India’s 67th Independence Day was celebrated with great fanfare by the children and teachers of Staford School. In an hour long cultural program organized on the occasion, the entire school zealously expressed their feelings of patriotism and their will to make a difference to the world. The Independence Day celebrations were organized in the school campus, which was beautifully decked up by the children and teachers in tri-colors, a coluorful rangoli and various soft-board decorations.
The Chief Guest and the Guest of Honor for the occasion were acclaimed army personnel, Major General A.K. Chaturvedi AVSM, VSM and Colonel Ajai Awasthi, VSM. Both arrived promptly at the scheduled time and were received by the Principal, Mr. S.K. Singh, the Director, Mr. Bansal, and the headmistress, Ms. Vijaya Kumar. The welcome committee consisting of teachers and students of class 6 accorded the guests a warm welcome by presenting them bouquets, while the rest of the school welcomed them with a spontaneous applause. The Headmistress then introduced the guests to the children and read out a brief about the illustrious careers of both the army veterans and invited the Chief Guest to unfurl the national flag.
The guests were then taken on a brief tour of the school premises by Archana Ma’am and Rizwan Ma’am, who showed them around the individual classrooms, library, communications, computer and robotics labs, and the indoor sports, dance, music and activity rooms. Then the guests were escorted to the astrodome/ assembly ground to enjoy the cultural program prepared specially for the occasion. The program, compered by Shiraz Sir and Ayesha Ma’am started with an action song by the tiny tots of class 1, who sang “Nanha Munna Rahi hoon” and stole the hearts of the audience. Thrilled to be performing on the stage for the first time, they performed energetically, with their class teachers, Tauheed Ma’am and Kriti Ma’am encouraging them from the wings.. The next program was a dance by students of class II on the song. “Main Hindustan Hoon”. The children celebrated the never say die spirit of India and portrayed the many efforts our country needs to make to fight the evils of poverty, corruption, pollution, and terrorism. Next was the song “Saare Jahan Se Aaacha” by students of class 4, the golden words of this national song made everyone present feel proud of being an Indian. Up next was a beautifully choreographed dance “Noor –e- Khuda” presented by students of class 3. Through the dance, the children showed that despite facing problems like terrorism, Indians cannot be threatened and divided.
Then the Guest of Honor was invited to address the students and Colonel Awasthi took the opportunity to encourage the children to keep working hard to achieve their goals. After that students of class 6 presented a medley of songs, “Swar milate tum chalo” and “We are the children of the world” followed by a dance number by class 5 on the song “Sher Dil Indian.” With the celebrations coming to a close, the chief guest Major General A.K. Chaturvedi was invited to address the children. He exhorted staying focused, remaining undeterred in achieving one’s objectives and ensuring that each of us do our bit to bring about the change we want to see in the world. His words of inspiration echoed with optimism and encouragement.
As a grand finale to the celebrations, the teachers of Staford proved that they believe in teaching by example, when they presented the national song “Vande Matram” and “Chodo Kal Ki batein” for the children of the school, which was well received and quite a surprise for the children. At the end of the program, students of class 6 presented the guests with a potted plant each as a memento and token of love from Staford School. The cultural program came to a close with the vote of thanks proposed by Principal, Mr. S. K. Singh, who thanked the guests and congratulated the teachers and students for the successful organization of the program. The children then dispersed among cheers, waving of flags and distribution of the sweets among the children by the class teachers.