Category: Secondary

Mondays are always significant because they bring with it an entire week to look forward to. This particular Monday, which marked the beginning of the month of December 2019, was an especially remarkable one as it gave BHS an opportunity to honour one of the top Cardiothoracic surgeons of the country.

Dr. Saulat Hasnain Fatimi is one of the top tier and busiest Cardiothoracic surgeons in the country. With decades of service to the cause of humanity in the field of healthcare, he specializes in complex open heart surgeries, minimally invasive thoracic surgeries and Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery.

With over 150 published pieces in peer reviewed journals and 300 abstracts, Dr. Saulat serves on multiple national and international scientific advisory boards. Needless to say he is a source of inspiration and pride for the community and country.

Dr. Fatemi was given a Guard of Honour by the school band and attended the invigorating morning assembly. The students who read the news in the assembly welcomed him and offered him a fragrant bouquet. After a light breakfast he was taken to the computer lab where he addressed the class 9-10 students who have opted for Biology and aspire to become doctors.

He candidly spoke to the students about his interesting life journey and his childhood dream to become a heart surgeon.  The story of his humble beginnings and his fire to achieve his goal inspired the students immensely. “Passion is what makes you stand out! Don’t let anybody tell you that something is impossible! Be an Olympian!” His words of wisdom fueled the passion in the student’s hearts. “I see a spark in their eyes,” the doctor commented as he looked at his audience. His rousing speech ended with a standing ovation.

The sessions ended with a Q/A and a prized group photograph with the good doctor under the BHS logo. With such a precious resource of professionals in the community, BHS wishes to expose these ambitious children to people who can be their mentors.

PAF museum symbolizes nothing but the element of grace, dignity and the charm of patriotic sentiments. It stands strong and robust as an example of the Pakistan Air Force’s relentless and valiant efforts to safeguard each individual of Pakistan.

To acknowledge and pay tribute to our heroes’ grits and sacrifices, students of grade 7 were taken for a field trip to the PAF museum on 18^th of November, 2019.

The clear blue sky streaked with the white of peace ignited students with passion and energy.  The history of each fighter plane completely inspired the students as they were left in admiration knowing that the briefing for each aircraft was given by the retired air force pilot himself, Shk.Abbas bhai Mohsin Petiwala—a source of pride for our community.

Shk. Abbas bhai Petiwala is a star pilot who has served in the Air Force for more than 33 years, holding badges like Sitara-e-Jurrat and Sitara-e-Imtiaz which made students appreciate the fruits of education. Shk. Abbas eloquently orated his experience of flying different fighter planes, not missing out on any detail. The way he communicated brought life to each exhibited plane and the students’ anticipation rose to the level where they bombarded Shk. Abbas bhai with questions.

Sharing one of his experiences he remembered crashing a plane risking his and his fellow partner’s life for the sake of their country. This spirit of patriotism motivated students to the level that they pledged to serve their nation by any possible means.

Marching further, students glanced at the mannequin of the captured Indian pilot Abhinandan. They were enthralled knowing how spirited our national heroes were at the Pulwama attack.

Later, students were rewarded with a canteen treat and a gala time at the end of their trip as they maintained immaculate discipline and showcased optimistic demeanor.

BHS stresses on the idea that ‘Leaders are Readers’.  Reading involves plethora of skills out of which knowing spellings tops the list.  Spelling and reading skills are closely related and help develop overall literacy.

Learning spellings via reading serves to encourage learners to adapt the major principles and patterns of English, expand their vocabulary and their pronunciation.

The National Spelling Bee organized by Dawn in Education provides students with the right exposure where they can practice their spellings. It is imperative that students prepare themselves by familiarizing themselves with the correct pronunciation of the words, pay attention to pronunciation guides in dictionaries and practice saying words correctly by saying the words aloud and recognizing the number of syllables.

Preparing for a Spelling Bee means becoming acquainted with hundreds of words, remembering their spelling and meanings — so much so that when a word is pronounced the speller is able to visualize it.

After tough training sessions for weeks, our 6 young participants belonging to 2 pools-Pool A of age group 12-14 (Al Aqmar Yousuf, Husaina Tahir and Maria Mushtaq)and Pool B of age group 15-17 were ready on the 1^st of November 2019 to face the music at the Arts Council.

