Why should you study History in schools?

As an average school boy, I never liked the idea of studying History in school. Why should I be bothered about which king attacked another? What the hell is going to change if I get to know about how the kingdoms lasted for decades? Why should I care if someone got assassinated on the basis of their views?

Such questions kept coming in my mind and I just didn't have answer to any of these, AND, I kept scoring average numbers in History.

Times changed. I passed class 10th. Then I passed class 12th and then I graduated. For 5 years I was not in touch of History and the years seemed so real and cool.

But then I had no clue as to why Nathuram Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi? I didn't know who out of Bhagat Singh and Mahatma Gandhi was really great? Why Akbar was great? And what were the stories of Shivaji, Prithviraj Chouhan and Porus.

I felt having lesser knowledge than my counterparts on this subject which persuaded me to start reading books. And believe me as I read more and more History books, I feel more connected to India.

I think everyone should study History not as a subject but to connect to India. I remember a Sanskrit shloka which will be transliterated as:

Dharmarth Kaam Mokshanam
Updesham Anvitam
Kathayuktam Poorvavrittam
Itihaasam Prachakshyate

Which simply means that whenever you are trying to do some social work, something that makes you happy, some advice and something for the greater benefit of humankind you should first refer to History.

Your story (or questions) could have been the story (or question) of someone else in the History.

The views presented here are of the author and may not express the views of AllSchoolUniform.com on the subject.

Why should school children read newspapers everyday?

As a 10th class student my father went for employment purposes to Indonesia. Suddenly, me and my brother were lonely. We used to play and spend time with our father who now used to come after every 3 months. I remember Sundays were like horrible in the starting month as we had nothing to do.

My mom asked me if I want to read Indian Express on Sundays. At that time I used to read Rajasthan Patrika which is a popular newspaper in Jaipur and also read some English dailies in school during morning newspapers. Having nothing else to enjoy, I asked my mom to ask the newspaper vendor to subscribe us to Indian Express as well.

I really remember my first encounter with the paper. It was year 1996 and I got the first copy of Indian Express in my hands on a chilling Sunday in Jaipur.

As I turned the papers I found that it had all the masala to make a teenager like me glued to it for long. From General Knowledge to Puzzles, National News to International News, Entertainment News to Comments, Analysis to Statistics, and not to forget the Editorial section, everything was cool. From that day onwards I started cutting and preserving stories of my interest which would be anything.

I remember within 2 months I had loads of paper cuttings and the newspaper was subscribed to for everyday.

From then onwards I have been reading newspapers everyday and believe me it feels nice when you know anything about everything. And all this for under Rs 10 everyday.

Its a GREAT DEAL guys.

The views presented here are of the author and may not express the views of AllSchoolUniform.com on the subject.

Schools in International Space Settlement Design Competition held by NASA

Few would know that Indian Schools have been featuring high on the International Space Settlement Design Competition held by NASA.

NASA has been organizing this competition since 1994 and Indian schools starting featuring since 2004 and Indian schoolchildren have been on a winning spree since 2004.

We present today the YoY wise list of schools which participated in the International Space Settlement Design Competition held by NASA

2012

 - Amity International School - New Delhi
 - Bishop Cotton Boys School - Bangalore

2011

 - Bishop Cotton Boys School - Bengaluru

2010

 - Amity International School - Saket, Delhi

2009

 - Spring Dale Senior School - Amritsar

2008

 - Apeejay School - Jalandhar

2007

 - Team Force - Patiala, Punjab, INDIA
 - Amity International School - New Delhi
 - Police D.A.V. School - Jalandhar

2006

 - Apeejay School - Jalandhar
 - Arcane Quest - Patiala
 - Space Architects - Hyderabad, INDIA

2005

 - Apeejay School - Jalandhar
 - Budha Dal Public School - Patiala
 - St. John's High School - Chandigarh

2004

 - Budha Dal Public School - Patiala

WMD in a class

Yes. You read it right - WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction) in a class and this was it.

Whole class was trouble by the nostalgia of one single child but yeah.... no one even complained to the teacher. Yeh hai Dosti...

Innovations by school scientists - 2014

While the winners of the Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards 2015 are going to be announced on 15th October 2015, we bring to you some of the students who won this award in 2014 with their innovations. These innovations are proof that knowledge has no boundaries or can be confined to any geography or class of people.

Bio-fertiliser from cockroaches
by Ananya Jain, Chandigarh, Punjab

In this experimental setup, better growth of potted plants was observed where cockroach excreta was used as fertiliser. This idea struck Ananya when one day her friends were complaining about the cockroach problem in their homes. She then wondered whether  this pest could be used for productive purposes and then carried out this experiment.

Hygienic cloth hanger
by K.B.S Sukesh, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh

The idea is to have a cloth hanger, which would release UV or any other germicidal rays that will kill bacteria keeping our clothes always fresh & germ free. He thought of this idea after visiting a hospital and realised the need to have germ free clothes to prevent the spread of infection.

Foot operated manual page turning machine
by Swapnanil Talukdar, Guwahati, Assam

This is a lower limb operated manual device to assist upper limb impaired or those which an injury to turn/flip the pages of books easily. This idea originated out of his own laziness. Once after his tuition class, Swapnanil felt too tired to even turn pages of his text book. He then thought of this idea and later realised that it could be used by many other physically disadvantaged persons as well.

Movable seat for physically disabled in cars
by Khushkumar Patel, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

The idea is to have movable seats in four-wheelers so that they can be rotated on their axis and pulled outside. Person can then sit on it easily, push the seat inside and rotate back to the normal position. Such a seat may be useful for a physically disabled person or an obese person.

