Beyond Our Trepiditions-- The Peer Educators

When we were first told about the peer education programme, we weren’t sure about it. And even though we had said yes we still weren’t sure about how were we going to do everything, about how were we going to cope with the things, but somewhere in the back of our minds we knew we’d do it. So that’s where the journey started. We were no longer just students; we had responsibility on our shoulders. Big ones! We had to sensitize students about so many things but before that we had to mend our own ways. It took us a lot of time, we attended various workshops at NSC where we groomed and then one day we were handed over our batches, we were the Peer Educators of our school! We now had the power to do whatever we wanted to.  But, with great power comes great responsibility. We had the responsibility of grooming the students in school, the responsibility to help them solve their problems, the responsibility to encourage some and so much more!! We did this through taking workshops on various topics, having discussions, organizing rallies and putting up nukkad nataks. And as we had thought earlier, it wasn’t a cakewalk! It took lots of hard work, and determination to organize the workshops. Be it writing scripts, making movies, getting material for the workshop... it took lots of time and hard work and throat as well! (Shouting to have the work done!) This two year journey was a tumultuous one. Lots of hard work, lots of determination and lots of fights. But all the hard work does pay in the end....so every workshop we held was a success! Peer Education wasn’t just limited to holding workshops we had to take individual counselling sessions as well.  Sitting with kids, and listening to their problems was very difficult for us. It was overwhelming to be a part of such a programme, the way we were earlier and the way we are now....anybody can notice the difference! We are more gentle, more sensitive towards other people, more understanding. We aren’t perfect. We have fights. We are still learning. But from where we started and where we are now, we have come a long way!
This was the most amazing time of our lives.... we’ve made friends who we know will stand with us through every problem. We had mentor teachers who aren’t teachers but best friends. We had the most supportive Principal of all times. This was an experience of a lifetime. We all are Thankful to Expressions India for launching such a programme and to CBSE for giving it a nod.

Is Our Expression Truly Free?

The freedom of expression of a billion plus Indians is being compromised in different ways. As we are starting to get busy with our exams, an actor down south is fighting for his freedom of expression, which the Tamil Nadu Government has forced out of the cinemas, just because of 40 people protesting about it being an Anti-Muslim movie... even though the lead actor  is a Muslim himself! The Tamil Nadu government has forcefully taken away the right of any person who wants to watch the movie. But aren’t we used to such hounding by the government? This isn’t the only movie banned by the government. Have we all forgotten about the controversy surrounding Dancing Queen Madhuri Dixit’s comeback film? Or maybe Shah Rukh Khan’s MNIK?  This isn’t limited to just movies but other things as well. A few months back two girls were arrested for posting their OWN views on a social networking site. They were taken into custody and fined! With the Indian constitution boasting of several fundamental rights- freedom of expression being one of them- we Indians are unofficially censored by the government of our country. We do not have the right to freely express ourselves. Jai Hind!