft Competition in December 2018 and has been nominated as India’s ambassador for SDGs For Children and TeachSDGs Ambassador. Anant Maheshwary, President Microsoft India acknowledged her for training others at the age of 13.

She impressed Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft and he appreciated her at numerous platforms.

She works in propagation of the #GirlsInStem and conducting regular clubs to train girls on ICT skills.

Through her educational YouTube videos and her own PODCAST Series Each One Teach Ten – An

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Amazing World OF STEM, where she invites experts to share their expertise on STEM, she has been the influencer across teachers and students. Microsoft, Google and other gamification giants have used her tutorials to help others.

All her passion, interests and resilience helped her winning coveted Pradhan Mantri Rastriya Bal Puraskar, the highest civilian award for an individual below the age of 18 in India. She has been honoured with the prestigious Diana Award for bringing positive change in girl’s life. This award is given out by the charity of the same name and has the support of both Diana’s sons, The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex.

Namya has been a speaker and panellist at prestigious platforms like UNESCO, Microsoft, CONVOKE, Asia Berlin Summit, Adobe Education Summit to share her journey on the power of STEM and Game based learning.

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Recycle Boy Only one per cent of people across the world dispose batteries in bins. Sri Nihal Tamanna wants to change this through his campaign ‘Recycle My Battery’ Sri Nihal Tamanna

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hat do people do when they come across news on a manmade or natural disaster on television? They discuss for a while, lament and forget. Sri Nihal Tamanna, 12-year-old once watched a story about a huge fire in California caused due to disposed batteries wanted to do something about it and came up with the concept ‘Recycle My Battery’ to change people’s perspective towards recycling ideas, science and technology.

What is more! In a matter of two years, Nihal has been able to provide free battery bins and recycle 45,000 batteries, educate over 75,000 kids and 200,000 adults.

Born to Indian parents in 2009 in Edison, New Jersey in the USA Nihal is also interested in drawing and music. However, the devastating impact of batteries, and it of course shocked him and consumed his thoughts. Puzzled

how a simple battery can cause such harm, he wanted to spread awareness on the proper disposal of batteries. He started reading on recycling batteries and other hazardous materials and within two years, he managed to motivate 100 other kids to join “Recycle My Battery” campaign.

TEDx recently recognized Nihal’s efforts by inviting him to speak about battery recycling, which was published in June 2021.

He also operates a YouTube channel dedicated to teaching other children about science, environmentalism.

Awareness programmes helped which resulted in the collection of 100,000 batteries that prevented the lot to end up in landfills. Recycle My Battery’s educational campaigns reached an estimated 1million+ people across the US and India. Nihal has received letters of appreciation from several renowned politicians in the USA, including US senators and city mayors. He has also received several national and international awards for his work, and media coverage, all of which has helped his initiative ‘Recycle My Battery’ gain global recognition.

Nihal also wants to scale up Recycle My Battery’s partnerships with businesses, with the goal of working with influential companies in the world such as Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, and others.

Nihal wants to expand to other countries,recruit thousands of volunteers and spread awareness on the harmful effects of improper disposal of batteries.

His goal is to bring down the 15 billion batteries thrown away every year down to zero.

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Rising superstar Prachi Oberoi sees herself as a diplomat in a few years from now and is already chalking a path to achieve her goal Prachi Oberoi

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er name Prachi meaning ’East Direction’, place from where the sun rises daily.

Interestingly, Prachi Oberoi relates her life to that of a sunset and sunrise. Just as sunset marks the end of a challenging day, sunrise the following day gives hope with new opportunities.

Today, Prachi has made a mark in life and has been a school topper with marks as high as 99% in her CBSE Class 12th boards. However, her entry into school was not smooth. Owing to age regulations, she joined kindergarten directly thereby skipping her primary school, making her a laid-back child of her class.

The first page of her first notebook on the first day of school consisted of a clumsy set of alphabets which saddened her mother because her daughter was way behind than other students in her class. Soon 44

she started to develop a love for teaching and loved imitating teachers. Till Class 12 Boards, she used to teach others.

