CGS Virtual Conclave conducted by Chittagong Grammar School, Bangladesh 

Special Guest: Farin Daulah, Humaira Khan, Heidi Levine

The first event of Round Square was conducted by Chittagong Grammar School,

Bangladesh. Our students had an opportunity to hear eminent personalities from around the world. The sessions were arranged over a span of three days comprising of baraza discussions, creating artwork, ethical dilemmas, and solving murder mysteries.

Day 1- 19th November 

The session was absolutely wonderful and it was organized in a systematic manner. The Keynote presentation was conducted by Ms Farin Daulah, who is a mental health practitioner and gave the students insight on the topic of mental health and its aspects. She also spoke about self-care, self-compassion which is the first step to prevent or heal mental illness. During the Q&A, most of the questions were handled very well and answers were given in a very sensible manner. The breakout session was beyond perfection. Students expressed their opinions and thoughts. Session 1 exceeded the expectation.

Day 2- 20th November

The session was interesting and enlightening. The Keynote presentation carried out by Ms Humaira Khan, who is the founder of ‘Anokhi’ and also dubbed as ‘trendsetter’ by the Daily Star,

spoke about her journey in the world of fashion which  was certainly enthralling. Her inspirational talk dealt with criticism and struggle to mark a position in the fashion world. She spoke about listening to her heart and observing people to design her clothes which indeed bought variations in her creative designs. The art integrated activity conducted in the breakout rooms was to paint off anxiety and let go of the emotions that troubled us. The session mellowed the stress and refreshed the young minds. 

Day 3- 21st November 

This session stood out the best. The Keynote presentation by Heidi Levine was an eye opener to witness different phases of people.Ms.Levine, an award-winning American photojournalist shared her experiences through the photos clicked during the Israel- Palestinian conflict. Her speech was certainly inspirational and created  a sense of pride that a woman is thriving in a male dominated career and how she showed no fear behind the camera clicking the photographs. Her enthusiasm and bravery truly desrves respect. The first breakout session was more of a debate rather than a discussion.  The ethical dilemmas seemed so simple but when others started sharing their views and reason on the side they’d prefer, it suddenly turned into a conundrum. Truly a dilemma! Solving the Murder Mystery was the key highlight of the entire programme where the students of Chittagong enacted a play and others had the task in hand to find the killer. The discussion in the second breakout room, to find who is the killer was truly entertaining and lively. The session ended by waving goodbyes to meet the students next year.

Participants- Sayyida Rania, Reksha Thomas, Kajal Krishna, Jonathan P, Yaasha Liz, Rithunanda, Jesse Joby, Shane Sarosh, Anju Subramanian  
Name of teacher/student In- charge: Meera Devadutt