Swabodhini – 29th Annual Day Report
Swabodhini School for Special Children celebrated its 29th Annual Day this month. The event was a grand celebration of our students and their talents, where every one of our 60 students came up on stage.
On the warm Sunday evening off 18th March, 2018, the students and staff were all assembled at the Muthamizh Peravai Hall, Adyar, to enthrall the audience. The Chief Guest of this program was Mr. Aditya Krishna, Chairman and Managing Director of Saksoft Ltd.
Parents, sponsors, corporates, peers from other special schools and all our well-wishers started streaming into the venue and the program started at the stroke of 4.00 pm.
The program started with the school prayer –praising the Almighty and invoking his blessings. This was followed by the Annual Report for the year 2017-18, where the key milestones of the school were highlighted.
With 21 new admissions, 3 internships and 2 placements, setting up of Swayam Shop –Swabodhini’s retail skills training centre –outside the school premises, starting of fitness therapy, music therapy and MNRI therapy, it was a very eventful and progressive year for Swabodhini.
The important announcement of starting Swabodhini’s new center within Guru Nanak College was made during the annual report presentation. Another important milestone is that Swabodhini is now a registered and recognized training center under the Tamil Nadu Skill Development Centre, where we can now provide training in culinary, retail and ICT and the students who successfully complete their training will be certified by TNSDC.
It was then time for our theme based cultural program. The theme for this year’s program is “Putham Pudhu Bhoomi Vendum – The new world of Spectrum” where different colours come together to create a beautiful rainbow. Each colour brings beauty and harmony to the whole rainbow as is the case with our students… complete and perfect as they are, in their own distinct way, they add beauty and colour to the world. As you all know, Autism is a spectrum condition and in this program the various colors were used as metaphors to highlight the way our children perceive the world around them.
In the 10 programs that were performed, our students took the audience through different aspects of their life and showed us how beautiful and colorful their world is and how together we can all make a “Putham pudhu bhoomi”, if only we can accept and embrace them as they are.
1. Fusion Dance
A prayer and offerings to Lord Ganapati
Performers: Hemanth, Hari Kumaresh, Kannan, Nikhil, Oviya, Sarvesh
2. It’s A Colourful World
Highlighted how Play Therapy helps our children (who come to us as small buds are nurtured and allowed to blossom at their own pace)
Performers: Dilip Kumar, Keerthana, Sai Pranay, Vijay Krishna
3. Vaanavil (Rainbow) Skit
An entertaining Tamil skit where the 7 colours of a rainbow were taken up and their significance was explored through human values.
Performers: Aditya, Andrew, Ashwin, Hari Kumaresh, Kannan, Venkatesan
4. Safety Skit
This skit is based on “Safety” and it explores all the safety concepts that the children have learnt in school.
Performers: Akshay, Danish, Fahim, Gurubaran, Jabez, Manimuthu Kumaran, Prithish, Thaarini, Vishal Prabhu
Safety rap voice over: Aditya, S. Nikhil
5. Set Me Free – It’s My Life
Program which depicted the hyperactivity and high energy aspect of autism spectrum using the colour yellow.
Performers: Gurubaran, Jabez, Sarvesh, Zabiullah
6. Underwater
What makes our students different is that they often perceive more than we do. This program explored the calming effect of the colour blue by means of a magical underwater experience.
Performers (in pairs): Ali Asgar – Darshini, Shreyas – Oviya, Lokesh – Thaarini, Deepak – Sunisha, Rishiraj – Nithyasree, Vishal Prabhu – Darshini
7. Yoga Skit
In this skit, some of the asanas that the students have been taught in school and the associated benefits will be were explained.
Performers: Abhishek, Gurubaran, Hemanth, Jabez, Nikhil, Pradish, Praveen Kumar, Sai Ram, Sunisha, Venkatesh, Zabiullah
8. Classical Song
Rendition by our vocational student Ms. Adithi
9. A Dance
By our vocational girls, showcasing the products (diyas, block printed dupattas) that they are taught to make at Swabodhini
Performers: Adithi, Oviya, Pooja, Priya, Sunisha
10. Group Dance
This program was a celebration of the strong bonds of friendship that our students have forged with their classmates.
Performers: Aditya, Ashwin, Gurubaran, Gurudas, Hari Kumaresh, Hemanth, Jabez, Kannan, Kaustav, Manikandan, Nikhil, Pradish, Praveen Kumar, Sai Ram, Sunisha, Venkatesh, Yogeswaran
After the enthralling and colourful cultural program, the Chief Guest, Mr. Aditya Krishna delivered a short and powerful speech on inclusion and how it is the duty of every community to embrace and encourage people with special needs, to make the society truly inclusive and progressive.
The Chief Guest then gave the Swabodhini Ambassador Awards. This award is given to those who have supported Swabodhini by bringing in crucial contacts who in turn helped us achieve our strategic priorities and those who have used their skills in helping us improve our process. This year, we had 8 recipients for the Swabodhini Ambassador awards.
Then the Chief Guest was joined by his daughter, Ms. Kanika Krishna for distributing staff service awards, student awards and gifts for all the students of Swabodhini.
Our Director and Trustee, Ms. Anuradha Mahesh delivered the vote of thanks and the program concluded with the National Anthem.
It was truly a day to cherish for ever. We thank NAC Jewelers, Zoho Corp, Kalimark, Ampa Skywalk & Westin Velachery for sponsoring this event. Thank you for your presence and cheering our students and for your consistent support for the cause of autism and special education.