It is but natural to be nervous and excited on the day of the contest. There is the dual pressure of stage fright along with the stress of remembering a myriad of spellings. But it was a sight to see young spellers from BHS ruling the stage on the singular component of their hard work.

It helped pool B not only qualify first round, but they cleared the double sting second round as well entering into the eliminations where unfortunately, we got knocked out.

Winning and losing is a part of an active journey only trodden by the brave. The spirit of the Bee at the end of the day is to do our best. It is indeed a matter of great pride to be able to represent one’s school at a National Contest.

The Robotics and LFR contest organized by Edvon at the Expo Centre filled 45 daring young engineers of BHS from Classes 8, 9 and 10 with energy that was electrifying.

Poised to prove themselves they pledged to prepare under the tutelage of their Science and Computer teachers for this upcoming competition held at the EXPO CENTRE on 18^th and 19^th September 2019.

 

Before the contest itself the students attended a 3 day- workshop on how to program the LFR (Line Following Robot), and were constantly trained by Sir Ibrahim, Sir Amjad and Ms. Rashida. The much anticipated engineers quickly grasped on to the skills and programming of how to code the bot so that it follows the black line on any given arena.

 

Out of 100 teams nation-wide from top notch schools at the completion, 12 teams of 45 participants represented BHS and were appreciated for the discipline they maintained, the manner they projected, and the collaborated team work they produced at the competition. Their pious execution, elementary coherent understanding of the programming of LFR and ethics were highly cherished by the organisers.

 

End result on 18^th of September for 2 initial rounds announced the victory of 8 teams of BHS amongst the other 32 top teams.  Their effortless performance allowed them to qualify for the second day’s session and 3 teams of BHS made it to finals and tried their best to accomplish the task given to them. Finally, they stood among the top five position holders.

 

This truly embarked upon a new chivalrous journey for our young participants as it packaged plethora of intrinsic and extrinsic learning of dealing and programming not only bots but their emotional intelligence brewed under such pressure.

 

‘The ultimate victory in competition is derived from the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your best and that you have gotten the most out of what you had to give.’ -Howard Cosell.

Busy roads overcrowded with wagons, rickshaws and a blur of motor bikes are a trademark of Lyari, one of the eighteen constituent towns of Karachi city. By area, it is the smallest town of Karachi but by population, it overpowers the others. It is home to the Baloch community which is found in majority along with many others.

Famed for being the football hotbed of Pakistan, it also houses famous wrestlers, body builders and boxers of the country. Many renowned names of the country from different fields are associated with this town such as Hussain Shah(the Olympic boxer), Umar Baloch (footballer), Waja Khair Mohammad Nadvi (Educationist), Sikander Baloch (former Mr. Pakistan), and Syed Sajjad Ali Shah (former Chief Justice of Pakistan).

However, this golden letter reputation has been stained by gang war, poverty and political influences within the town renaming it to be the town of the under privileged. Despite of the finest human resource, the unstable condition of the town has turned it into a red zone.

They say that virtue cannot be spotted without evil.

Lyari, being the red zone of Karachi, has colours associated with it. One such example is Kiran Foundation, which is a true example of commitment and social responsibility.

In a man-eat-man age, Sabina Khatri, the Chairperson of Kiran Foundaton, and her team came as a ray of light in Lyari. Kiran is not only responsible for the education and upbringing of the children associated with the school, but also enforces community mobilization by adopting families. Hence, each and every individual of the family is educated, trained, fed, supported and nurtured by Kiran Foundation.

John. F. Kennedy once said. “One person can make a difference and everyone should try doing that.” With the contribution of everyone, the world will be a better place to live undoubtedly.

BIRD (Badri`s Institute of Resource & Development) planted a seed too, in the garden of positivity planted by Kiran Foundation. Two trainers, Ms. Zenab Mohammad and Ms. Rashida Mohammad were invited to conduct a session for one of the many batches of Lyari mothers, who are also taught and trained by Kiran Foundation. This session on “21^st century Parenting” was conducted for two hours on the 3^rd of August, 2019 at Kiran Ghar, located in Nayabad, Liyari.

The session focused on 21 steps to positive parenting. Interaction with mothers uncovered many aspects of upbringing that are peculiar to the town. A unique approach was shared with the mothers which focused on actions and gestures that support tenderness + toughness. Prenatal child psychology was also discussed which made it clear that a parent should take up his/her responsibility and role as early as conception. Food modification was also brought under discussion along with communicative vehicles (verbal and non-verbal) for mothers. The session ended encouraging the audience to exhibit valuable actions such as showing affection, respect, and care along with praying for one`s own parents in front of the children so that they can imitate.

