Honouring Chief Guest Ambassador Saidullah Khan Dehlavi. Chairman Managing Committee Major General Kaizad Maneck Soparivala, Members of the Managing Committee, Parents, staff members, students and guests

 GOOD EVENING!

 This Prize Distribution 2008-2009 has seen this prestigious Institution completing 150 years of excellence not only in the field of academics but sports co-curricular activities and competitions. This school holds the distinction of being one of the oldest and eminent institutions for young boys in Karachi and we all are proud and honoured to be associated with BVS Parsi High School.

Ladies and gentlemen, we do not blow our own trumpet as “Action speak louder than words.” The matric result 2009 of the Board of Secondary Education Karachi proves without doubt, yet again, the dedication of the staff at BVS and the sincere commitment of the Managing Committee in providing the best of the best for our boys. We are proud to announce that Farhan Hasan Siddiqui of Commerce Section secured 1^st class second position overall in the final Board of Secondary Education Karachi examination and 1^st class 1^st class position among boys securing a total of 87.8%. 05 boys have been placed on the merit list by the board in the Commerce Section. Out of 26 boys 9 secured A+ grades, 14 A grades and 03 B grades.

The result of the Science Group has also been exceptional. 74 boys sat for the Science  medical and Technical Section for the Board of Secondary Education Karachi Examination. 67 secured A+ grades and 7 secured A grades. 6 boys have been placed on the merit list. On behalf of the Managing Committee, all the staff members and myself, we congratulate the graduating class. Well done ! gentlemen. Well done Farhan Hasan Siddiqui. You have upheld the tradition of the school , brought laurels to your alma mater, made us proud, your parents and loved ones. To the class of 2009, as the umbilical cord that joined all of you with the school is cut off today- you are free. No more spot on cleanliness check-ups, no more looming scissors to chops off the locks and the fancy cocks comb hairdos, no more suspensions and warning letters - but then the world outside is violent, hungry and restless. These walls have held off this violence long enough with the aid of concerned, conscientious, caring teachers who nurtured you and gave you the strength of patience and value of kindness to make you what you are today. Gentlemen! Step out into the world with your heads held high, go forth in the world as representatives of your country, OWN Pakistan. We hope that we have equipped you well to face up to the challenges that will come your way with patience and kindness. Our prayers and wishes are with you.

I have diverted this year from the usual norm of chronologically mentioning each and every event of the year. This we send out in detail twice a year in the Newsletter to each and every parent and it can be read on our website also by anyone who is interested in the school. Instead I would like to highlight some events and milestones in our growth. As Rudyard Kipling said “Words are, ofcourse, the most powerful drug used by mankind” so if at some stage you, my dear audience, is tempted to doze off, then, I shall understand.

The most striking aspect of the academic year 2008-2009 has been a phenomenal growth of the school, According to biology text books, growth is defined as an increase not only in size but also in complexity. In the last four years we have increased our intake and have accommodated the expansions, physically, as can be seen by the parents and visitors who come to the school and appreciate this expansion.

The past year, the school completed phase II of the physical expansion where the Cambridge block has come up as you can see on your left hand side. Six classrooms, two staffrooms, a head of the department office one conference room and two new spacious washroom each equipped with 8 cubicle, 8 urinals and 5 washbasin each, one for the primary and one for the secondary.

The three old science labs have been renovated this summer and are now state of the art labs as per the specification sent by the GCE and the requirement of the AK-EB, both of which had sent their teams for inspection.

Our two libraries have been boosted up with new books, periodicals, magazines, subscriptions and we thank all those who constantly send us donations in kind and money. Special thanks to Kandawala Trust for their interest in the libraries.

We are now looking at finishing our construction schedule in the next two years with, three science labs, one computer lab and two more classrooms for the Cambridge section, one audio-visual room, a small workshop and a multipurpose auditorium for general use.

My sincere gratitude to the Managing Committee for their guidance and support.

The school management has for sometime felt the need, just as other good schools have, of a testing system that lays stress on the child’s thinking prowess and not just the retention power. A system that is fair to the child, a system that moves with the time, a system that changes and adopts.

Keeping this great need in mind the BVS Parsi High School has opted for the AK-EB Examination and the GCE offered by the University of Cambridge to give our boys a fighting chance in this world.

To do this, has brought us to look into our syllabi, our teacher training, our facilities and our resources and thus get into the complexity of growth.

