Kochi: Students of five schools in Kochi city have come tog-ether to form a unique Pupil Leader Action Network (PLAN) under the leadership of Global Pub-lic School, Thiruvaniyoor, here, to harness and nurture leaders and make them think of leadership beyond school walls, to reach out to the society.
Among the five schools more than 10,000 students are part of the inititiative which draws energy from relief work undertaken by the youth during the August 2018 Kerala floods. The schools under PLAN are Rajagiri Christhu Jayanthi Public School, Chinmaya Vidyalaya Vaduthala, Delta Study and The Choice School apart from Global Public School.
The first event they conducted was Plogathon at 5.45 am last Sunday from Chinmaya Vaduthala, Vaduthala to Rajendra Maidan in which 100 students drawn from four of the five schools joined in a non-competitive spirit to clean up a 6.6 km stretch on the roadside as they jogged together in harmony. Armed with masks, gloves and garbage bags they undertook the task. S.A.S Navaz, secretary, Regional Sports Center, was the chief guest held at a function in connection with the event.
PLAN, jointly lauched by Lakshmi Ramachandr-an, Mentor, Global Public School and Sreekumar Kartha, Principal of the school, first aims at taking small steps to make the city, a greener and cleaner space..
The leadership of PLAN rotates among its member-schools on a yearly basis, and for the academic year 2018-19, Global Public School is helming it. The PLAN members are supported by one teacher-mentor from each school. For 2018-19, the president is Faheem Mohammed, school pupil leader of Global Public School and the teacher-mentor is Susanna Sunil, vice- principal of the school.
“Plogathon 2019 was an amazing experience for us, which we believe, taught us many things, the importance of cleanliness being primary. It was a pleasure for us to work alongside other student leaders in taking a small step towards a cleaner and greener Kochi,” said Athul Paul, head boy, Rajagiri Christu Jayanti Public School, Kakkanad.
“There were major changes and budget cuts to our plans on how to conduct Plogathon, some of which held us back a little. Regardless, we went forward with the goal in mind. A huge thanks goes out to all the sponsors for the event, the various school faculty members who aided us through our journey, the various student participants who came together with flaming spirits to clean up their community, and last but never the least, fellow PLAN members, for a great experience and memorable moments,” said Neha Kuriachan, head girl and Sonah Tiju, associate head girl of the school.
Steve Fernandez, head boy of Chinmaya Vidyala-ya, Vaduthala, said PLAN binds students of the five schools as a common force. “Being a part of PLAN is indeed an honour. Although at first we were skeptical whether the organisation could complete a mission, the success of Plogathon 2019 has really inspired us,” said Steve Fernandez.
“It was a great experience to work with students from other schools who shared various ideas and to see a strategy the execution of Plogathon. We are certain this wouldn't have been so successful if it were conducted by one school,” said Krishna-ja Pai, head girl of Chinm-aya Vidyalaya, Vaduthala.
“PLAN is a family and in Plogathon, our aim, more than making an environment-friendly initiative, was to unite all the five schools. We still remember our first meeting where we had many ideas to make Kochi a better city,” said Fahadh Firoz, head boy, The Delta Study, Fort Kochi.
“Plogathon was one among our ideas. We have space for students to showcase their leadership skills and to bring out the good in other students. We are proud to say that we are the pioneers of this first and only network of school leaders in India. Nidhi Ann Abrah-am, school counsellor, was with us as we laun-ched this,” said Ann Mat-hew, head girl, The Delta Study.
Narrating the experience to give the initiaitve the lead from Global Public School, Faheem Mohammed, the school pupil leader and current president, PLAN, said schools have forever been a source of pride for their alumni. “It’s nice to see the football team triumph over another team across town, or to see your friends lift the trophy at a cultural fest - it always brought a flutter to the heart. But it also reveals an ‘ugly truth’ — inter-school interactions have always been restricted to competitions,” he said.
“This competition had blindsided us all when the 2018 floods hit our state. We all were part of relief efforts — the scattered many, instead of the united powerhouse. All the competition prevented us from coordinating our response to the floods, which could have had multifold impact had we just talked and specialized each school for a specific facet of relief efforts,” said Faheem Mohammed.
“This thought ultimately gave rise to this: a united front of schools that would champion cooperation for the sake of our society’s welfare; a beacon of hope from the student community. We have started small — with a plogging initiative that brought together children from schools across Kochi to do something about the deep-rooted littering culture that has been a reality for far too long,” said Faheem Mohammed.
“PLAN has become closely-knit family that has inspired camaraderie, hope, and love among its members. It gives unimaginable pleasure to lead this family of motivated, joyful and hopeful leaders,” said Faheem.
“All this wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our teacher-mentor, Susanna Sunil, Vice Principal of GPS, and Jyothi P. Rajan, faculty co-ordinator for Plogathon 2019,” he said.
Mrs Lakshmi Ramacha-ndran, Mentor, Global Public School, commended the students on for conductingg Plogathon and added that what pleased her most was the dream of students to unite for a cause. “Students lead the way to show adults what binds us together. In their onward journey, students should explore what more they can offer to Kochi,” she said.
