Feature

Kodaikanal International School

Interaction among students in our community

Sabiha Mahmud Sumi

KODAIKANAL International School, a multicultural Christian school is situated in Tamil Nadu, a state in South India. Unlike many other schools, Kodaikanal International School has a wide range of different events in which its students can show off their talent and contribute to the schools achievements. The school creates a huge opportunity for interaction of different societies, cultures and traditions through the wide variety of students it includes.

One of the major events that take place in KIS every year is the KIS field day. This is an all school programme where students can participate in a variety of different track and field events. There are three different houses in which a student is placed once they join the school; orange, blue and white. During field day, it is up to the students to compete against one another and gain points for their house. The house that ends up with the most points wins the field day. It starts off with a competition called pentathlon, this is an event when a contestant takes part in five different field day events; hurdles, shot put, high-jump, long-jump and a sprinting event (the distance they cover depends on what age group the participant belongs to and their sex). After pentathlon, the field day takes place. At the beginning of this occasion, there is a huge procession in which students assemble in different houses and march out of the school gates and into bendy field, a playing field in which all of the events take place. The students are lead out by first the school band followed by the cheerleaders, then the house that won the previous year followed by the house that came second and then the last house trails along. Once we reach the field, the program begins with elite members of our school introducing the guests of the event. After which the torch bearers, the captains of the previous year's winning house, runs a lap around the field with a torch (a wooden stick lit with fire) and lights the bigger torch, similar to the Olympics. This is followed by the swearing of the oath by all captains and co-captains of different houses. Then the different team members lead their own houses into unique cheers showing team spirit and diversity. The introductory program is concluded with the school song and this leads us into the different track and field events for the day. Even. Teams and divisions combine to create different groups for the final event, the re-lays. The field day is ended with a delicious lunch served traditionally on banana leaves to the students who sit around in a semi-circle around the field. This is followed by the giving away of the awards and certificates to the winners of different events.

Religions and cultures are well respected in our school. Occasions such as the Easter, Eid, Diwali, Holi, India's Independence and Republic Days and even Christmas, are well organized and celebrated in a joyous manner. Easter holiday is observed by Kodi students as they go to different stations around the school praying or singing hymns for God. Easter Sunday starts off by first going to an early sunrise service held at St. Peters Church. This is followed by a delicious Easter Breakfast held at the Principal's house. Some activities for that day include Easter egg hunt and egg painting for students who are younger. At the end of the first semester we have a Christmas Banquet that helps revive the Holiday spirit within the students. Traditional Hindu Indian festivals are also celebrated in our school. Festivals such as Diwali and Holi are celebrated in a tremendously festive way at our school. Fireworks, colors, costumes, dances, songs, are all part of the show and is enjoyed by the entire community. Independence and Republic days are also celebrated at our school. A morning assembly is held and many participants perform dances and other interesting shows. Ramzan and Eid-ul-Fitr, a very important festival for all Muslims, is well observed in Kodi School as well.

An occasion that is most waited by students in KIS is the Kodai Open. This is a major competitive season for all students. Students from many schools in and around kodai participate in the event. In the first semester the Kodai Open introduces inter-school Basketball tournaments, and in the second semester the inter-school Soccer tournaments. The Basketball tournaments are open for all girls and boys teams from different schools and colleges. But the Soccer tournaments are open for only boys from different schools and colleges. KIS has 6 basketball teams, three girls' teams and three boys' teams -the inters, the seniors and the super seniors.

[The writer is a Bangladeshi student of grade 10 at Kodaikanal International School in Tamil Nadu, India]