In her growing-up years she found herself extremely connected to society and wanted to make a change. In due course of time, she excelled all fields and was awarded as the all-rounder three years in a row. Sadly, the other obstacle which disturbed her a lot was her mood swing, proneness to depression and above all her mental health.

Later on she associated with Rotary and Rotaract, her MOC and management skills were appreciated and she got to host numerous events including Rotary events, Rotaract District conference which are counted amongst the grandest and most important events in the Rotary and Rotaract field. She has been working on her key

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projects like LO ESTRO and Empathy for Minds which aim at aiding young individuals. Lo Estro (to inspire), launched by her, furnishes a platform where extraordinary youth all over the world can be connected to the youth who need guidance and support to turn their ideas into reality. ‘EMPATHYFORMINDS’ is an initiative by her to inculcate positivity in young minds so that their mental health is not a liability, rather an asset to them.

Being a young individual who’s just striking her legal adulthood, Prachi continues to dream big and work very hard to turn them into a reality worth inspiring other youngsters. Also, a true patriot she has strong zeal to serve the nation. Hence in future, she visions herself as a diplomat representing her country on international platforms thereby addressing grave women issues and other serious social evils.

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Innovative entrepreneur With 35+ achievements and awards for numerous socially beneficial innovations, he has won a wide range of honors and recognitions Prajwal NH

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t a tender age of 14, Prajwal NH became the Youngest Microsoft Certified Azure AI Engineer Associate”.

He is a certified OpenEDG Certified Python programmer, Certified Scrum Master® and a Co-Founder of a Start-up called ‘CloudAttack’. He spent most of his childhood in Bengaluru and around 2-3 years in the USA. Initially, he aspired to be an astronaut but after returning to India, he changed his mind after witnessing the myriad problems in the country and wanted to innovate and turn an entrepreneur.

Curiosity, compassion, commitment and courage coupled with his father’s support who works in IBM helped in learning necessary skills and begin his coding adventure and the dream of turning an entrepreneur.

He was a part of an ATL school that promoted his talent by giving him a platform. His Innovation ‘COVID-19 Aid’ mobile App won him the International CORONAVIRUS APP CHALLENGE from MIT App Inventor-Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. The department of Water Resources, Government of India awarded him as a ‘WATER HERO’ for his technological innovation – “The Ultrasonic Integrated Smart Water Tap,” which promoted the value of water and supports country-wide initiatives on water conservation. His innovation also won the renowned National Level Gandhian Challenge, by the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog in conjunction with UNICEF. His social Innovation “Fix me” mobile app was awarded as India’s ‘Top 20 Innovations’ at ATL Marathon 2019 by Atal Innovation Mission, Government of India.

He represented India at the IndoRussia Bilateral Youth Researchbased Innovation Program 3.0 by Sirius, Russia & Atal Innovation Mission, Government of India. His success story and achievements were published in the Russian Educational Foundation “Talent and Success “- Sirius portal.

BiBox Labs awarded him the title of “Young Innovator.”

His innovation designed for the low-cost tech toys for children won first place in the National Level Online Hackathon on Innovation in Science Toys, organized by Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, and second place in the National Level Hackathon on Technological Innovation for Toys - Tech Toy 2020, organized by the National Institute of Technology, Government of India. It helped promote the Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat campaigns.

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An orator in the making The love for the written word and speaking extempore are helping Pratiksha Shet touch greater heights Pratiksha Shet

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uring an interview for admission a young Pratiksha Shet had asked why the director’s hair was grey. This led to laughter, followed by a candy from the director and an admission into BGS National Public School, Bengaluru. That in a nutshell describes herunafraid to speak, honest and an urge to learn and know. Over the years, she blossomed and now the 8th Grader dabbles in public speaking, writing, poetry, composition, rapping, singing, dancing, sketching, video making &editing.

