This story is from September 5, 2014

Pune schools go the extra mile to listen to Modi's address today

Thursday was extra busy for Teresa David, principal of Lakshmanrao Apte Prashala.
Pune schools go the extra mile to listen to Modi's address today
PUNE: Thursday was extra busy for Teresa David, principal of Lakshmanrao Apte Prashala. She sat in the assembly hall of the school overseeing teachers setting up the computer system that will live stream Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address on Friday.
Every once in a while, a couple of students or a teacher approached her with a query about the preparations for Teachers' Day which is being observed as per the school's tradition.
But there is something distinctly different in the air, this year.
"This is an interesting initiative by the Prime Minister. There is a lot of curiosity about what he is going to speak. This broadcast has already had a lot of publicity around it, so there is a lot of anticipation about it," David said.
While special cables were arranged to ensure that the live stream is not interrupted, the school has also made provisions of broadcasting the event on radio as a backup if there is a technical glitch.
This enthusiasm over the upcoming event could be seen in several schools of the city ? some of them rescheduling their timings to ensure that the students caught the broadcast.
"We have made arrangements so that the whole school can watch the address on Teachers' Day live. Just for today, the timing has been changed from 12.30pm to 5pm. We have installed two LCD screens and two television screens in the hall and screens have even been put up across the school such as the corridors. Everyone will be assembling for our Teachers' Day programme at 2.30pm which will be followed by the Prime Minister's address," said Leena Chaudhari, principal, Symbiosis School, Prabhat Road.

"We are very happy with the idea that the Prime Minister is reaching out to children. Our Teachers' Day function will wrap up by 2.30pm, and we have issued an appropriate notice. Everyone will be watching the telecast at home," said Madhavi Kapur, founding trustee of the Aman Setu school.
At Hutchings High School all functions related to the celebrations will be wrapped up early. "Though it is not mandatory, we have planned to wind up our Teachers' Day programme by 2.30pm and everyone -- including the students and the staff are expected to go home and watch it live on television," said principal Rita Katawati.
Schools that do not have the infrastructure to show the telecast have made alternative arrangements. "We do not have the facility of a television, but will definitely use the radio and broadcast the live address on our public address system," said Anjali Khaniwale, principal of the Muktangan English School and Junior College.
Other schools that cannot accommodate all their students in a single hall have decided to record the telecast that will be shown to the children later.
"We have made arrangements in our digital room and our auditorium and the senior students from standard VIII to X will watch the address live, while the rest of the students will see the recording of the same later in batches," said Manju Bhosle, principal of the Kline Memorial School.
Other schools that had already planned other events for the day will also record the telecast and organize a separate viewing later. Jnana Prabodhini Navnagar Vidyalaya in Nigdi had planned that the Ganapati visarjan will be held on Friday. So the authorities decided to show the telecast later.
"Teachers' Day is a holiday in our school and an outing had been planned for all our teachers. We are excited about the Prime Minister's address and will be watching it at the resort. For the students, we have arranged a Youtube viewing session later," said Jayshree Venkatraman, principal of SNBP School.
Similarly, Teachers' Day is observed as a holiday for the students of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, but the recorded telecast will be shown to students later.
"It is a holiday for the students, but the teachers will be there and we will watch the live address together. We have asked the students of both our schools to watch it at home. Arrangements will be made for them to watch the same in our LAN rooms tomorrow or day after," said Nandakumar Kakirde, director of the school.
Arrangements made in PMC schools
Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has made arrangements for showing telecast of the Prime Ministers' speech to nearly one lakh students. Students from over 300 municipal schools located in different parts of the city will listen to the speech.
"We have got instructions from higher authorities regarding the programme. Those instructions have been followed and arrangements to show telecast of the speech have been made," said a senior official of PMC school board.
He said TV sets could not be arranged in some schools, so radio sets will be used. Some schools have grounds, where the arrangements for projectors have been made. All the students from the schools will be able to watch and listen to the speech. Some schools have small halls, where the students will gather for this event.
"Some schools have a holiday. Instructions were given to principals and teachers to inform students about the programme. A majority of the students will be able to attend it," said the official.
The PMC school board runs 226 Marathi medium, 48 English medium, 34 Urdu medium and two Kannada medium schools.
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