New Syllabi have been brought for English, Maths, General Science, Pure Sciences, Islamiat, Urdu and Social Studies. Revamping of  teaching methodology, setting of tests, quizzes, exam papers, using different techniques to make learning a joyful experience, have been the few challenges faced by us. I am proud to say that my team of Heads, coordinators, trainee coordinators and all the staff members have risen to the occasion.

For this the school’s management has incurred a lot of cost. Senior Primary Teacher Mrs. Parveen Pohwala was sent to a six month course LEADING THE WAY  at the TRC to equip her with skills about teaching and learning in the early childhood years, and in turn to be an effective educational head. 30 other teachers throughout the year have gone to IED, TRC, TDC, SAP, MAP, SPELT for courses and the school has invited OXFORD University Press for in house workshops on English Language, Literature and Social Studies, Book Group for the Urdu Syllabus and Mrs. Shirin Karimjee, a Librarian who has recently come back to Pakistan from USA, to conduct a workshop for our Librarians.

These training courses have now given our teachers to be course instructors and workshop leaders themselves. Four of our teachers Mrs. Ambreen Asif, Mrs Maya Krishanlal, Ms. Ambreen Fatima and Mrs. Soofia Sultana are course designer, paper setters and evaluators for AK-EB.  And as recently as Friday we have been requested by the AK-EB to nominate 2 teachers for Maths and 2 for Pakistan Studies.

I would like to state that our teachers also started attending certain competition and Mrs. Diana Randeria, our senior headmistress brought in the 3^rd prize at the Teacher’s Quiz at ISEO in January this year. We are thankful to AK-EB for reposing this confidence is us and our staff.

 The strength that the Maths Department has projected under the able guidance of Mrs. Diana Randeria for the Matric Section and Mr. Ghulam Raza for the  Cambridge Section has made us sure that we are on the right track. The Park Turk International School and College held is first National Interschool Mathematics Olympiad in March 09 for classes 5 to 8, 270 school from all over Karachi participated. 43 students from BVS took part and our school came home with 7 prizes out of 20 given out.

Faaiz Taufique of grade 8 cambridge bagged in the 1^st position and prize amount of Rs. 10,000, Mustafa Saleem grade 8 Cambridge got 6^th , Muhammad Shahmeer grade 8 Cambridge got 9^th ,  Syed Asad Ali of grade 8 Cambridge got 12^th ,   Baber Zuberi of grade 8^th Cambridge 15^th , Ramis Imran grade 8^th Cambridge 19^th ,Muhammad Samiullah 5 B Matric 20^th

Other departments have not lagged behind and done their bit settling into new and challenging ways and bringing about confidence in the students. Throughout the year the Urdu and Islamiat Department under the guidance of Ms. Naseha Zaib brought home trophies and prizes in Urdu speeches and debate. Note worthy here are Sabih Ahmed who came 1^st in ISEO in Urdu Elocution Syed Intesar Hussain who also bought in 1^st prize in a speech competition organized by Aga Khan School and Shahood-ur-Rehman getting the 1^st prize in Urdu Essay competition organized by the Board of Secondary Education.

Elocution contests featured throughout the school has been a method of building confidence for public speaking and therefore reinforces the value of the spoken word.

With Mrs. Mehernaz’s guidance little Aresh Gamwalla of class V brought in the 1^st prize in the International English Speech Competition organized by Ghulam-an-e-Abbas School, a team of students brought prizes at the  Distinct level at the Spelling Bee Competition and two of our students Baber Zubairi and Ayaz Arshad reached the semi-finals of the Mind Grind Competition National Quiz and the school’s team have won at the Scrabble and Chess competition organized by the Pakistan’s Scrabble Association

General Science Department under Ms. Shakra and Pure Sciences under Mr. Maktoob have this year done teacher training and teachers have been tutored for effective use of the labs and resources.

The Art Department under Mrs. Soofia Sultana had worked tremendously hard as was apparent by the spectacular Art  Exhibition put up in May 2009

A well balanced curriculum is one that not only stresses on quality academics but gives the opportunity and exposure to real life via a multitude of real life experiences.

This means that the school concentrate also on games, sports, social work, community services, appreciation of fine arts, special care towards conservation and preservation of natural resources and tolerance and compassion.