At the end of the session, the participants were enthusiastic about sharing the learnt with their spouses or friends which showed how intrinsically motivated the audience was.

“Mujhe ajj samajh aya k meri beyti sabzi q nahin khaaty hai”, a 45 year old Sabira had confessed at the end, to which another mother from the audience replied, “toh kiya hua, sabzi ki shakal badal do, aram se kha legy”

Teaching is not teaching when it is confined to the boundaries of acquaintances. If it spreads out and reaches far and wide, teaching becomes sacred.

BIRD ensures Kiran Foundation its full support in any teaching/training related activity as we rise by lifting others.

The atmosphere on 9^th of August 2019 was laced with power, passion and vibrant energy that fruitfully provoked each individual with an idea. An idea of a ‘society’ where one can have the right to feel free and express with exponentials.

For how can a society be fair, until everyone has equal ability to articulate and express themselves?

Slamming the traditional mindsets to triumph freedom of speech, BHS reckons that it’s highly essential that despite of teaching students to shut up and sit down, we believe in making students stand up and speak out.

The practical understanding of it is vivid in the poetry elocution that serves as a trademark of BHS as it is rich in compassion, flair, elegance, dignity, confidence, passion and dedication. It helps Badrians master the art of oral communication, which aids in improving the quality of individuals’ life, as words have the energy and the power to help, to heal, and to be humble.

As known by all; the Human Voice is the instrument that we all have. It creates the most powerful sound in the world, probably the only one that can either start a WAR or say I LOVE YOU at the same time.

To provide students with the platform of understanding the power of human voice in terms of approach, attitude and practice, it was mandatory for the management to plan yet another spectacular Bilingual Elocution at BHS.

Elocution is defined as a skill of clear and expressive speech, especially of distinct pronunciation and articulation.

Ringing the bell weeks earlier before the finale, the air at BHS hummed with excitement as each child out of 24 participants, from grade 7 and 8, after qualifying their auditions in their respective classes were all set to raise the stakes high to secure positions at their Bilingual Elocution Competition.

The tinge in their manners, the rhythm of their dedication, their cyclonic confidence all geared up to serve for the better purpose. The purpose to educate, to acknowledge, and to involve the BHS society, by presenting a vision of our mighty existence by delivering different poets.

The pulpit, standing mike, and picturesque stage stood bright canvasing beautiful weather that gleefully welcomed speakers who orated the cries of Blake, ranted the anguish of prenominal Iqbal, chanted the delight of Mir Taqi Mir, and intoned the voice of Maya Angelou and many more to reinvigorate the richness of responsibility in each learner, who were listening to their calls with utmost serenity.

Plugging in more, the unwavering communication of our young orators never missed to mesmerize our esteemed internal judges Miss Nafisa Shk. Esaaji and Miss Arwa who wore their ardent smile throughout the show and beaded words of appreciation later for our now professional speakers who are well-prepared to conquer any stage with elegance, obligation and commitment as they have truly understood the language of diction, imagery, figures of speech, symbolism, syntax, sound, rhythm, structure, and delivery.

Thus, it was a perfectly pitched hour program, that helped each individual clear mental clogs, slurred speech and indolent speaking, making each more compelling, more convincing and more credible.

This blog is to congratulate all the participants and winners in specific as it is rightly said, ‘If Your Actions Inspire Others To Dream More, Learn More, Do More and Become More, You Are a Leader’.
The participants not only delivered but successfully created. They created leaders out of themselves and others from their audiences. As true form of 21st century teaching is based on the principal fact of students bringing the best in their peers. Yet, elocution 2019 proved to root deeper understanding of authentic wisdom where students learnt to bring forth and rekindle the best in their fellow students.
The management team of BHS, would like to take this moment to congratulate our participants and their parents for working side-by-side with BHS to extract the relative best form of an individual.