She competed in the CBSE Board Story Telling Competition as a representative of her school during 6th& 7th grade. In addition to that, she competed in the Quantum Vault International/ Global Story Writing Competition and has received the Aurum (Gold) rank! Going through a high level AI Proctored 46

Competition was a great learning experience for her. She also loves reading. A testimony is winning Atal Tinkering Lab Expressive Reading Competition 2020.

Dr. Sahana, her mother would play music and Pratiksha lapped it up resulting in singing, song writing and composition. She composed catchy, fresh and new tunes to many rhymes.

The kindergarteners adored the rhymes. Her speaking and writing skills improved with each passing day and in a competition called Pick and Speak- in which participants had to make an unprompted speech on the topic ‘Pros and Cons of School Uniform’ where she won a gold prize.

In another instance, the principal asked the audience consisting of 500 students “What is the difference between cooking and baking?” Pratiksha’s answer: “Baking is just not a great culinary

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art but also an expressive form of science,” was received well by one and all. Her oratory skills helped when she was the host of the National Science Day Event, February 28th 2021.

She reached Super Dancer SemiFinal Round and also bagged 1st prize for her school in the BGS Fest group dance competition in 6th grade. When in Grade 4, her PPT presentation on Chinese Wildlife was appreciated by a team from UK. One of the biggest milestones of her life has been a Lenovo Tab, and a grand prize of Rs 1 lakh the Kidovators challenge 2016 a video making challenge.

The topic for her as a 3rd grader was “Your Speech if you were the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir”. She has also been featured on the Kidovators Gyan Club YouTube channel.

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Shooting star Prem Madhav Bali is a national level shooter, a state level horse rider and a world title holder in modeling Prem Madhav Bali

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e is 14 years old but dabbles in several fields including modeling, shooting, swimming and horse riding. Prem Madhav Bali, son of Dr Skand Bali and Shivani Bali has had to battle hearing loss since childhood but is overcoming the impediment with grit and discipline.

schools also refused admission but the turning point came when his father Dr Skand Bali took charge as Principal of the elite Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet.

Prem blossomed in the city of minarets as he leant horse riding, shooting and modeling.

The Bali family heaved a huge sigh of relief when the doctor said that it was a miracle that the child was hale and hearty when Prem was born but soon the inability to hear surfaced and what followed was a string of visits to hospitals followed by hearing aids and speech therapy.

Disciplined and full of grit, Prem never missed the therapy sessions. He was taken every day from Gurugram to Delhi for speech therapy. Half of the day was consumed in that process.

In the early years, he had to change several schools and a few

At the age of 11 by competing with 50 models from 24 countries in the World Finals of Junior Model International, a pageant held in Dubai in 2019. He not only represented India but also won at the World Finals.

He also took to swimming and jumped from a 17-feet height and followed under-water swimming.

If he was good in water, so was he on surface as he took to horse riding as a fish takes to water.

No wonder, in IPSC Equestrian competition held at Mayo College at Ajmer, Rajasthan in April, 2019

he won silver medal in the team event and individually he scored 6th position among 18 riders.

In District Shooting Championship held at HPS Begumpet, he won Gold Medal in Under 14 years 10 M Pistol Competition.

Later, Prem participated in Pre National 10 M pistol shooting championship held at Patna where he qualified for Nationals scoring 349 points.

Subsequent year, Prem won the Silver medal in South zone shooting championship.

He has had his share of rebuke when kids teased him or made fun when he had to remove his hearing aid before going to swim but Prem took it in his stride.

He never let the humane side of him go astray, whenever he saw a friend lying sick he would rush with flowers and candy befitting his name.

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Artist extraordinaire Riya Jain has won 220 painting competitions, 15 at international level and 120 at national level Riya Jain

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hile a majority of children were glued to television and online games during the lockdown. Riya Jain did what she loves most-painting. She completed more than 45 paintings on a wide range of topic from protecting oneself from coronavirus to combating climate change. That is not all she won 51 painting competitions including one international and 50 national level between April 10 to August 20, 2020 and made the India Record in India book of records of winning maximum painting competitions during lockdown.

