CHENNAI: A bunch of giggly kids of assorted ages, throwing punches into the air on a Monday morning, it almost seems like a still out of the Karate Kid movie. But, their school uniforms give them away. These unassuming youngsters were taking a pledge to dedicate their loyalty to their school’s service, at the investiture ceremony of the student council election in Harishree Vidhyalayam.At the school elections, which concluded on June 24, children from Classes 6 to 10 exercised their right to vote, participating in a democratic process that helped them identify their role models. Striking a different chord, the election promises made by the nominees for the prefects post were not about free periods, more PT classes and less homework. For them, the elections were not about populism; it was about adopting social causes and redefining their surrounding environment.“I proposed to screen movies that kids adore, like Kung Fu Panda and Karate Kid at the auditorium for a price so that we can collect the money and use it to support an orphanage,” says M Valliammai, a Class 10 student, who is the newly-elected head girl.Of course, hosting a Halloween party and promoting greenery in school were also some of the highlights of her election manifesto, she adds.If leadership means being approachable and encouraging team work, the newly elected head boy, P Preyaansh got it right. The youngster won over his supporters by urging them to reach out to him if they had any suggestions for the smooth-running of the student council.The election also saw the school doing away with outdated ballot paper-style voting and opting, in a first of sorts, for electronic voting machines (EVMs) instead. Computer science teachers, K Bhama and Jasmine, worked behind the scenes-creating the software to implement this new proposal in the school. Round one comprised nomination of prefects at the class level. This was followed-up by a week long election campaign by the nominated candidates through speeches and promotional posters. On election day, students from Classes to 6 to 10 cast their votes on four EVMs stationed in the school’s computer room based on a time schedule for each class,” says teacher N Sashikala.For the student council, the head prefects were chosen from Class 10, while the assistant head boy and assistant head girl were chosen from class 9. On the whole 42 prefects and 12 executive committee members were elected. The executive council also saw the addition of some new posts this year — additional culturals secretary, additional press coordinator and floor managers — to encourage student participation.At the investiture ceremony, the executive committee members and the prefect body were felicitated by the chief guest, Lt.G Suriyanarayanan, physics teacher of DAV Boys’ Higher Secondary School, who has served as an associate NCC officer for 26 years. The chief guest emphasised the need for the newly elected representatives to excel in academics, culturals and sports and act responsibly — to set an example for their supporter. The Principal Deivanai, in her address, congratulated the new council that was put through a ‘rigorous election process’ and persuaded them to serve the community by upholding the values of the school. The traditional diya ceremony, involving the outgoing council handing over the marked the handing over of responsibility to the newly elected representatives.
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