Agenda 2013

In Pursuit of Sustainable Business through Corporate Social Responsibility

One of the burning issues of the world today is the formulation of global strategies to combat critical environmental issues and emphasize the role of the corporate world in fulfilling its social responsibilities. ‘Agenda 2013’, an international inter school competition organized by DPS Sharjah, held on 8th December 2013 at Sharjah Chamber of Commerce, in which nineteen schools and colleges participated, was designed to invoke the spirit of enquiry and reasoning among the students, to identify and resolve these issues from their own perspectives.

The program was inaugurated by lighting the auspicious lamp by our Chief Guest, Mr. Ashok Chandra, Chairman of DPS Society. He emphasized that in an era of rapid globalization, sustainability has emerged as a major challenge for societies and businesses alike, one requiring solutions from experts in business and environmental management, as well as in ethics and social responsibility.

A scintillating dance number was performed on stage by our richly talented Dipsites. The thematic core of the dance depicted love and worship of Mother Earth.

H.E. Manabile Shogole, Consul General, Consulate General of South Africa and Dr. Tiju Thomas, Consul (Economic & Education), Consulate General of India graced the event as Guests of Honour.

Our inimitable Principal Mrs Vandana Marwaha underlined the fact that Education for sustainable development consequently promotes competencies like critical thinking, imagining future scenarios and making decisions in a collaborative way.

Speaking on this occasion Mr. Dinesh Kothari, Pro Vice Chairman DPS Jodhpur, DPS Sharjah, DPS Dubai, and DPS Academy, highlighted the importance of this event to spread the awareness of sustainable development among the educational institutions. He stressed to address the root cause of all pollutions - the emotional pollution.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Hussain Al Mahmoudi, Chairman, Sharjah Chamber of Commerce emphasized that we all are part of the same Ecosystem and it is during these challenging times interactions among different groups of people are necessary.

The highlight of the event was 'Opinions' – a rendezvous of experts in the world of environment and business who initiated and guided a discussion on the topic “Environment protection is an issue that is over rated and business houses should focus on scarcity of food and poverty” and responded to students’ queries. Students representing each school had the privilege of participating in the interactive session with our eminent panellists Mr. Ashok Chandra, Chairman DPS Society;  Ms. Priyanka Kothari, Corporate Lawyer; Ms. Vineetha Mathew, CSR Training Specialist Dubai Chamber of Commerce; Mr. Sudhir Chavan, MD - IFFCO; Mr. Shahzaad Dalal, Chairman IL & FS Investment Advisors Dubai; Mr. Sanjay Manchanda, CEO Nakheel; Mr. Gopal Iyer, Executive Vice President, Head, Sales & Distribution Consumer Banking Group; Dr. Jacob C. A., Chief Financial Officer Bee'ah Sharjah.

Providing an electrifying atmosphere, enabling students to think beyond clichéd knowledge, was the 'Young Earth Summit' convention. 'Disaster Management' was the central theme of the summit. As a part of it, delegates of each team chose a country, researched on it and placed the country in the global context. The teams debated on finding solutions to global environmental crisis through environmental policy decisions and were judged on knowledge, reasoning, conduct, debating skills and team participation. The award for the best delegation was bagged by DPS Sharjah, representing India and Our Own English High School Sharjah Boys, representing UAE, was the runner-up. Devank Tyagi of DPS Sharjah was adjudged the Best Delegate. Best Proposed Resolution was by UAE represented by Our Own English High School Sharjah Boys.

Another event which served the same purpose was 'Landscapes' - a display of Country profiles depicting a particular country's stand on the topic given, prepared by the students in advance and submitted during registration. The winner was DPS Sushant Lok, representing Russia and DPS Sharjah, representing India, emerged as the runner-up.

They say 'humour moves mountains' and that precisely was the aim of 'Green Earth'. Under this event, teams randomly picked a topic from a selection of environmental issues and then were given a maximum of two hours to create a cartoon /caricature depicting their topic. These works of art were judged by a panel of eminent judges from the field of creative Arts. DPS Dubai and DPS Sharjah were judged as the winning team and runner-up respectively.

Students were also given a glimpse into the working of corporate world and were taught  Corporate Social Responsibility measures in the event 'ENvision - Enabling and enforcing viable business solutions for combating and controlling critical environmental issues. Each three member delegation prepared a presentation highlighting feasible business solutions to the environmental issue facing the given country and were later cross examined on the same. The winner was DPS Sushant Lok, representing Russia and DPS Sharjah, representing India, emerged as the runner-up. Best delegate was Sabeer Hameed, Delegate of Malaysia, represented by Our Own English School, Al Warqa.

An influx of young and vibrant students flowing with upbeat ideas brought a new sense of energy to the off stage event of 'Kaleidoscope'- an original documentary (video) on 'Disaster Management practices in the world today', also judged by experts in the field. The winning documentary was by DPS Sharjah and Our Own English High School Sharjah Boys emerged   as the runner-up.

All guests for the closing ceremony were welcomed by our Headmaster, Mr. Rajeev, followed by a Marhaba (welcome) song.

Chief Guest of closing ceremony, Mr. Essam Mahmoud, Sr. Director - Etisalat  appreciated the fact that today’s youth can see much further and children can see more clearly and more creatively.

The closing ceremony was also graced by Mr. Suvobrata Ghosh, CFO, Swiss Arabian Perfumes.

At 3:45pm, began the valedictory function. DPS Sushant Lok was adjudged the overall winner and lifted the rolling trophy.

The commendable efforts put in by the SST department led by Ms. Chumki Sengupta, Commerce department led by Ms. Meenakshi Mehta, event supervisor Ms. Sunita Sadhu and her team in organizing this unique event on environmental awareness were acknowledged and appreciated by all.

Agenda 2013 campaigned by Delhi Private School, Sharjah succeeded in enabling students to identify themselves with relevant environmental issues and created outstanding awareness on the gravity of the issue.