The importance of social and welfare work is inculcated at a very young age in our boys. Giving back to the society, most important one’s time and energy, is imperative and to look beyond their privileged circumstances. Under the guidance of Mrs. Parveen Pohwala, the students have taken an activism  initiative and have become the members of the National Student’s Council a part of Right On Network of Human Rights Education Programme. From attending a Right on conference at the Pakistan Institution of International Affairs to getting the Prime Minister of Pakistan to rectify the UN Commission for “the Rights of persons with disabilities” so that Pakistan becomes legally bound to implement facilities and laws for people with disabilities. Four students prepared an Activism Project  ARE WE PREPARED FOR EMERGENCIES. The multimedia presentation prepared by the students of BVS was considered the best by the Health and Safety Management Consultant present there as the Chief Guest.

From Chicky Drive in Ramazan where the BVS students donate food, clothes, toys, books and gifts for children of less fortunate back grounds to collecting money for the SIUT- Civil Hospital poor patient’s welfare organization, the WWF, to the Dawn Relief for the internally displaced people of Swat and the Blind Centre, the students have learned to give rather than receive.

13 Senior students enrolled in the Duke of Edinburgh’s programme under the supervision of Mrs. Zainab Mohammedi and all 13 have earned bronze medals after completing various tasks including social services so that self dependency and self confidence is increased in the students.

Seven students were sent off to Lahore with Mr. Muhammad Shahid to attend the LUMUN MODEL UNITED NATION CONFERENCE at LUMS, where they were made aware of local and international issues while inculcating leadership qualities in then. Kasim Patel of X B was awarded the Best Delegate Award in the UN Security Council Committee. Eight students attended the SZABIST Model United Nation Conference in Karachi

Physical fitness is taken very seriously and given a lot of importance at BVS and the school does all it can do and this year has been no exception. The school teams have not only proved themselves at the Inter-house tournament and games but have proved themselves worthy on the city circuit also. Specially in football and hockey with our junior football team bringing in 1^st position trophy in February this year organized by Diya football Club. The senior football team brought in 2^nd position trophy in May this year at the interschool football tournament held at SAPNA CLUB and the senior hockey team brought in the 3^rd position trophy at the Habib Public School’s Golden Jublee inter school hockey tournament.

At the prestigious Karachi United Football Tournament , our senior sports instructor Mr. Hamid Mustafa brought in his own laurels when he was given the “ Best Coach of the year” award.

For the Inter-house games, athletes, events and marathon the overall winner of 2008-2009 Fakhirjee Cowasjee House Champion Trophy was picked up by Soparivala House for the fourth consecutive year.    

I would like to mention here that the commitment of the BVS School towards the education of each and every student is taken seriously. For the last three years BVS has made sure that no child falls through the cracks for any reason whatsoever. I would like to thank the management of CARE and KZBM for supporting the school and providing us with dedicated remedial teachers who constantly work with students who are academically challenged. I Thank Mrs. Rubina Bilal of Care and Mrs. Zainab Hemani and Mrs. Shenaz Ferozpurwala who through KZBM have given their heart and soul and we have success stories to boast about. Infact one of our shield winner today is one such successful boy. Thank you Ladies!

Health-Care Department of the school has been working effectively for the last 3 ½ years in the school under the guidance of Dr. Ayesha Usman, Dr Farah and Dr. Kulsoom Fatima. Interesting have been the Health Awareness Sessions such as Health and fitness., Personal and Dental Hygiene, Hand Hygiene, Seminar on “Smoking Kills”, visits to SIUT, Adult Blind Centre and personal Health tutoring and distributing of handbills on important health themes. With the world becoming less and less healthy we constantly face new health problem especially among small children who have not yet developed their immune system.

Trips and projects are the key features of the student’s life at the BVS. We are positive that traveling and experiencing things first hand is a great learning adventure. Security generally is a continuing source of worry for us, both keeping the school premises safe and transporting large group of students from one place to another. We are thankful to parents who have constantly supported us by helping us with the security when we make trips outside the city or long distances. For the school, some security measures are apparent as most of you, who visit the school would have noticed, some are invisible and you would not have noticed. Please be patient with us if you are stopped at the gates and it is inconvenient for you because if security is not a little tiresome, then it is probably not effective. It appears that this is a sad feature of our city and with no end in view, one regretfully has to put much time and effort into avoiding the risk of being a casualty

Before I conclude my report I would like to take this opportunity to talk about the environment and climate change.

Talks began on September 27^th in Paris to work out a climate Treaty.  Nations held a two week talk in Bangkot from September 29^th - October 9^th  These events are penultimate sessions before the world community gears up for the Dec 7^th to 18^th meeting at Copenhagen where world leaders will discuss new goals to reduce greenhouse –gas emissions that fuel global warming. We do not have to wait for any proof ladies and gentlemen! tsunamis, earthquakes, bush fires, melting ice-caps, tornadoes and hurricanes are but frequent and by for too many.