She was also appointed as the Youth Ambassador at International Youth Society and Global Ambassador of Center for Peace and Sustainable Development Africa. She also attended Global Youth Summit 2020 as a guest speaker and shared her views on Youth Engagement to Protect 48

Environment. She was the second youngest participant in this summit. Her peace message was also shared in Global Shift Summit and Music Festival 2020 on World Peace Day. The icing on the cake though came in the form of being made brand ambassador of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign initiated by Ministry of Women and Child Development, Govt. of India, so that she can inspire, support & motivate other girls like her.

For her extraordinary talent and achievements President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi honoured her with Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar at Rashtrapati Bhawan and P.M House respectively. She was also the part of Republic Day Parade on 26 January at Rajpath New Delhi. P.M Narendra Modi had also shared her story from his twitter account.

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Born in 2003 in Ahmedabad, she moved to several cities such as Itawah, Lucknow and Bhopal.

Teachers Richa and Mukta Goswami of St. Joseph’s Co-ed School in Bhopal helped hone her painting skills and Raj Saini at the Jawahar Bal Bhawan Bhopal too helped a great deal. She has also passed Junior Certificate Course in painting at the age of 13. She designed a multi-purpose umbrella out of waste materials that has a fan, torch, red signal light, mobile charging system.

The umbrella gets charged by solar energy. If the torch light helps in darkness, the red lights helps in crossing the road and in summer the fan and water sprinkler helps keep one cool.

The price of the umbrella is just Rs 500.

There is no stopping Riya as she has also won over 50 prizes in skating, writing, speaking.

International Book of Records also gave her the title ‘Youngest Multi-talented Internationally Renowned Artist’.

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Drumming his heart out Sarveshvar can play drum beats for various genres including all states’ traditional beats like Punjabi-Bhangra, Tamil Folk, Udukkai , Kerala – Melam, Western, Funk, Swing, Rock and Jazz Sarveshvar S

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t an age when children look for toys to play with, S Sarveshvar would lookout for utensils and play random rhythms. That was when he was a three-year-old toddler, by the age 13, he became the world’s youngest graduate LTCL Drums (Licentiate Trinity College London) with distinction from Trinity College London.

The student from Yuvabharathi Public School in Coimbatorewho is influenced by Marco Minnemann, ThomasLang, AR Rahman and Anika Nilles is making waves in the drumming world. He owes his success to his parents who saw the interest and enrolled him in a music school and since then, there is no looking back. Thanks to teachers Sekar, Vishwanathan, Prassanna and Sivanantham(theory of music) and Ragunath(Mridangam) Sarveshvar have a good foundation.

Sarveshvar’s first solo performance was at age 4, spurred by the adulation from the audience and gurus at every show, he started performing in regularity and has completed more than 300 shows. He also flourished in levels of grade by completing Grade 8 drums with distinction at age 11.

He is world’s youngest graduate LTCL Drums (Licentiate Trinity College London) with distinction from Trinity College London Now pursuing FTCL - Fellow of Trinity College, London and Grade 4 in theory of Music. He is hard working, optimistic, goal oriented and multi-talented.

He is distinctive in quick sight reading the scores of western drum notations. He can play drum beats for various genres including all states traditional beats like Western, Funk, Swing, Rock and Jazz, Punjabi-Bangra, Tamil Folk, Udukkai, Kerala – Melam. He has learnt Konnakols, plays Mridangam, Bongos and Flute. He has been invited as special guest for various public gatherings and been honoured for his achievements.

He also performs for social causes like blood donation, women and child issues, handloom weavers etc. His drums performance is on motivational base for other students in various schools/ colleges to insist them to identify their talents and win laurels for themselves. He has been written about in leading regional and national dailies.

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For the love of history Souhardya De is deeply interested in Indian art and culture, history and mythology. He weaves stories, novella, hosts a podcast and is presently working on a book based on Mughal history Souhardya De

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orn to parents involved in historical research and having visited all major monuments in the country, it was but natural for SouhardyaDe to develop a taste for history. Hailing from Midnapore in West Bengal, Souhardya was drawn to Sanskrit classics and Greco Roman ones. A major reason for being drawn to history is attributed to attending conferences including the prestigious Indian History Congress,in its Cuttack and Delhi sessions and hearing stalwarts such as Prof. Irfan Habib, Prof.

