Principals of Anglo-Indian schools stage play, call for hope and peace to prevail
Times of India | 7 September 2024
Kolkata: Principals of Anglo-Indian schools enacted a skit on the occasion of Teachers’ Day, with a call for hope and against adversity.
Teachers’ Day was celebrated at St James’ School on Friday, where heads of Anglo-Indian Schools of India (AHISI)-WB presented a play reading of Neil Simon’s ‘God’s Favourite’. The well-known play highlighted the message to keep faith and hope for the best, instead of being disappointed.
The play revolves around the story of a successful businessman, Joe Benjamin, who led a wonderful life with his three kids, wife and two servants. However, a number of challenges changed his life. But, he did not give up hope and got back everything that he had lost. At the end, the principals said this was the hope that encouraged them every day to build up the future generation.
Welland Gouldsmith Schools CEO, G R Heart, played an important character in the drama. “We started planning for it quite early when the situation was not there at all. We didn’t do it really with an idea of giving any message or anything. However, the message was clear over there that the messages of love, hope and faith are applicable to any time and any situation. We wanted to spread a positive message among the teachers and students as well,” he said.
“We started planning in Dec when everything was different. We wanted to instil values of faith,” he added. Several principals from different schools in the city were in the audience and stated that the one-and-a-half-hour drama seemed like a breath of fresh air and generated huge positivity.
“We need to have hope because hopelessness and creating chaos are not the ways to reach the goal. So, as teachers, we have to keep on trying to teach them (students) to be patient and handle situations calmly,” one of the principals said.