Following are the positions secured by young orators:

Winners from grade 7:
English Orators:

Position	Student	Poem
First	Mustafa Murtaza	I saw my teacher on a Saturday
Second	Fatema Adnan	A friend from above
Third	Sakina Yousuf	The Vetro’s ghost

Urdu Orators:

Position	Student
First	Shireen Hakimuddin
Second	Shabbir Ghulam
Third	Murtaza Hussain

Winners from grade 8:
English Orators:

Position	Student	Poem
First	Abde Ali Murtaza	Echoing Green
Second	Mudreka Zoeb	Stopping by woods
Second	Ammar Munawar	Revelation
Third	Sakina Zohair	Still I Rise

Urdu Orators:

Position	Student
First	Hussain Shabbir
Second	Rashida Tahir
Third	Fatema Ali

What better idea than fashioning a PLANET for learners that is fused with technology, core competencies of the English Language and creativity at the same time.

Badri High School feels proud to become the pioneers of launching Literacy Planet in Pakistan for the first time ever. 
Helping learners develop
skills
like
Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and Critical Analytical Thinking through Computer Assisted Language based Learning (CALL) is a mega-project that has been accomplished in the Academic year 2019-2020 by the blessings and benedictions of His Holiness Dr. Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS.

After constantly striving hard for months, BHS inaugurated its first live class in literacy planet that is equipped with high-tech tablets in a well-designed Digital room which facilitate to a pair of students.

The program is an Australia-based, comprehensive and engaging online program to develop English literacy skills which the BHS team discovered at GESS Dubai two years ago. Discussions ensued and finally things were finalized to launch it in the year 2019-20.

Literacy Planet comes equipped with a benefit of thousands of comprehensive and grammatical exercises/games for learners to take advantage from. The environment of the application is highly engaging as it is illustrated and colourful. The exercises provided by the application are curriculum aligned (exclusive of Pakistan National Curriculum) and are suitable for learners of all abilities and intelligences (ref. to Howard Gardner`s theory of Multiple Intelligences).

Amidst the excitement, it was an eye freshener to see the high-maintenance of discipline amongst the students while working in the Digital room, the development of ownership skills, the level of their confidence, the involvement to score better in four skills of language learning in order to win the credits, assimilated in promoting 21^st century learning that is solely focused on active teaching approaches.

In a world where complaints, grudges and animosity strikes faster than lightning itself; we at Badri High School ticked off the ice breaking activities of the year with the understanding of ‘Power of Appreciation’.

William James, well-known psychologist and philosopher, said, ‘The deepest principle of human nature is a craving to be appreciated.’  If we are honest with ourselves, we all want and need to feel valued for who we are and recognized for our contributions and accomplishments. It’s important for us to know that we have made a difference in someone’s life.

It helps people effectively deal with adversity and stay positive in the midst of change and challenges. When you genuinely appreciate someone, you make him believe in his potential and help him perform at his best.

Adhering with this strategy, students of grade 8 were asked to inaugurate their Academic year with the idea behind the power of appreciation.

Plethora of ideas bubbled amidst students as they started appreciating their peers. The glint in the eyes, the fresh smiles, and their body language foreshowed nothing but a true positive environment where learners acknowledged the idea of giving.

Taking a step further, Shel Silverstein’s “Giving Tree” was read in the class that converged learners’ attention to the point of giving cost-free gifts. The concept was to treat the class with one cost-free gift. Values such as respect, love, discipline, commitments, and peace sprouted high leaving each student in awe.

Taking it a step further, students designed a ‘Thank Card’ with a quote and their love for their teachers of the Secondary Section to salute and honour their dedication and hard work.

Hearing teachers say, ‘You made my day dear! Thank you’ boosted students’ confidence and the level of their ecstasy as they understood ‘For it is in Giving that we Receive!’

If thou seek to see the angels glee

Hum Hussain, Hussain, and in humility beseech

With each soul of BHS that with reverence speak

Labaik Ya Hussain in teary screech

To please our Dai Mufaddal Saifuddin

 

The forthright Monday morning sun of July 1^st, 2019 actively participated to cherish the courtyard of BHS as it glinted colours of trust, just, patience and victory under the sky that was perfectly bleached white radiating its popular golden streaks to welcome BHS’ young army squad. The students of the Primary and Secondary section, all charged up with enthusiasm, tailored with discipline and ignited with hope, marched up chivalrously to salute the beginning of the Academic year 2019-2020.

