Principal’s Round Table of 2016 - Posted by Urmila Samson on Feb 6, 2017
The last Principal’s Round Table of 2016 was an event to remember! It was attended by over one hundred educators including many Principals and Heads, representing schools and institutions across Pune and even a Principal and teacher who came all the way from Mumbai, inspired by Nipun’s talk there.
The evening was opened by Mrs. Malati Kalmadi who, on behalf of Kannada Sangha, warmly welcomed Nipun and everyone who was in attendance.
Mrs. Vijayam Kartha introduced the speaker in glowing terms and showed a short slide presentation explaining about Poorna Pune and Education Today Society Tomorrow. She also informed us of the change of name from Principal’s Round Table to Education Leaders Movement.
I had never believed that Compassion could be Cultivated, but Nipun, through his slides and stories and Compassion Quotient, proved me completely wrong!
There are so many beautiful stories on the many websites, I invite you to spend some time browsing through them for ideas and inspiration. There is also the 21 day challenge that we can all do individually and with our friends, families and in our classrooms: Kind Spring: Challenge.
Very important learnings:
Kindness and compassion are innate, inborn. We just have to make space for it to blossom and grow. This can happen if we move from a factory model of schooling to a gardening model of planting seeds, nurturing the soil, providing care and patiently growing our beautiful gardens.
There are many tools through which we can sensitize and awaken our own Compassion Quotient.
- Kindness has a ripple effect that touches others exponentially.
- Compassion is a muscle that needs to and can be developed.
- Generosity opens the heart and breaks barriers between people.
- To be able to give, you have to learn to receive.
There was a half hour of Q and A during which several school Principals and Teachers as well as Heads of various initiatives shared their experiments in spreading kindness. It was inspiring to hear stories of our own friends in Pune who have already been doing so much towards Cultivating Compassion!
Arun closed the evening with a heartfelt thank you to Nipun, all the people who had worked to organize the evening, and all the over one hundred people who attended. Urmila presented Nipun with a token of our gratitude, and we all went home determined to Be the Change!
Please watch for the invitation to the: Kind Spring: Challenge
Sheetal had this great idea that we all start together on the 14th of February.
Please also collect the Smile Decks especially ordered by Arun for all of you who participated that day. Or let me know how to send it to your school.