The scary bit is that these heat-trapped  green house gases should peak just six years from now. Without drastic action,-  drought, floods and rising sea levels could grip the world by the end of the century, causing famine, homelessness and strife. It is easy to think that all the hard decisions are in the hands of our leaders alone. NOT TRUE. We have every day examples of people just like you and me, who prove that we all can make a difference. They believe that a crisis also presents opportunities.

The BVS School is creating these opportunities for the staff and students by becoming  member of WWF Pakistan - Wild life Conversation, Sindh, IUCN, CHILDREN’S MUSEUM FOR PEACE & HUMAN RIGHTS as we feel collective power creates more weight. We have made environment of our school a priority by maintaining these ancient trees you see around you, by growing more and more trees and plants, putting potted plants all over, recycling and reusing paper, cutting down more paper work and using the web and internet for communication, marking etc and reducing electricity consumption. This year the school in collaboration with TRC is going green and the science department is seriously looking in to the use of solar panels or wind power to generate electricity with the assistance of PCSIR as the students of the school are gearing up for a Science Competition.

The school gets the students interested in collecting environmental information  by encouraging them to bring articles on environmental issue and present and discuss in the classroom.  

 24^th of October world over is an important date. It is the INTERNATIONAL DAY OF CLIMATE ACTION (spearheaded by an organization called 350) and will be the most wide spread day of climate action in the planets’ history. In this regard the school in collaboration with CHILDREN’S MUSEUM FOR PEACE AND HUMAN RIGHTS is sending students and teachers to join a “WALK TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE”

We as individuals, have a responsibility and can make an impact by reducing our carbon footprints. Making environmentally conscious choices also save money in the long run, and that is something we all are interested in.

With this hope ladies and gentlemen, I end my reports.

 I take this opportunity to thank you, the members of the Managing Committee for your constant support, financial and other-wise and believing in the mission of the founder of the school- providing the best of education and not burdening the parents financially, I thank my staff teaching, administrative, domestic, and clerical for their support for bringing out the change- a change for the better towards the best in the school, and to my ever willing and helpful student body. I thank Ambassador Dehlavi for taking out time to be with us today. Sir, a warning, it is going to be a grueling process, starting now.

 Ladies and Gentlemen!

 I will now read out citations for no less than four people today who have served the school for over 25 years.

1.  Mr Valji Mithalal joined the school in December 1978 as a domestic staff member. After a few years away in India to solve some family problems, he came back to Pakistan and joined BVS again. He is a deligent and  hard worker. He makes sure that the ground is spick and span before I drive in at 7:00 a.m. Well mannered and the most senior staff member, he keeps an eye not only on the other members but guards the washrooms with a hawk’s eye. BVS thanks you, dear Valji for the clear grounds, washrooms and your hard work and dedication. Ladies and gentlemen Mr. Valji Mithalal.

 2. Ms. Nargis Rehman joined the school on 12^th September, 1983 after doing her B.ED. She has worked as an Urdu and Islamiat Teacher for the Primary Section for the past 26 years. She loves children and is extremely mild natured with them. She has been a willing and punctual staff member of the school. Soft spoken and kind Nargis assists the other primary teachers with library duty also. We thank you Nargis and many students and parents remember you as  a dedicated worker. Ladies and gentlemen Ms. Nargis Rehman.

 3. Ms. Riffat Shenaz joined the school on 3^rd April, 1984. She was introduced by her father Mr. Qurban Ali who worked as a P.T. Instructor for 34 years before retiring. He assured Riffat that working for BVS would fulfill her teaching ambition. Riffat did her BA and then B.ed from the Karachi University specializing in Urdu and Islamiat. She has been teaching Urdu and Islamiat to the Secondary classes. The school thanks you Riffat and your father for  two generation of loyalty and dedication. Ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. Riffat Shenaz.  

Mr. Paul Pariera joined the School as a part-time Band Instructor during Principal Rustom Divecha’s time 1971. One can always find Paul riding his motor-bike early in the morning into the school. He ensures that the boys in the band, practice from 7:00 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. every day early in the morning on trumpets, bugles, and percussion instruments. Paul has never taken a day off, is always present at all school events, functions and outings. The Parsees will recognize him as the Band- Master who accompanies the Parsi Boys when they take the band to every colony on Nauroze. A mild- mannered person, Paul has been a favourite of many Band members. Ladies and gentlemen Mr. Paul Pariera   

 Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen for your attention and patience.