Advance wind turbine
by Vidit Laad, Indore, Madhya Pradesh

It is a omni-directional windmill, which has a wind concentrator to increase wind speed. It is claimed to work at low cut-in speed as well. He came up with the idea of this windmill while reading his physics text book. He has a habit of doing experiments and trying out things practically.

Improved batteries with fast charging
by Yash Vardhan Goenka, Kolkata, West Bengal

The project involves developing batteries, which can be easily charged at a much faster rate than the conventional ones by using super capacitors having fast charge/ discharge rate and high charge density. The idea came to Yash’s mind while staying at his grandparents’ place where electricity would come for an hour or so; not even sufficient time for an inverter to get charged.

Advance helmet for mine workers
by Preyansh Kotecha and Karan Khatri, Vadodara, Gujarat

The idea is to have a helmet for mine workers, using which their location inside the mine can be identified. The same can also be used for communication purpose if required. Frequent news about accidents in mines and loss of the lives of the miners prompted the two friends to think about the problem and come up with this helmet.

Provision of fourth blue light to reduce traffic jams
by Adarsh Barnwal, Katihar, Bihar

The idea is to have a fourth (blue) light at traffic signal to indicate that traffic jam ahead. This would help vehicles to divert at the signal before they hit the jam thereby easing the congestion ahead. The idea struck Adarsh once when he got stuck in a big traffic jam while returning from his school.

Wrapper picker
by Diptanshu Malviya and Mukul Malviya, Sirohi, Rajasthan

This is a motorized device, which picks up littered pieces of wrappers, papers, pouches, etc and collects them in a storage bin. The brothers thought about this device when they saw a sweeper picking up waste pouches/ paper littered across a bus station. They realised how difficult it must be for him to bend every time to pick up such pieces.

All in one stapler for all size of pins
by G. Vasanth and D. Keerthivasan, Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu

Their idea is to have a stapler, which can accommodate pins of different sizes and hence eliminate the need to have different staplers.

Educational boards in India

There are a number of educational boards in India at national and state level. An educational board in India has to be approved by Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), Government of India, and work in close co-ordination with NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training), NUEPA (National University of Educational Planning and Administration) and NCTE (National Council of Teacher Education) to start recognizing schools which impart education at different levels.

Most of the educational boards in India are part of the Council of Boards of School Education in India (COBSE) which is a voluntary association of boards in India. Some of the members of COBSE are also from neighbouring countries Nepal, Bhutan, Mauritius, UK and UCLES.

The list of various educational boards (recognized and unrecognized) in India is as follows:

1. Andhra Pradesh Board of Intermediate Education
2. Andhra Pradesh Board of Secondary Education
3. Board of Higher Secondary Education, Delhi
4. Board of Secondary Education, Assam
5. Bihar School Examination Board
6. Board of Youth Education India
7. Board of Secondary Education, Kant, Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh
8. Board of Secondary Education, Madhya Pradesh
9. Board of Secondary Education, Madhya Bharat
10. Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan
11. Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education
12. Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi
13. Central Board Of Patna, Bihar
14. Central Board Of Education, Ajmer
15. Goa Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education
16. Gujarat Secondary Education Board
17. Haryana Board of School Education
18. Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education
19. Indian Board of Science Education (not recognized)
20. Indian Board of School Education
21. Indian Board of Computer Education
22. Institution of Secondary Distance Education
23. Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School Education
24. Jharkhand Academic Council
25. Karnataka Board of the Pre-University Education
26. Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board
27. Kerala Higher Secondary Examination Board
28. Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education
29. Manipur Board of Secondary Education
30. Manipur Council of Higher Secondary Education
31. Meghalaya Board of School Education
32. Mizoram Board of School Education
33. Northeast National Board Of School Education
34. Northwest Accreditation Commission
35. Nagaland Board of School Education
36. National Institute of Open Schooling
37. Orissa Board of Secondary Education
38. Orissa Council of Higher Secondary Education
39. Punjab School Education Board
40. Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education
41. Tamil Nadu Board of Higher Secondary Education
42. Tamil Nadu Board of Secondary Education
43. Tamil Nadu Council for Open and Distance Learning
44. Tripura Board of Secondary Education
45. Telangana Board of Intermediate Education
46. Telangana Board of Secondary Education
47. Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad
48. Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
49. Uttarakhand Board of School Education
50. West Bengal Board of Secondary Education
51. West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education
52. West Bengal Council of Rabindra Open Schooling
53. West Bengal State Council of Vocational Education and Training

Two times when school children did the unthinkable

We understand (and may have experienced as well) that being teenagers students, sometimes, do things which are daring or just not acceptable for parents, teachers and colleagues. Students doing such activities blame parents or teachers for their strictness and discipline as to what compelled them to do this but they should be counselled that what parents and teachers are trying to inculcate in them will be useful for them for life.

Here, we bring you two instances where you'll be taken aback and have to re-think how to handle school children:

1. When 5 years old children dig a tunnel to escape school

This happened in Russia. 2 boys aged 5 years used spades to dig a tunnel under the fence to get out of their kindergarten classes and buy a Jaguar car. In this endeavour a female driver found them and asked what they were doing. They told her that though they have got no money but they want to buy a Jaguar car. She drove them to police station.

You may read the complete story on Guardian here.

2. When 22 students attempted to cross LoC for arms training

This may seem serious as some 22 students (all aged between 13 and 15) from the army goodwill school, batkoot, attempted to cross the LoC for arms training using Google Maps. However, they were intercepted 5 kms before LoC by the Army and handed over to police. In their confession they told that they wanted to teach a lesson to the school principal because of his harsh attitude and attempted this.

You may read the complete story on Kashmir Reader here.

Each of these instances remind us of better parenting and teaching principles as both parents and teachers should befriend students in order to understand what's going in their minds and show them the right path.