we dare to care…

PARTICIPANTSShweta Sundar- “Bullying has an effect on the society in general, not just the victim. This competition has presented us with an opportunity to take a stand and instead of being a silent bystander, eradicate this problem which traumatizes amajority of the youth.”

Aarushi Magan- “I have always felt that bullying has a negative effect on a person’s mind and personality. Hence, I decided that it was time someone took a stand and put an end to this malpractice. So, I aligned myself to this project.”

Manasvi Mehta- “While education is an essential part of growing up, school can be an intimidating place, full of pressures, especially from the students. If you’re different, you are an outcast and are bullied. But now, it is crucial that we take a stance to fight bullying.”

Roshni Khanna- “It is said that buddies are better than bullies and what better way to reiterate this statement than to be a buddy and end bullying! All around us, physical and mental harassment is a key problem and it is high time to do away with this issue.”

Sanam Panjwani- “I think bullying has been going on for too long but the time has come that it stopped. ‘We must keep in mind to be kind because bullying is mean and mustn't be seen.’”

We, the students of Jamnabai Narsee School, would like to thank our school principal, Mrs. Sudeshna Chatterjee, who, as always, gave us her immense support for this endeavour. We would also like to extend a warm thank you to our headmistress, Mrs. Rosalyn Athaide, as well as our foyer supervisor, Mrs. Kalpana Patange, for their constant guidance at every step of our project. We would also like to appreciate our school and fellow students for their co-operation throughout.

Nowadays, bullying has become a major trend in educational institutions varying through different age groups-From school to degree colleges, sometimes even in offices and work areas.

This is a huge problem, more so in the adolescent phase. Each day we read about drastic and dreadful incidents across the country that lead to teen suicides, murder attempts and grave depression, but none of us take any initiative toward

making a change. Thus, when this opportunity knocked on our doors we took no time in deciding that this is the issue we

wanted to target.

PROBLEM TARGETTED

Campaign Preparation-•POSTERS•PETITION SHEETS•PAMPHLETS•PLACARDS•STREET PLAY•SPEECHES•YELLOW RIBBON CAMPAIGN•POSTER MAKING AND ESSAY WRITING COMPETITIONS

SPREADING AWARENESS

Any campaign is incomplete without proper advertising. Thus, the preliminary step was to introduce our idea to the students of our school and neighbouring societies. Our groundwork included talking to children of different age-groups separately and using techniques that would administer the idea of anti-bullying the best. These included the making and displaying of colourful and attractive posters that carried the slogans against bullying and promoted friendship. A number of volunteers walked around the school with placards, urging the students and teachers alike to give up harassing peers. Pamphlets, too, were circulated to further our cause.

STREET PLAY

In order to spread our message ‘dramatically ‘, we organized a street play called ‘BUDDIES ARE BETTER THAN BULLIES.” The basic idea of this play was to make people realize that they must make amends now. This play was performed for various standards, ranging from the 2nd to the 12th, so that the dangers of bullying were well-understood by the people.

POSTER MAKING AND ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION-

On the 7th of September, the students of Jamnabai Narsee School, participated in a poster making

competition, whose theme was “anti-bullying”. They researched slogans, logos, and drawings pertaining to the topic and these were portrayed in beautiful and

bright colours on paper. Each foyer had a winner declared in the school assembly and prizes were

distributed to all the winners. There was also an essay writing competition, where the students expressed their views on the topic. This made them feel more

involved also.

PETITON SHEET CAMPAIGN-One of the chief operations of our campaign was the “Anti-Bullying Rally”. As a part of this, over 3500 students vouched their support to our cause by signing the petition, which read, "I am against bullying”. This petition was prepared with the guidance of our school’s esteemed counselling cell. This idea was a huge success as each of these 3500 students vowed to neither indulge in bullying nor allow others to do the same. They promised to stop being the bystanders and to take a stand and lend a hand instead.

YELLOW RIBBON CAMPAIGN

To make the students feel more involved in our cause, we clubbed the petition rally with the “Yellow Ribbon Campaign”. Each student who signed the petition and lent their support was rewarded with a yellow ribbon that they wore throughout the week. The ribbon, in the form of an entwined loop (as shown in the picture) is the internationally recognized symbol for anti-bullying. We chose the colour yellow as it symbolizes friendship. Thus, this yellow ribbon became the logo of our endevour. It helped distinguish the supporters of our campaign and gave others an incentive to be part of it.

IMPACT

This campaign was very well received by the students of our school. Overall, the bullying levels in our school have

gone down and there is a considerable change in the attitude of the people

towards their peers. Moreover, people have become more friendly towards

each other. It also helped us and many others to evolve as individuals and has shaped our personalities. We

proudly stand to say that our endeavour has been a tremendous

success. Thus, we truly did design a

change!

We would like to extend a special thank you to Ms. Deepam Bhandari for her help during the

project. We would also like to thank our classmates in the ISC for their performance during the street play and for their help in

spreading awareness about the campaign. This programme would not have been a success

without them.