With a sole aim of promoting practical education; be it in a form of project-based learning, problem-based learning, Robotics, Literacy Planet and more, BHS has always strived hard to promote holistic learning through practical approaches. And what better than the Ohbatat Majlis of Imam Husain AS itself that nests the heart with love and roots the soul with compassion and communication with the divine. After all, the Zikr of Imam Husain AS is the essence of all knowledge.

The Zikar, Matam and the recitation of Maula Abbas AS and Aqa Hussain’s AS shahadat reached the skies and our renowned guest of honor, Shk. Khuzaimabhai Rangwala, was highly pleased to see our hearty squad at BHS lamenting over Aqa Hussain AS with such intensity. The rhythmic chants of Hussain! Hussain! Hussain! roared with such vigor that it fruitfully enlightened each  culpable  soul.

In his address, Sh Khuzaima bhai’s wise proclamation commonly spoke of how to amalgamate the knowledge of deen and dunya, carefully instilling within us the objectives of our living and learning.

Further, the students dressed into the spirit of zeal and enthusiasm to cherish the high achievers of the previous Academic Year 2018-2019; the 3 toppers and 12 participants of  ICATS Linguistics and 3 toppers and 19 participants of ICATS Mathematics competition with Sakina M. Yosuf being the National topper securing 92% nationwide for her ICATS linguistics.

Congratulations to all the students for their praiseworthy performances!

Embellishing the event BHS proudly launched “SMALL HANDS” a book of short stories written by our passionate young authors of last year’s Grade 5. Their enthusiastic and versatile write-ups successfully captivated the interests of their readers across the school. What a milestone to be published authors at such a young age! This achievement will be with them like a shining lamp for a lifetime.

Delightedly, Badri High School’s first day was filled with fervor and excitement experienced amidst delighted shrieks and cheers. There was laughter and there was a lot of learning that promised us with an awe-inspiring year 2019-20 ahead.

In an Interschool English Declamation Contest hosted by Al Madrasa tus Saifiyah Tul Burhaniyah, Shabbirabad, featuring nine schools of Karachi, two out of three Badri High School participants bagged the second position in their respective age categories.

Grade 6 results:

1^st: Zainab Jawaid (VACS Junior Campus)

2^nd: Sakina Yousuf (Badri High School)

3^rd: Husayn Zain (VACS Main Campus)

Grade 7 results:

1^st: Abdeali Sadriwala (MSB Shabbirabad)

2^nd: Hussaina Taher (Badri High School) and Khubaib Kamran (Sunbeams Grammar School)

Grade 8 results:

1^st: Amena M. Amer (MSB Haidry)

2^nd: Habiba Amer (Sunbeams Grammar School

3^rd: Ayesha Alam (Dawood Public School)

Kudos to the winners. BHS is proud of its eloquent orators.

In learning you will teach and in teaching you will learn

It is said that teachers are lifelong learners as well the agents of change and they do so for the betterment of their students so as to prepare them for an ever-changing and unpredictable future.
This ambition of influencing the life of their students requires a lot of effort, passion towards learning and a constant urge for improvement of their teaching strategies. For the fulfillment of this divine purpose, Badri High School continues to provide its teachers with contemporary learning opportunities by sending them for various professional development trainings and workshops.
As one such endeavor, four teachers; two from Primary Section and two from Secondary Section, were sent to a phonetics work shop organized by the Dawn Media Group at Oxford University Press, on Saturday, the 6th of April` 2019.
The workshop was conducted by Saima Jawaid, the CEO of Teacher`s Lounge. A large component of the workshop dealt with Phonetics, which is the study of sounds of human speech. It is the prime focus of a spoken language. It demonstrated the use of dictionary for recognition of the correct pronunciation of a word. While reading long words, the position of stress was also demonstrated.
There were a lot of fun activities regarding reading skills. It was full of knowledge and covered fine details about the art of the correct use of pronunciation. A page with a passage written in IPA was given to us but we were not able to do it. After the workshop was conducted we were again asked to read it and we were able to do it as now we knew how to pronounce those symbols. It was a fun filled learning experience.
We look forward to conducting this workshop in the school for our colleagues.

In order to promote a love for the learning of spellings, Badri High School regularly participates in the DAWN Spelling Bee Competition which is organized by the DAWN in Education. This year, too, we look forward to participating in it.

