Grand celebration of Children’s Day was conducted on the 14th of November in Kolkata at Mirraloke, a learning community with children aged 7 to 10 years.
(Web address www.mirraloke.in). The program was conducted between 3.00-5:30 pm at 557 Block N, New Alipore, Kolkata 700053, near Hindustan Sweets. The Children's Day program was inaugurated by Dr. Subhobroto Roy Chowdhury (Secretary, The Science Association of Bengal) and Mr. Partha Sarathi Bose (Principal/Rector, Mirraloke).
The key resource persons were an acclaimed agricultural scientist and environmentalist Saikat Kumar Basu (Interactive science classroom for kids) and noted journalist Gopi De Sarkar (Ei Somoy) who emphasized hobbies, collections, and why it is important to integrate regular studies with fun and hobbies. The anchoring of the program was done by Ms. Sutapa Bardhan (Secretary, ECHO) and Ms. Jayita Chaki. The program was attended by the students of the institutes, their guardians, various science communicators, journalists, and noted environmental and social workers from Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal.
It was amazing that the little kids were enthusiastic about science and technology. They were exposed to some basic biology and chemistry during this session. Many of them answered several questions regarding scientific concepts, and simple theories, The dedicated work of the three teachers of the institute, Sudarshana Banerjee, Priyanka Roy, and Sushmita Mondal was acknowledged for their hard efforts in training the students so well. All the students even at this young age have been extremely enthusiastic and engaging. They not only participated in each session; but, asked smart questions and actively interacted with one another.
The greatly successful evening helped in connecting a knowledge bridge between young students and science communicators. Rather than a simple day of joy and festivities to keep the students focussed and positively oriented inside the classroom; the evening transformed into a celebration of understanding science in the simplest enjoyable form. The simple language, and use of the body to deliver the message; together with the homeliness of the presenters and other science communicators, the children enjoyed an evening of effort NESA learning f sbd celebrating science.
