“The first drops of rain always bring a smile on our faces” ‘Rainy Season’ or ‘Monsoon’ the beautiful season of the year is a gift of God to mankind. It revives our souls and fills the surroundings with the beauty of fresh greenery. To acknowledge this blessed gift of God; students of class I B conducted a special assembly with the theme –Monsoon Mania. Students provided vital information about this season with enthusiasm. Adhip Mukherjee anchored the assembly. The students who participated in prayer were Aarav Patel, Twisha Shah, Vaishvi Soni, Fena Patel, Kanisha Gaggar. Using PowerPoint presentation they shared the information about Monsoon season. They also presented a beautiful rhyme on Raindrops. The rhyme was sung by Swar Patel, Tirth Patel, Kavish Chokshi, Manya Patel, Chahat Patel, Heeya Agrawal, Vrusha Patel. Students also danced to the melodious tunes of a ‘Rainy Day’ song. They expressed the happiness of people when the sky is filled with dark clouds. The participants were Viha Pandya, Dhyana Nayak, Astha Parmar, Maanith Arora, Vrind Patel, Adhip Mukherjee. The weather forecast was shared by Jashvi Shah. Our Vice-Principal Ms. Jayasree Menon appreciated the efforts of our students and teachers. The assembly concluded with the National Anthem.

To celebrate the indomitable spirit of Helen Keller who was deaf-blind and an American author as well as a political activist, Sense International India organised a unique charity Cyclothon “ Messengers on Cycles.”

Deaf-blindness is a different disability which combines both hearing & visual impairment in an individual. Sense India International is India’s only national NGO supporting children and adults with a unique, complex disability known as deaf-blindness.
This event was also organised to bring awareness on deaf blindness and to help raise funds to support children and adults with deaf-blindness across India.
Participation in social causes helps in instilling values of social contribution, compassion and generosity among students.

Our school to eradicate the stereotypes related to deaf-blindness and to sensitise students at large motivated its students to take part in this cyclothon. Ms. Mili Shah encouraged our students to be a part of this cyclothon. More than 35 Zebarites took part in this event.

An awareness session on ‘Adolescent Changes’ was organised for girl students of standard 6th, 7th and 8th. The session was conducted by Dr. Varsha Chauhan. She is one of the leading obstetrician & Gynaecologist in Ahmedabad.

The session was conducted to divulge accurate and adequate knowledge about the process of growing up. Girl students of standard 6th , 7th and 8th attended the session. Dr Vasha spoke on various issues including health and nutrition habits, menstrual education, sex education and vaccinations. She sensitised our girl students towards the physical and mental changes, they go through and make them aware about normal physiological changes in both the genders.

The session encompassed discussions on physical, emotional and social changes during adolescence. The session was participatory and each girl student was encouraged to voice their opinions and challenges they face.

Students of standard 1 and standard 2 presented the morning assembly on 19th June 2018. The topic of the assembly was ‘Healthy Eating Habits’. Students presented a beautiful thought for the day. A song on Healthy food and Junk food was presented by the students. Students enjoyed presenting a fun dance on the song. A poem on Apple was also presented in the assembly along with a message that “ An Apple a day keeps the doctor away”.

Our Vice-Principal, Primary Section Ms. Jayashree Menon addressed the assembly by her motivational speech. She requested our students not to eat “Junk Food” and advised the students to eat green vegetables and fruits and adopt healthy eating habits.

Certificates of Regularity were presented to the students who made it a point to attend school regularly in the last academic year. The assembly concluded with the national anthem.

A special morning assembly was held on 18th June 2018 to explain the Summer Solstice or June Solstice, the longest day of the year. Students of III-A conducted the assembly, which was attended by students of grade III,IV and V.Sachi Malvia and Akanksha Thakkar explained the mechanism of its occurrence, how the Sun appears to stop moving in the sky as it reaches its northern- or southernmost point and after the solstice, the Sun seems to reverse course and head back in the opposite direction.They also explained their peers about North Pole, South Pole, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, Equator, Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. A Globe was displayed, and the scientific phenomenon was explained with the help of charts in a simple yet effective way.Mahek Vassanji was the compere of the assembly. Savitri Shukla presented thought for the day. Kahan Antani conducted a short quiz in which all the students enthusiastically participated.In the end, Aryan Arora updated the students on the latest happenings around the world.Certificates of Regularity and SOF certificates were distributed in the assembly.The assembly ended with the national anthem.

