Pitching for humanity, one video at a time

“The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not enough for everyone’s greed”. This iconic line from the Father of the Nation still holds true as we see the world around us.  

Humanity perennially has been in a troubled state. Issues such as climate change, genocides, armed conflicts and displacement continue to plague humanity.

The United Nations recognises August 19 as World Humanitarian Day. It is a day of reckoning, introspection and actions for a better tomorrow. On this occasion, students of Apeejay School International, South Delhi came together with various ideas, perspectives and solutions for a happier world.

The school organised a story-line on humanitarian acts around the environmental system. Students were inspired to collate real life evidence of humanitarian acts in the form of pictures, design, expressions, campaigns or propaganda.

The school’s objective was to make students understand and empathise with the serious issues affecting the contemporary world.  To facilitate this, students were asked to do a preliminary research on their respective themes, collect pictures and facts and also give solutions which they think would be beneficial. Teacher in-charge Pragati Agnihotri explained that this process would enable students to discover their individual voice, cultivate their creative expression and give them the spirit to make a change. The students were given “structured freedom” she added, emphasising that they were free to choose the medium of expression for their themes whether it was video, poster or presentations, among others.

The theme for the primary years programme PYP (Nursery to Class 5) was ‘Clean water is luxury’. The middle years programme from class 6 to 10 had ‘Human displacement’ as their theme while the senior category of diploma programme (classes 11 and 12) had ‘Human lives caught in conflict’ as their area of research.

Many PYP students prepared dainty posters with sweet and charming messages about water conservation. Ayaan Kumar, student of PYP 1, gave an encouraging message through a video. He shared an important saying he had learned in the gurudwara near his home “Jal hai toh kal hai” (If you have water, you have a tomorrow).  Dhriti from PYP 5 gave practical solutions to save water such as reusing the water used to wash lentils for watering plants.  Advait Prakash of PYP 3 skillfully played the initial notes of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata on the keyboard with poignant images of water scarcity in the backdrop.

The school believes that it is the idea and emotion that holds the central value, not the language or medium of expression.  Messages were received in foreign languages as well. Parth, a student of MYP 1, spoke about human displacement enthusiastically in Spanish. Students also shared their research and facts in French as well. The student’s approach centered on performing small acts of sincerity towards the world. They believe that changing the microcosm will eventually lead to a healthy macrocosm.  Their vision is to “Walk as One! Help the world! Make a better future”. 

Ada Bharti, a student of MYP, listed the three main reasons for human displacement: climate change, natural disasters and violent conflicts. This was followed by DP students sharing images of human conflict in Syria and Venezuela.

As the world looks at the massive humanitarian crisis developing with the advance of the Taliban in Afghanistan with trepidation, this initiative could not have been timed better.

“The intention and purpose behind the whole theme chosen for Humanitarian Day was to make the students and staff understand the gravity of issues the world is facing at this very moment.  It was designed to awaken the youth to take urgent action and to advocate change where they can.  The sole purpose was to ignite that spark among youth which can bring effective change in the world of tomorrow to make it more peaceful and prosperous for all!”

-Purshottam Dutt Vashist, Principal
Apeejay School, International – South Delhi