Not only is the commitment to the 17 United Nations’ SDGs mandated by NEP 2020, at my school, Lotus Valley International School, Noida the spirit of SDGs has pervaded the school curriculum and scholastic as well as co-scholastic activities for many years. While SDG 4, Quality Education, permeates every school programme, LVISN have been pioneers in curating curricular and co-curricular initiatives across all grade levels specifically with SDG commitment in mind in order to sensitize children about global challenges and responsible citizenry. The following programmes are a regular part of the school calendar –
1. Assemblies – In order to inculcate awareness, empathy and sensitivity among students, the following events and occasions are regularly commemorated through special assemblies: Republic Day (SDG 16), Independence Day (SDG 4), Gandhi Jayanti (SDG 16), Martyrs’ Day (SDG 16), Earth Day (SDGS 6, 7, 11, 12, 13), Children’s Day (SDG 4), Teachers’ Day (SDG 8), National Safety Day (SDG 3), National Endangered Species Day (SDGs 14, 15), Yoga Day (SDG 3), National Maths Day (SDG 4), Indian Army Day (SDGs 16, 17), Indian Heritage Day (SDG 4), Mothers’ Day (SDGs 5, 8, 10) , World Science Day (SDGs 4, 9), World Day of Social Justice (SDG 16), National Sports Day (SDG 3), Art Day (SDGs 8, 9) , World Energy Conservation Day (SDGs 7, 9, 17), World Mental Health Day (SDG 3), to name a few. Festivals representative of all communities are also celebrated throughout the year.
2. Exchange Programmes – In order to promote a sense of globalism and collaboration, students of various classes are given an opportunity to participate in domestic and international exchange programmes with prestigious schools in Kolkata, France, Germany, Spain and Denmark. These are immersive language, cultural and academic exchange programmes that cover multiple SDGs, such as Quality Education (SDG 4), Good Health and Wellbeing (SDG 3), Gender Equality (SDG 5), Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6), Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), and Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17).
3. Clubs and Work Experience – The school provides dedicated space in the timetable to ensure students have the opportunity to commit to social service, environmental stewardship, vocational competency as well as the exploration of multiple intelligences through 35 clubs such as Culinary Art, Art and Craft, Music, Dance, Theatre, Public Speaking, Music Production, Robotics, F1 Car Designing, Calligraphy, Eco Club, Graphic Designing, Tourism, Yoga, Coding, Fashion Designing, to name a few.
4. STEAM Fests – Our STEAM fests encourage students to explore not just the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, but also sustainable development, innovation and design thinking.
5. Special Events – Annual school programmes, such as our Model United Nations and International Summit, attended by our partner schools in India and across the world, focus on global challenges such as Environment, Socio-Civic Politics, Physical and Mental Health and Wellbeing, etc. During the pandemic, this was converted into a webinar titled Metamorphosis, which focused on the role of youth in revolutionizing the world. Every year the school also organizes an inter-school integrated festival, which dovetails any momentous historical event with all the subjects being taught at senior school level to curate interesting co-curricular STEAM events. Recent themes have included space and astronomy as a celebration of Kalpana Chawla’s birth anniversary, espionage to commemorate 100 years of James Bond. The school has Online Learning Communities that organize Guest Speakers on themes such as raising emotionally resilient children, feminism, creative writing and communication, mental health, innovation in education, etc.
6. Curricular and Co-Curricular Activities – Students are periodically assigned research-based projects on topics such as clean water and sanitation, awareness-enhancing activities such as poster-making are conducted on topics such as gender equality, holiday homework is designed around food waste management, eradicating hunger and poverty, art and craft activities are integrated with academics such as for satellite model making, community connect projects are carried out for spreading awareness on menstrual hygiene with the school having its own sanitary towel making unit, through which sanitary towels are made and distributed to nearby villages.
