Nurturing the girl child

It has been my steadfast belief that when you educate a girl child, you educate not just an individual, but through her, an entire family, society and the world at large. With this heartfelt vision in mind, Amitasha Foundation For the Upliftment of Underprivileged Children was founded in April 2000 and it has worked tirelessly in its mission to empower the underprivileged girl child, by providing them with free education. Through love and support, Amitasha is training over 1000 girls every year, for a better future through holistic development, quality education, personality enhancement, and healthcare facilities. At Amitasha, students are provided with free books, uniforms, meals and regular health check-ups. They get equal opportunities to participate in science symposiums, cultural programmes, craft exhibitions and international competitions. The educators at Amitasha are given regular training in new-age pedagogy. In fact, a special programme developed for Amitasha teachers received the ‘People’s Choice Award for Best Video’ at Edu Innovators Programme, Philadelphia, USA. My heart fills with pride and happiness when I see that many of these girls have done exceptionally well in CBSE board exams, and some have even received full scholarships for higher studies at Amity University, Noida.
It’s Time To Say Hip, Hip, Hurray!
Team Urja, an all-girls team comprising Sanjana Chauhan of AIS Noida, Samara Chauhan and Samaya Chauhan of AIS Pushp Vihar, has bagged the Best Project Management Award at F1 in Schools World Championship held in Singapore. The event saw participation by 68 countries. More power to girls!

Gamifying life

What If Your Real Life Was Actually A Simulation?

Anoushka Tyagi, AIS Gurugram 43, Alumna

The joys of facing challenges and accomplishing missions in our favourite video games makes us look at them in awe and wonder. With a very exciting life-like simulation, the hands hover over the remote control, wondering what it would be like if your own life was a part of a video game.
You surely would be in a sim close to our real world, dressing up as a student and the first mission would definitely be going to school and completing the given homework to earn points needed to progress to advanced levels. The deeply engaging, visually dynamic, rapidly paced, and high-quality pictorial experience is bound to blow your mind, giving you the full audio-sensory experience, but that is only until you run into a teacher on the way and lose points for the mischief you created along the way. But worry not! You aren’t dead yet; you just need to carry forward and gain more dopamine coins, a feel-good chemical that will increase your productivity.
The character you play also comes with their own strengths and weaknesses, making some tasks a piece of cake, and some a Sisyphusian boulder to be pushed up the hill. But as you embark on your journey to become the ultimate successful student, you will have to face challenges that you must shoot down utilising items from your cognitive toolkit consisting of patience, perseverance, diligence, and maybe some extra elements you picked on the way. Ranging from visuospatial sketchpad to understand the executive functions required whilst making critical choices throughout the date and strategising targets, all must be done. But oh oh! Did you forget about the little thing ticking in the corner? You must keep your eyes on the hourglass because time is a treasured commodity in any game. If you fail to meet the deadlines, punishments will be handed out, so make sure to fight the multiple appearances of the villain of the game - Procrastination.
It is only through practice that you can be steered in the right direction of the final castle, but don’t be disheartened! Trust the journey, because it will equip you with the right combat advancements needed to nail the difficult trials. Trust your strengths, overcome your weaknesses, and with just the right strategy, you will win this game of life!
(Anoushka is currently pursuing BA(Hons) Political Science from Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi. )

Way forward

I recently read an article which mentioned that companies no longer want to invest too much in training new recruits. They prefer, instead, to hire someone with some basic understanding of the industry. This news also made me marvel at the vision of our Chairperson ma’am who had anticipated this trend much before the industry began talking about it. Amity has, for the longest time, been providing Amitians with various platforms which equip them with the right skills to handle the professional world. Whether it is the MUNs which foster diplomatic skills or science and innovation competitions aimed at developing the spirit of enquiry, Amitians are made world-ready from the very beginning. The success of our students at international competitions like Wharton Global Youth Program, International Space Design Settlement and many more reflect the meticulous training they are provided at initial stage. The most recent example is of an all-girls team from AIS PV winning the prize for Best Project Management at F1 in school competition. Even your favourite newspaper, The Global Times, is one such initiative of Chairperson ma’am. GT not only provides an insight into making a newspaper, but also inculcates communication skills and creativity. Every activity at Amity is driven towards inculcating qualities like critical thinking, problem solving, organisational and leadership skills. No wonder, Amity has always been in the forefront of nurturing industry-ready children, set to be the nation builders of tomorrow.

Evolving media
Continued from page 3

The impact of technology
Well, ChatGPT and Bard won’t replace credible journalists. Technology can assist in generating content, but distinguishing credible information from noise is crucial. Journalists manually sift through data, determining what’s authentic. While technology does detect fake visuals and articles, it can’t discern underlying motives and ideologies, which is where human journalists play a vital role in preventing agenda-driven content and propaganda.

The key learning
PTI differs notably from other media outlets. Despite industry challenges and political pressures, PTI maintains its credibility as India’s most trusted news organisation. The stories I read in The Global Times have the same commitment to detail. Throughout my journey, my excitement for storytelling and dedication to result-oriented reporting have remained unaltered. What has evolved, are the tools and quick-fix approaches in journalism. The proliferation of fake news has presented the need for rigorous fact-checking, adding a layer of responsibility. This change hasn’t altered me personally, but it calls for meticulous verification.

The future of media
While some say print media will become obsolete, they won’t disappear. We’ve shifted to e-papers, but printed versions will find readers. The future lies in multimedia journalism, where stories are complemented by videos, podcasts, and images. Everything will integrate into a multimedia approach, offering diverse ways to consume news and information.