In addition to the National Spelling Bee Competition, students are encouraged to learn spellings in the classrooms and they are assessed for it. The teachers constantly try to make sure that learning a spelling is not a tedious task for students. One such attempt was the In-school Spelling Bee Competition, held on the Astroturf, on the 3^rd of April`19. Classes VIA & B , VIIA & B and VIIIA & B competed in the contest.

A team of 3 students represented each class. The students prepared spellings from the novels being taught in that class currently. For Grade VI, the students prepared from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, while Grade VII learnt spellings from Edith Nesbit`s “The Railway Children”. Class VIII mastered the spellings from “The Tales of Shakespeare”.

The program began at 9:50 AM when the teams assembled on the stage. The competition had 3 rounds. The participants were so excellently prepared that they spelt each word as soon as the pronouncer said it. The audience also enjoyed this productive event as their eagerness to spell the word loud was clear. The objective of this event was to revise spellings in a fun way, which was achieved thankfully.

Class VI A &VI B, both the teams were declared winners as they shared the same position on the score board. A tie breaker also could not give us a distinct winner. Class VII A and Class VIII B also shared the victory stand. The participants were lauded with praise from their fellows and certificates of participation from the school as well. On the other hand, the victors teams were presented with books.

The names of the Spellers are as follows:

 

 

Class VI A:	Class VII A	Class VIII A
Insiyah Burhanuddin	Munira Quaid Johar	Munira Anjarwala
Insiyah Mustafa	Maria Mushtaq	Maria Sadiq
Ummul Baneen	Zainab Fakhruddin	Hawra Hussain

 

Class VI B:	Class VII B	Class VIIIB
Muffaddal Mohammad	Al Aqmar Yusuf	AbdeAli Shabbir
Juzer Muffaddal	Mustafa Murtaza	Abbas Fakhruddin
Udad Murtaza	Ibrahim Quaid Johar	Mustafa Zakir

 

Spellings are an integral part of learning English Language. If a child can spell a word properly, it is imperative that he reads well too. Spellings help in cementing the connection that is shared between sounds and letters, which is taught to a child when he or she is in kindergarten.

Surprisingly, students all over the world share a common dislike for the subject. One reason for this can be the auto spell correct feature in MS Word and Android phones, as it burgles the significance of learning a word. At some point, a student may get frustrated and asks out loud, “Why do I learn spellings?”

However, we all know that in a written text, punctuation errors often go unnoticed but if the spelling is poor, the writing suffers. Not only is the ability to spell necessary in a student`s academic grounds but is also evidently needed when one enters his/her professional life.

The girls of Class 6 of Badri High School were nearly jumping with excitement as they caught sight of the Mughal revival style palace by the sea. The façade of the local yellow Gizri and pink stone from Jodhpur brought to life the Anglo Mughal palaces of the Rajput of yore.

“Every girl dreams of palaces,” one of them retorted in glee.

The girls of class 6 visited the Mohatta Palace Museum on Friday 15^th March 2019 and the boys did so on Tuesday19th March as part of their Social Studies chapter of ‘Visiting Public Places’. The field trip helped them learn about the historic world heritage site of Makli through the ‘Symphonies in Stone’ exhibit on display there.

Makli, one of six World Heritage Sites in Pakistan, is located in Thatta. Formerly a small settlement on the river Indus, it became the seat of government from the 14th to the 18th centuries for successive dynasties.

The students were enthralled by the stunning images of Makli including aerial views of the necropolis captured by photographers like Abdul Hamid Akhund and Aziz Soomro as well as the intricate delicate carvings and decoration Makli is known for across the world.

They were explained by the guide at the museum about the history of Makli and its tombstones and graves elaborately carved with geometric patterns and interlacing Arabic inscriptions. Many sculptural representations are also visible, horsemen with swords and spears, bows, arrows and daggers, foot soldiers, representation of turbans, materials of war and weapons are also distinct symbols indicating the graves of men. Ornaments or jewellery in high relief depict the graves of women.

The students sketched views of the breathtaking façade of the palace and enjoyed a light snack on the green turf. Many wrote reviews of their experience as well. Such visits to historic places are memorable escapades proving to be windows to the past and opening horizons for learning for their future as well.

This year in February 2019, Badri High School has created history.  It has become the first Pakistani school as well as the first Dawoodi Bohra institution to have two speakers chosen to speak at GESS DUBAI 2019 held at the World Trade Centre, Dubai.

