Spreading light through human values

[Guest guest]

Spreading light through human values

By A Staff Reporter MUSCAT — The open essay-writing and poster-making

competition, to be organised by the Serve And Inspire (SAI Group) in

association with the Times of Oman under the theme ‘Spreading the light through

human values 2005’, on April 14 at Indian School Al Ghubra, has been attracting

excellent response. Thanks to the encouragement given by the Ministry of

Education, the event has grown from 38 schools in 2003 to 151 schools this

year. The participating schools, which include 70 Omani Arabic schools (Basic

cycle two and secondary), 48 Omani bilingual schools, 28 community schools and

5 special education schools, have been delighted to receive the invitations.

Schools can send a maximum of three entries each for poster making and essay

writing per age group (in all a maximum of 24 entries from a school) for this

event which is conducted without any participation fee either to the students

or schools. The last date for schools to send the entries has been extended

till today, based on the requests from the schools. Ruled papers for essay

writing and A3 size white sheets for poster-making would be provided by the

organisers. The material required for writing/drawing will have to be brought

by the participants. The event derives its inspiration from the principles of

The Sathya Sai Education in Human Values and so value-based themes have been

chosen, i.e. ‘Kindness is goodness’ for ages 6 to 9 (Group A), ‘Nature is the

best teacher’ for ages 9 to 12 (Group B), ‘Watch your words’ for ages 12 to 15

(Group C) and ‘Service to community’ for ages 15 to 18 (Group D) for essay

writing as well as poster-making. Kindness is Goodness: The best way we can

express our goodness is through kindness which should not be restricted to

those whom we love or those whom we are related to in some way, but to

everything in creation. We may find it difficult to be kind to someone who

harms us. But our strength lies in being kind to even such persons because in

due course of time they would be transformed into better individuals by this

very act of kindness. Acts of kindness promote peace all around. Nature is the

Best Teacher: Wonderful lessons in human values can be learnt from nature. For

example the Sun shines its light on everyone and the rain falls on every shore

without making any distinction. The ocean teaches the lesson of contentment,

whether it receives water from the rivers or not, it remains the same. Many

animals and birds share the food they have got. Watch your Words: Words have

the power to make or break relationships, careers, etc. We should always strive

to speak softly and lovingly to everyone. It is a virtue to speak truth and yet

present it in a loving manner. Quite often we may not be able to help someone

in distress, but it is always possible for us to speak positively and to speak

encouragingly, which by itself is a great service. Service to Community: We

belong to the community and derive several benefits from it. It is but natural

that we should seek opportunities to serve the community (especially the weaker

segments of it) in as many ways as possible. Service to the needy could be in

the form of providing food, clothing, shelter, medical care and support to

orphanages. Tree planting, conservation of water, protection of the

environment, etc. could be done in any part of the world. First, second and

third prizes will be awarded in every age group, for each category of school

viz. Omani Arabic, Omani bilingual, community and special education for

poster-making as well as essay writing. Also, consolation prizes will be given.

Certificates will be given to all the participants. Creativity, content,

technique and efficacy of conveying the theme will be the criteria of judgment.

A three-member team (two from the community and one from the organisers) will

evaluate each entry independently. It would be ensured that the judges do not

know the identity of the participants. The judging for each category of school

viz. Omani Arabic, Omani bilingual, community and special education would be

separate, i.e the students from one category of school would be competing

within the same category only. The decision of the judges will be final and

binding.

sourced:

http://www.timesofoman.com/newsdetails.asp?newsid=13541&pn=local