Interact Club
The Interact Club at our school recently organized a carnival on Diwali, November 5th, at the IGIA, the Indira Gandhi International Academy, which is a non-profit establishment that cares for Sri Lankan refugees. Along with the 11 ISC students, who help out at IGIA at Socially Useful and Productive Work (SUPW), the carnival, which involved a variety of activities such as face-painting and food, was a striking success. All of the profit generated was given to the organization So What Now? (SWN), an NGO started by a former Aditi alumnus, to help the underprivileged children. Earlier this year, the Interact club also conducted a blood donation drive with the support of the Rotary Club of Bangalore and more recently, conducted elections for the new board members for the coming academic year.
SUPW
The students of Std 12 AICE put up a production of the Panchatantra along with the students of the Spastics Society of Karnataka as part of their SUPW programme. They also raised funds for a sports facilty at the SSK school.
For Community
Aditi believes that developing a sense of community and a social conscience lie at the very heart of education. The school’s community service programme creates a space for students to connect with the world outside the school. Our partners such as the Indira Gandhi International Academy (a school for the children of Sri Lankan refugees) and the MRS Palya government primary school have enabled some of our students to work with children of less served communities. Similar opportunities have also been created by the school’s Interact Club, which is an affiliate of the Rotary Club. Other examples of our engagement with the community include a sustained interaction with the students of the Spastics Society of Karnataka. Community activists like Anita Reddy and Ramesh Ramanathan have initiated conversations in school about issues of poverty and governance.
International understanding has been fostered, in no small measure, by our annual student exchange with St. Benno-Gymnasium in Dresden, Germany and two schools, Realschule Germering - Unterpfaffenhofen (near Munich) from where we had 8 students, and Sophie-la-Rochelle in Kaufbeuren (a medieval town near the Alps) in Bavaria from where we had 7 students in November 2008. Our Std. 9 students then visited both schools in April 2009. The Bavarian exchange was organised after an MOU signed between the governments of Karnataka and Bavaria. The representative from Bavaria chose MAIS as the school most suitable for the exchange.
There is also an exchange programme for staff and students with the Brearley School in New York and the Castilleja School, California.
The school is always looking to establish new partnerships that will help our students become engaged members of the community.