The GESS Education Fair is a platform where academicians, researchers and educational stakeholders from the Middle East, Asia and European regions come together to share expertise, hold discussions as well as showcase products which may enrich the learning experience.

Professors, PhD’s, experts and academicians share their researches and experiences with other teachers and educationists. It’s fascinating to see qualified teachers become learners and share their academic expertise. Some enclosures where the talks are held  are so packed that attendees have to sit on the ground or even stand to hear the discourse.

Ms. Tasneem Sh. Hashim Marsiawala, Head of the Preprimary Section at Badri High School, and Ms. Rashida Adnan, Head of stem education at BHS  became the first Pakistanis and Dawoodi Bohras to be speakers at GESS DUBAI 2019.

On 27th and 28th February 2019, Ms. Tasneem spoke on ‘The How and Why of Getting them on Stage’ in the Furture Learning enclosure, while Ms. Rashida spoke in the exclusive Leadership Stream enclosure on ‘Teachers as Leaders’.

The event was heavily attended by educationists from over the globe as well as community members including Qasre Aali Sahebs, MSB delegations from all over the world as well as Taleem office and Idara officials.

Ms. Rashida Adnan reveals about her experience, “It was an overwhelming experience! As a teacher I always wished to represent my country and community at such a stage where so many educationists shared their teaching and learning to make the world better for the next generation and cater to their needs. I felt I was in the sky when someone came forward and asked if we were a school based in Dubai and when I told her that we were from Karachi she was shocked. This is a reaction I will remember for life.”

 

Ms. Tasneem Hashim shares, “From visitor to speaker at GESS Dubai, it was an exhilarating journey of learning & discovering, growth & progress. That moment for me manifest in itself all that Badri High School stands for and believes in: to uplift & upgrade, to inspire & motivate, and to encourage & support each and every being associated with it. Proud to be a part of this esteemed institution.”

Looking back, a small delegation of BHS visited GESS DUBAI two years ago where they were awestruck by the advancement educational technology has made.  Here they discovered ROBOTICS and they came back and did the impossible.  They made a highly expensive robotics program of STEM education through LEGO accessible to the students of Badri High School.  Today we are at a point where BHS is winning Interschool robotics contests.

Last year in February 2018 our delegation became bigger and they discovered Arduino which was again incorporated in the Secondary curriculum.  It was heartening to watch young teens enjoy the open source platform of Arduino programming.

May each year ahead be yet another feather in the BHS cap!

 

Badri High School is encouraging its youth towards programming and developing robots and preparing them to meet future challenges and excel in technology. Being a part of the Robotics team, I am pleased to see our prime movers thriving towards future exigency with curiosity and learning about new inventions and innovations.
Robotics is a versatile topic. It is a development of artificial intelligence. It is now the second year since Badri High School has started Robotics in collaboration with Robotics Lab to enhance students’ cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills.
Now we are reaping the fruits of the efforts of the last two years and the time has arrived where our young champs are showcasing their skills on a bigger platform, after performing extraordinarily well at the ROBO League in their own school as well as an interschool platform like EDVON Robotics League at NED Univeristy.
Five of our class 8 students: Abbas Fakhruddin, Mustafa Zakir, Hatim Yousuf, Arefa Amir and Insiya Mustansir—were selected to take part in the HERO BOTS competition on 10th February organized by Saifiyah Boys High School at Al Jamea Tus Saifiyah Auditorium. This reflected how BHS always offers equal opportunities to the girls as well as the boys and together as a team they worked to bring out the best in themselves.
It took the team weeks to practice and prepare themselves for speedy building and accurate programming of the GEN BOT. They sacrificed weekends to go to Robotics Lab and learn the nuances of programming. It was to be a challenging task as they would be required to manifest alert skills, quality of work, team effort and that too without knowing their final competition task.
As soon as the task was revealed on the big day, five of our champs started racking their minds to construct the robot. The first half of the competition was challenging for them and they secured 2nd position in constructing the robot.
But armed with determination they geared themselves and didn’t look back. They focused on programming the robot and completing their task. People were amazed to see our young engineers working. At the end of the three-hour contest they secured three awards:

Think Smart Award
Best Team Collaboration Award
Fastest Programming Award

This was a true culmination of efforts and motivated the Badri High School Robotics Department to continue to encouraging STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Math) Education to help students realize their potential and arm themselves with the knowledge to take on the fast approaching future.