Our tiny tots of Zebar Play group celebrated Father’s Day in their class. Children created handmade cards with the help of the teachers to express their love to their fathers. Here are a few glimpses.

Poetry is the essence of literature which leads to cultural development. It gives an indication about the truth of life and nature. Poetry has a rhythm which touches the soul of a person like music.

The idea of poetry can be inculcated from the very beginning of a person’s life. With the aim to raise awareness of Hindi poets and to encourage the students to appreciate poetry, developing an interest in Hindi poetry and highlighting the achievements of Hindi poets the students of Class VIII A conducted the assembly on 20th June, 2018 on the theme “Hindi Kavi Diwas”.

The students presented the Importance of the Day, Speech on “Kavi Aur Kavita”, recited the poems of famous poets like Shri Harivanshrai Bachchan, Makhanlal Chaturvedi and Hariprasad Dharmak. Mrs. Reena Kahlon, the Vice-Principal of the school spoke about some of the renowned poets. In her speech she motivated the children to read stories and poetry.

Every year, June 12th is observed by countries across the globe as ‘ World Day Against Child Labour.’ India has the highest number of child labourers in the world.

India has 10.3 million child labourers. Of these,whopping 70% are girls. Child labour is the work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development. Child labour deprives them of the opportunity to attend school, obliging them to leave school prematurely, or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

Generally working children in the five to fourteen years age group are classified as child labourers. Child labour exists in India for several reasons. The biggest cause of child labour has been identified as poverty. Families with scant resources force underage children to work.

It is therefore our responsibility to raise our hands against child labour and contribute towards its eradication. In order to raise awareness on child labour, Students of standard 9th D conducted an assembly on Anti-Child Labour Day which included a speech and a skit. The skit highlighted the reasons of child labour and its effects on childhood. The skit also depicted the menial labour done by the unfortunate children and it also gave the message on the need of education for the under-privileged children.

On this day our Principal Ms. Sharmistha Sinha addressed our students. She said, “We should sensitise our society at large on the sensitive issue of child labour. By taking small steps, we can reduce the number of children who join work at an early age. Students should report to Child line if they see a child working illegally on the road side. Our students can educate parents of child labourers on the options of municipal schools. Stressing the need to change the society she emphasised that, We should not employ children as house help and should convey this message to our extended families and friends.”

Celebrating Successes, Embracing Challenges
More than 600  teachers and staff of Udgam School for Children and Zebar School for Children came together under one roof to celebrate the successes and embrace the challenges that lay ahead. The Annual Teachers’ Conference was held at YMCA , Ahmedabad on 8^th June,2018. It was attended by trustees, directors, teachers and staff of Udgam School and Zebar School. The compere for the day,Ms. Aarti Kellog, supervisor of Udgam Primary School engaged brilliantly with the audience and facilitated the event with ease. The day began with a prayer song followed by the lighting of the lamp by the trustees of the school Shri G.K. Choksi, Shri J.D. Patel, Shri Shaunak Majmudar and Shri Vartik Choksi along with Academic Advisors Ms. Radhika Iyer,Ms.Pratima Patell and Mrs Villoo Parikh.
A motivating speech by veteran educationist, Shri Rajabhai Pathak, left an indelible mark on the audience. The speaker of the conference was Swami Sukhabodhananda.He is the founder Chairman of Prasanna Trust. It was a great honour for the school to have him as a speaker. His speech was based on Alacrity to life. He addressed our teachers and explained them as to how they can expand their vision which in turn would help the children for success in life.
The conference was a platform for knowledge sharing and an opportunity to discuss the successes and failures of 2017-18 and the future plans of 2018-19. Using powerpoint presentations, the Vice-Principals of Udgam School for Children and Zebar School for Children spoke at length about challenges they faced last year and the changes they will bring in their respective sections in the future. Executive Director,Sri Manan Choksi then presented his ideas which inspired the teachers on dealing with day to day challenges in schools with parents and children. He spoke at length on how parents, school and teachers have a common goal and they can unite and give intelligent, hardworking and healthy responsible citizens to the country.
Both schools have an accomplished and dedicated team of teachers and staff and it is quite difficult to decide who is more deserving. Next was Employee Recognition and Motivation through awards to those who had proved themselves to be a shade better than their colleagues this year. Finally, Ms.Reena Kahlon, Vice-Principal of Zebar School for Children, gave the Vote of Thanks.