Green-Fest: Jamiyyatul Falah, Green View School-College hold annual sports day

Mangaluru, Jan 8: The centenary year of St. Agnes College got off to a grand start on January 3, 2020 with a day of commemoration that involved staff, students, alumni and benefactors. The college is all set to celebrate its centenary with the community of Mangaluru on January 10, 2020 from 9.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m with a daylong festival – Knowledge Factory. It will be held at the newly inaugurated air-conditioned auditorium with over 1000 attendees expected to be present. 

KNOWLEDGE FACTORY is the first of the five mega centenary programmes that St. Agnes College has envisaged.  The Promise Foundation and niiti Consulting – two organisations headquartered in the national capital under the mentorship of veteran journalist Madhavan Narayan are collaborating with the college to bring this event to Mangaluru for the first time.  A dozen icons will share the stage throughout the day and bring forth their thoughts and ideas enabling a culture of learning through fire-side chats and keynotes. 

The speakers include Lisa Ray, Indo-Canadian Actor and Author; Sunil Buch, Director, Live Nation; Dipannita Sharma, Actor and Supermodel; Kriti Tula, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Doodlage; Nandini Srikar, Singer and Composer; Prakash Belawadi, Movie and Theatre Actor,  Manasi Paresh Kumar, Senior Journalist; Swati Pande, Co-Founder and CEO, Arboreal; Anuradha Kedia Parekh, Co-Founder, The Better India; Arokiaswamy Velumani, Founder and Chairman, Thyrocare Technologies; Heena Sidhu, the former world  number 1 pistol shooter. The event anchor will be the celebrity news reader Rini Simon Khanna who has been anchoring the event since its first edition in 2017.

Gaurava Yadav, a well-known quiz master will conduct a quiz focussed on History.  Based on a written prelims that will take place at 8.15 am in the designated room, four teams of two members each will compete in the finals at 4.45 pm. The winning team will receive a prize of INR 30,000 and the runner up team will receive INR.20,000/-    

The event is put together by social entrepreneurs - Meena Vadiyanathan and Amith Prabhu (who is of Mangalorean origin). All who desire to attend the event and participate in the quiz may buy donor passes costing Rs 500/- per head which includes lunch.  Sale of donor passes will close on the 8th. The college cordially invites the community of Mangaluru to join hands with it in making this programme a great success. 

Udupi, Jun 1: As many as 73 people have been tested positive for coronavirus in Udupi district today.

The district has registered a total of 260 positive cases so far. Majority of the positive cases in Udupi district have inter-state travel history to Maharashtra.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 12: At least 66 children have ended their lives in Kerala since the Covid-19 lockdown began on March 25 with youngsters facing stress unable to bear the unprecedented situation where schools are shut and friends are out of reach to share their woes.

According to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, there has been an increasing instance of suicidal tendencies among children in the state due to various reasons, including parents scolding them over mobile phone use and failure to attend online classes.

This has prompted the government to launch a teleconsultation facility for children facing stress and also cautioning parents against hurting their sentiments while being concerned about welfare of their wards. It has also ordered a study into the issue. "Among the children an increasing instance of suicidal tendency is being witnessed which will become an extremely serious social issue.

Since March 25, when the national lockdown was imposed, 66 children, below 18 years of age, have ended their lives due to various reasons", Vijayan said. A mother scolding her child for not attending the ongoing online classes, or a parent questioning a child for downloading a sleazy video on the smartphone or the constant rift between the parents were among the reasons which triggered the suicidal tendency, he said on Saturday.

As the schools have not yet re-opened due to the lockdown, the children are unable to meet their friends and share their problems. Vijayan said though the parents were intervening keeping in mind their child's welfare, it was essential to ensure that the young minds were not hurt in the process. To helpthe children facing issues relating to mental pressures, 'Chiri'atele-counselling initiative has been started by the government under its Our Responsibility to Children Programme (ORC), a planned community intervention that connects with people between the age of 12-18 years. The state health department has also launched "Ottakalla Oppamundu" (You are not alone,we are with you) programmeto help children facing any kind of mental distress and to prevent the suicidal tendencies among them.

Health Minister K K Shailaja said under the psychosocial support assistance, her department has so far reached out to 68,814 children and 10,890 children have been given counselling. The changes in the behaviour of their children should be noted by the family members and if they find something amiss, the district psychosocial help desk should be informed, she said. A 15-member team of Students Police Cadets will be constituted in each of the 14 districts to help the children needing any assistance,police sources said. Education should not be a competition, but a means to gain knowledge, Vijayan said.

A society's future lies with the children and it is the duty of the society and the government to ensure their physical and mental well being. Taking a serious view of the situation, the state government has constituteda committee headed byFire and Rescue Services DGP R Sreelekha to conduct a study on child suicides in the state. The aim of the ORC was also to create a multi collaborative platform for government and professional agencies, parents and teachers to equip youth with appropriate know-how to face challenges, officials said.