The siblings have a great time in the autumn sun on a lonely north Calcutta road. The brother seems doubtful about his sister’s grip and tries to play it safe by hanging on to a strand of her hair. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

The government might show apathy towards sex education in school but awareness must start at the grassroots. It is the reason why representatives of two NGOs, Sukriti Kolkata Foundation and Lions Clubs International, felt the need to visit 100 schools in and around the city over the past 15 months to raise awareness on AIDS.

The students of each school were asked to write stories to spread awareness about the disease. Short films made on adaptations of three of the best stories were screened at a city hall on October 28.

The initiative was taken after surveys revealed that most students in the city are ignorant about HIV and AIDS and often indulge in unsafe sex. Some of these confessions were also screened on Sunday with the face of the students blurred and voice distorted. “I would certainly have used protection had I known of the consequences,” admits a high school student in the presentation.

Members of the NGOs met with stiff resistance at reputed city schools when they tabled their project while many lesser-known schools were receptive of the idea.

“We were asked to leave midway through our presentation in some schools as words like ‘AIDS’ and ‘condom’ were considered taboos there,” said Abhishek Sinha Roy of Sukriti.

It is at this point that the organisers decided to take on Sabyasachi Chakraborty as the anchor for the audio-visual presentation. “He is Feluda to students and so when he spoke on screen, they listened. The school authorities were more lenient too,” said Sinha Roy.

A 10-minute film called Clara, My Little Angel, based on a story by Sreyashee Halder of Hartley’s High School was judged the best. Her story was about little Clara who contracted AIDS through the blood her mother received at the time of delivery. Clara, all of nine years and full of life, dies suddenly at the end of the film. The death jolts the audience that does not know that she had AIDS. Sreyashee picked up a reward of Rs 7,500 for her effort.

The second prize was bagged by Zia Taufeer, a Class X student of Howrah Hat High Madrasah. In Zia’s story, the protagonist, a bright student, comes to Calcutta from a village and falls for the charms of a girl he barely knows. He goes back to his village with AIDS.

These two films as well as the third, based on the story by Tushar Saha of Class XI, Behala High School, which deals with contamination from syringes used for taking drugs, also deal with the sufferings of the families and near ones of HIV-positive patients and AIDS victims.

Rith Basu

Festive showtime

It was showtime at The Heritage School auditorium on September 13 (picture by Anindya Shankar Ray). The junior school organised a concert to mark the advent of the festive season.

The school choir presented Durga vandana based on raag bhairavi. They also presented an instrumental orchestra where students showed off their versatility on the violin, mandolin and other musical instruments.

But the crowd-puller was a mime show based on the mythological character Eklavya.

A dance drama, based on taal chandrakosh by children of classes IV and V enthralled the audience. Bengali’s baro mashe tero parbon was beautifully presented through poetry and music.

The other events included an English musical titled Hungama Fusion, a recital of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and other musical programmes.

Anindya Shankar Ray

Check out the best

Students and teachers of St Xavier’s Institution, Panihati, at the award and scholarship giving ceremony on October 6. Suburban Educational Society that runs and manages the institution rewarded 99 ICSE and 117 ISC students, who secured 80 per cent and above, cash award and scholarships, besides a scholarship of Rs 200 a month to each of the 126 students of Class XI

Those planning to study abroad and work at the same time can breath easy as Study and Jobs Worldwide (SJW), an enterprise to guide the aspiring students, launched its eastern region branch in the city recently. In association with overseas educational consultant Global Reach, the organisation aims to make foreign education more accessible to students from middle class families.

Shantanu Sengupta, CEO of SJW, Hasim Abdul Halim, speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Ron Nonkervis of James Cook University, Bisbane, (JCUB) were present at the inauguration.

SJW has tied up with JCUB that is offering degrees in business, IT, hospitality and international tourism and accounting. “We offer bursaries instead of scholarships to students, based on merit,” said Ron Nonkervis of JCUB.

Speaking about the exodus of talent from the country, Halim said: “Instead of blaming the youth we must strive to create conditions that will be conducive for them to stay back.”

Romila Saha

whatsup

Quiz time

There’s good news for all the quizards. TCS IT Wiz, an inter-school quiz on information technology will be held at Kala Mandir on November 3. Entries to be sent through the institution before November 1, to the Quiz Coordinator, Tata Consultancy Services Plot C, Block EP, Salt Lake Electronics Complex, Sector V, Calcutta — 91