Romila Thapar, Padmashree Professor Hermann Kulke and others.

In 2015, he veered towards the Indian epic Ramayana. In the sixth grade then, young Souhardya found it difficult to comprehend the ‘Translations of the Ramayana ’by the Orientalist RT Griffith and read through simple versions 50

of Valmiki Ramayana. He has always been motivated by two things in particular: the richness that our history has left behind, the way India was in bygone era and the similarity between the Sanskritic classics and the Greco Roman classics.

Soon, Souhardya started writing on art and culture and contributed to the Sunday Guardian. What is more! He is the youngest ever Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, having been elected by the Council in 2019.

He self-published thrice, twice with Amazon KDP and once with Juggernaut Publishing House. The first two were English renderings of the Ramayana in poetry and successively in drama format (one that won the India Book of Records 2019).Souhardya went on to author columns and

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contributed for The Citizen, WION, The Statesman, Thrive Global, Scroll Media, The Standard, TOI Blogs, The Hills Times and other notable publications.

He writes a fortnightly column on history, art and culture, and religion, at The Sunday Guardian and was an earlier editorial lead for the BFF page by the Young Post, South China Morning Post, Hong Kong. For his contributions to art and culture, he was conferred upon the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, the highest national honour for Indian citizens under 18, by the President of India in 2021.

He is presently working on a book tentatively titled ‘A Dynastic Decimation: When Lust Destroyed a Sultanate’, based on the Mughal history, will be brought out by Rupa Publications India.

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A dancer & Science aficionado Tarini Sai Padmanabhuni excels in dance, is a spell bee champ and wants to start a company Tarini Sai Padmanabhuni

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t is rare to find people interested in a traditional dance form who is equally at ease in Science projects but Tarini Sai Padmanabhuni, the 12th standard student of BGS National Public School, Bengaluru is an exception. She also writes and has co-authored and published multiple anthologies, namely ‘The Diary of 42’ and ‘The Shadow Series -3’ published by Fourclover Publications and Poetry World Services respectively.

A classical Bharatanatyam dancer who trained for eight years, Tarini performed in the USA too. She took part in the international level ThyagarajaSangeetharchana festival conducted by International Music Premier League in the USA. Apart from dance, she has a way with words. She is a state level spell bee champ and has been the topper in multiple scientific temperament and logical thinking competitions across her state and the country.

She stood 7th in the Gyaan Lab Kidovators Challenge held across the country. NSO, IEO Olympiads are conducted by SOF World Foundation where she has bagged top ranks.

Tarini has been socially conscious from an early age and has been speaking in various platforms. A notable social entrepreneurship project in water conservation which involved the making of a product/product design which when implemented in today’s urban households could save upto 10000 litres of useful RO water from being wasted within a week in just 10 houses, for which she is also looking for the right support to make it a nationwide project. She says, “I want to remove the notion that engineering is all about books.”

She aims to be an engineer and wants to start a company in the RO space.

As a child she looked up to Kalpana Chawla and A R Rahman.

Like most children, she too aspired to become an astronaut.

Tarini says, “I always thought Rahman sir is a music director and a singer so why cannot I too do several things.” Presently, Tarini is dabbling with several areas and is doing justice to each one with aplomb. She uses her talent with intelligence and creativity.

Unlike several artistes who confine themselves to art alone, Tarini wishes to go beyond and tackle social causes. Writing, speaking and innovation are the ways through which she aims to make a difference to society.

She has been in top in Music Mania an all-encompassing music competition. She has taken part and given multiple speeches and written multiple articles on different platforms.

Though dance is close to her heart, she plans to involve actively in environmental conservation.

