Salalah: The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award unit of Indian School Salalah conducted an infotaining practice camp in the school campus including a grand adventurous journey to the mountains of Salalah from December 7, 2017 to December 9, 2017.
The camp began at 4:00 pm on December 7, with an introductory session by the Award Leader, Mr. Unnikrishnan, followed by a presentation by Mr. Ganesh.
A Martial Arts session by Physical Education teacher Mr. Rohit was the major highlight of the day. Students learnt self-defence and important martial strategies.
Presentations by 11th grade Gold awardees and in-house entertainment also added colour to the day, helping students to showcase their talents.
The second day began early at 7:00 am with an intensive physical recreation program followed by breakfast and online record book registration. The art, craft and origami session by Mrs. Rajasree was also well received by students.
Post lunch, the students embarked on the cornerstone of the camp, an exhilarating adventurous trekking to the mountains and valleys of Wadi Darbat in Salalah. Children were divided into groups and they used maps and compasses to navigate themselves through the 6km hike wherein they had to climb mountains, cross woodlands and were even required to wade through the Darbat creek to finish the trek. They also made tents to take rest.
Hiking helped the children to develop team building and observation skills. The hike was led by the award leaders as well as the gold awardees. Students thoroughly enjoyed the trek through the beautiful woodlands. The second day came to an end with a sumptuous dinner followed by an enthusiastic campfire where along with the students even the teachers joined in with songs and entertainment.
On the last day, December 9, 2017, the team once again reported on the school playground at 7:00 am for the regular physical recreation program.
Soon after, the students assembled in the auditorium for a presentation by the 12th grade gold awardees: Amrutha Chandran, Fathima Ifrath, Hridith Sudev, Kavin Anup, Mithra P. Shaji and Ramya Ramakrishnan. A really beautiful musical session on wind instruments by the school music teacher, Mr.Ramachandran was also held before the grand Award Ceremony where bronze, silver and gold awardees were felicitated.
The Award Ceremony was presided over by the President of the School Management Committee (SMC), Dr. Debashish C. Bhattacharya. He highlighted the importance of the Duke of Edinburgh's award and how the Gold award of Duke is a rich credential to climb up the ladders. He also asked the bronze awardees not to stop with bronze but go for silver and gold.
Dr. Debashish, Convenor of SMC Dr. Syed Ahsan Jamil, Co-Convenor Dr. KA Nishthar, Principal Mr. T.R. Brown, Vice Principal Mrs. Omana Mathews and Assistant Vice Principal Academics Mr. C.T. Ramasamy presented the awards. Parents of Gold Awardees who completed the Award scheme for the previous academic year were also present as special invitees.
On the whole, the camp was a highly educative and entertaining one for the students.President and members of the School Management Committee and the Principal appreciated the students and their teachers for the successful completion of the Duke Practice Camp. All the students found it an enjoyable experience.