The “Kids’ Corner” section of our school newsletter provides the opportunity for the children to showcase their talents or communicate something special.

This fortnight, I have the pleasure of sharing our School Captain’s speeches they presented at our recent International Women’s Day morning tea.

International Women’s Day

Vivaan:

Today let’s start on why we celebrate International Women’s Day. It’s a day where all of us are celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. We even celebrate the day to also try and improve women’s equality. In different cultures they respect the importance of women in different ways for example in my culture we celebrate Rakshabandhan. Where a sister or cousin sister ties a string around the brother or cousin brother’s wrist. The string represents the respect between both brother and sister. This creates a bond between both of them, hence because of the understanding of that respect, the community will start respecting the women around them. In a similar way your cultures might respect women differently…

… but how did they start celebrating international women’s day in the first place?

In 1910 a woman named Clara Zetkin the leader of the Social Democratic Party in Germany put a proposal of international women’s day at the international conference to improve women equality. The proposal got support of 100 women representing 17 different countries. Soon the first International Women’s Day was held on the 19th March. Protests and meetings were held across Europe for women’s equality. They even had the largest street demonstration which was supported by 30,000 women. Soon in 1913 the date was moved to the 8th March.

The colours of international woman’s day are white, green and purple. This the colour purple was chosen to symbolise justice, dignity and loyalty.

White means purity and Green means hope.

This is how we have celebrating International Women’s Day throughout the years.

Now I will be handing it over to Amellia.

Amellia:

Today we are celebrating International Women's Day, a day dedicated to honoring the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women all around the world.

First of I want all of us to take few moments to reflect on the significant role women played in shaping our world, that’s including bringing us to this world .If there wasn’t any women none of us will be standing here today.

Women have contributed in many ways, from being astronauts, scientists, athletes, artists, politicians, and even as leaders in their communities.

It is important to recognize and appreciate the hard work and sacrifices that women have made throughout history to make our world a better place for everyone. We owe a great deal to the women who came before us and made the way for our success.

On this day, let us remember the powerful women who have changed the course of history, like Malala Yousafzai, who stood up for the right of girls to receive an education, and Rosa Parks, who fought for civil rights by refusing to give up her seat on a bus.

Not only that there’re many scientists including Mari curie who sacrifice there whole life finding cures to life threatening diseases for us to have long and healthy life.

Let us also celebrate the women in our own lives, like our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and teachers. These women are an essential part of our lives, and we should be grateful for everything they do for us.

As well as all the positive changes our world has gone through we still have more to improve on including solving discrimination, inequality, and violence. It is up to all of us to create a world that is continuously thriving and changing for the better

So, let us celebrate women today and every day. Let us honour their achievements, remember their struggles, and work towards a world where all women have the opportunity to thrive and succeed.

Now I will hand it over to Ranveer who will talk about women in our school community

Ranveer:

Women have assisted many communities around the world, similarly they have also assisted Glen Waverley Primary School.

GWPS always encourages gender equality as we have females and have females in leadership roles. We provide equal opportunities to everyone in Captain positions where there are always equal amount of both genders. We have numerous female assistant principles and teachers who encourage, inspire and teach many students. As we see everywhere that women are equally as productive as men. All female staff and students equally contribute and have an equal chance to speak towards the school.

Here we are taught to respect and appreciate everyone equally. We have seen that gender equality is very important as both genders bring their perspectives and ideas during learning and discussions.

The role of primary school teachers is essential as the values we learn in the early years of our lives stay with us forever, thus at GWPS the mixture of male and female teachers provides a great learning environment for the students.

Now I would like to introduce Deepa Damle who is the mother of Arush and Anoushka who are alumni of our school and are currently in secondary school. Deepa has been kind enough to join us and she will talk about her life and journey thus far. Please join me in welcoming Deepa.

Dilu:

Deepa, thank you so much for taking the time to be here and sharing your journey on International Women’s Day. We were all moved by the speech you presented to us. I would love to acknowledge all the hard work and dedication you had put into working for this day. I really connect with what you had said. I appreciate how you always were so resilient and persistent. As someone pretty young myself, I think this really would motivate me into the future and remind me of how all of us are special in our own ways, and how we all have our own stories, journeys and experiences that are unique towards us.

SUMMARY/UNDERSTANDING

We loved hearing about your journey through International Women’s Day. We found out how about how you grew up in Dubai, and how you found geography extremely interesting. You were in a community with 4 other men, and you couldn’t hug, or make eye contact, or couldn’t just stroll into a meeting and you had to dress carefully. But that didn’t stop you Deepa, you persisted, and you should be proud, because we are all very proud and happy for you. You’ve had an amazing journey

On behalf of the school, I would like to give you a huge thank you. You are a truly wonderful person, and we all value that. We have bought some gifts for you. Hopefully you like them!

Once again Deepa, thank you for everything.

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