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Charity champion Reaching out to the needy comes naturally to Tishya Chandok Tishya Chandok

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ishya Chandok is like any other girl of her age but what differentiates her is her willingness to go that extra yard and help people in need. The student of Tagore International School, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi has been active in extracurricular activities and takes part is several competitions and in the process won laurels for her school.

Whilst taking part in competitions, she has travelled to other cities too and observed life from close quarters. During the pandemic she held online classes for children in her neighbourhood and donated books, clothes and even two mobile phones to the maid’s children. This act touched the lives of over 100 people and all this was done in a span of seven days.

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Born in the year 2009, Tishya tasted success in school at an early age, thanks to her outgoing nature. In fifth grade she took part in ‘A World In Motion’ (AWIM) making skimmers by the instructions given to them, along with a poster and model.

Her team passed the Regional Round after about 6 months of preparation.

In sixth grade, she went to Chennai for the national round of AWIM and other competitions such as Itihaas Anveshan. By this time she started thinking about societal problems. She read about the hardships faced by the LGBT community and the needy.

Earlier this year she was made the vice president of Team Saksham in her school, which works with Special Olympics Bharat. Apart from doing social work she is interested in theatre and was always given the main lead. She

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is also a good Badminton player and has participated in three CBSE zonals.

From a very early age Tishya showed signs of leadership.

While in Mother’s Pride preschool she was the most talkative and interactive student. She was a very good narrator and speaker who received a couple of awards for the same. By the time of leaving preschool, Tishya even won the Award of Excellence and ‘Miss Mother’s Pride’ award along with other few for talent competitions.

The initial years of participating in competitions, reading and preparing have helped her a great deal. It resulted in her becoming socially conscious. Tishya says, “My aim is to do charity and reach out to the mentally challenged.”

She adds, “In doing so, I wish to rope in people and help the underprivileged.”

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Viva! Vidhi Vidhi Dasani wants to make a difference in peoples’ lives through writing Vidhi Dasani

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eading history, travelling and writing is what Vidhi Dasani loves and these hobbies helped her in life. A Grade 9 student of Niraj International School, Hyderabad she has two books published on amazon kindle. Recalling her early foray into writing she says, “Whenever I spoke about writing many dissuaded me saying it would take me nowhere.

However, my parents stood by and encouraged me.”

a positive impact on a person and have morals too. She started a blog to reach out to a wider audience. Incidentally, her mother too wrote when young and Vidhi is following her footsteps. Her parents work in an MNC and Vidhi has also travelled a good deal. She visited Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore and Bangkok. Within India she visited, Jaipur, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Agra, Jammu Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Vidhi also runs a blog and writes on issues that matter to youth including bullying, depression, stress, anxiety and animal abuse.

She is influenced by J.K Rowling, Ruskin Bond, H.P Lovecraft, Stephen King, and Chetan Bhagat.

Vidhi says, “Aim of writing is to inspire people, make people think creatively and also put light on small issues of the society. She is aiming to bring about positive changes and impacts on society through writing. She wants to prove people that even children are capable of creating an impact through their talents.”

Criticism and lukewarm response do not bother her. Vidhi’s books ‘Haunted’ and ‘Inspiration’ is full of suspense, thriller, mystery and horror. Her books also leave

Battling high fever but undeterred, Vidhi took part in the 20 Under 20 and came up

trumps. Highly motivated with a passion for history and travel, Vidhi is keen on making a mark in life.

Vidhi says, “My surroundings motivate me, my achievements motivate me to achieve more and inspire more people, my mother motivates me to be a better version of myself and I do have some times when I am not so motivated, but I remind myself that one day all the efforts you put in will work out, one day all your dreams will come true but it will only happen if you work hard.”

Vidhi wants to become a bestselling author and wants to give back to society. She comes up with ideas for her books with her imagination and sometimes they are inspired by things that happen to her in real life.‘Inspiration’ is inspired by Vidhi’s journey, it’s metaphorically written.

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Scripting success Author at 13, Vinayak Mittal is now working on the third and final book of his trilogy, ‘CROSSLINKS’ Vinayak Mittal

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ne thing is for sure. Life of Vinayak Mittal is not at a crossroads. As a matter of fact, it is well set. The author of ‘CROSSROADS’ at the age of 13 is now at IIT Mumbai. Born in 2002 in Noida, Vinayak dabbled in chess and later took to reading in a big way. He owes his initiation to his father who bought books by the dozen.

While chess did bring him accolades, he found his calling in words. He read J K Rowlings, Rick Riodan and in his words ‘Realized that novels have endless opportunities’. His love for reading soon translated into penning thoughts even during recess. He once wrote 50 pages on the trot resulting in his English teacher advising him to place the script in the reading corner of the classroom.

A student of Vibgyor High till his Grade 12, he worked hard to 54

concentrate on studies as well as paid attention to writing.

Egged on by his brother Aditya who is his staunchest critic and well-wisher, he completed the manuscript of Crossroads in six months. CROSSROADS is a story of friendship and bonding with a group of young people coming together to fight adversaries.

been written about and has been the brand ambassador of an initiative of Crossword ‘I want to be an Author.’

In his journey, the role of his grandfather is significant as he encouraged Vinayak but by the time of the launch of the second book ‘CROSSTIMES’ of the trilogy, he passed away.

Vinayak is now working on the third and final book of his trilogy, ‘CROSSLINKS’. Presently at IIT Mumbai, he is taking out time to complete the manuscript and it is in the final stages. He singles out Aditya as his source of inspiration, mother Kusum for being there and father Nitish who stood by him during every stage of publishing, from editing to the cover page design.

Vinayak believes that the key to success in life is reading as many books as one can and it is the only way for ‘wannabe writers’. His success has resulted in several schools inviting him to speak to students and inspire them. He says, “A lot of times a prompt by some student has given him ideas for a future story.” He has

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He says, “If people only read and not write and don’t experiment with writing, then it’s a problem.

Writing small stories or articles is enough to hone skills.”

“It is because of him that I could give my board examinations without worrying about the book launch,” he says as he signs off.

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Singing his way to success Yathaarth loves to sing national anthems of different countries and is equally interested in combating climate change Yathaarth

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ike most of the people, Yathaarth was awed by the song-Kolaveri Di and would keep humming it all day so much so his tennis coach would not start his class until he sang this song and before he knew, he was taking lessons in key board and Hindustani classical music.

His music teacher taught him national anthems.

Over a period, he developed an interest in learning national anthems and embassies in Bengaluru invited him to sing their national anthems during events. Consul General of Israel to South India Dana Kush was so impressed that she invited Yathaarth for her farewell. Not just singing the anthems of Japan, Nepal and Sri Lanka to name a few, Yathaarth also knows about the story behind the anthem.

He has the distinction of entering

the Limca Book of Records twice and being invited to United Nations Head Quarters in New York, by UN visitors’ office. He has delivered 4TEDx talks including one in Los Angeles. During this visit to the US, San Francisco Chronicle published an article on him.

In January 2020, he was conferred with the Top 100 Global Child Prodigy Award. An area that is close to his heart is climate cange which led him to conduct two climate strikes in support of the Greta Thunberg Climate Action.

Leading a team of 28 kids and empowering them on 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in May 2019, was a new milestone. He is a STEM student with The New York Academy of Sciences and was selected as one of the six ‘Outstanding Students’ from

around the world and his trip was fully sponsored by NYAS to the Annual Summit, where he received the award.

As a part of the World Federation of United Nations Project – WFUNA - Mission Possible, he along with four classmates took up a 4.1-acreManae lake revival project and raised Rs 8.27 lakhs in a month. Yathaarth was given the responsibilities of being the President of Next Generation Nations, Bangalore Charter. NGN a California based NGO, where we bring together like minded youth to solve real life problems and be a part of the global movement.

Yathaarth has been conferred as one of the 40 Youth Icons of India was featured in the 75th year Independence Day (Azadi Ki Amrit Mahotsav) Theme Song – MaukaHai by the Government of India.

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Posted at PC Nampally on November 7-8, 2021 Date of Publication: November 6, 2021