The dawn of a new day a new beginning and a day to rekindle the year that was. With little chills in the air SAI International Residential School woke up to a day of celebration, celebration for the 1st Founders’ Day, ‘Utkarsh’ of the School. It’s not been long enough that SIRS was inaugurated by the Honorable Chief Minister of Odisha Shri Naveen Patnaik on April 2, 2018 and the day came where the children celebrated the 1st Founders’ Day, on Thursday, December 20, 2018.
The Day was inaugurated in the graced presence of the coveted Chief Guest Shri Prafulla Samal, Hon’ble Minister, Women and Child Development Department, Government of Odisha, Guest of Honour Shri Pravata Kumar Tripathy, Member of Legislative Assembly Banki, Cuttack, Chief Guest Shri Satyajit Mohanty, IPS, Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack, Bhubaneshwar, Chief Guest Professor Ishan Kumar Patra Vice Chancellor, Ravenshaw University Cuttack, Guest of Honour Smt Anuradha Biswal, Olympian, Bhubaneswar, Chairman SAI Group Bijoy K Sahoo, Vice Chairperson Dr. Silpi Sahoo, Director Education Shri Harish Sanduja, Headmaster Shri Amitabh Agnihotri and Deputy Headmaster Shri Kalingarudra Panda.
Chief Guest Shri Prafulla Samal, Hon’ble Minister was immensely happy and quoted from a speech of Former President of India Late Shri A.P.J Abdul Kalam “Education is knowledge and knowledge is power”. He said, “Education is a fundamental right and an indicator for advancement of the society, jointly we can improve the education system and the literacy rate of Odisha which stand at 75% and the rest 25% can be achieved with efforts from each individual” said Shri Samal.
Speaking on the occasion Guest of Honour Shri Pravata Kumar Tripathy said, “SAI International is marching ahead with glory and has received awards in a very short span of time, it brings prodigious happiness”. The government renders special support to educational institutions because education adds value in a child and thereafter it gets passed on to the society. He also said that institution as SIRS will bring glory to his constituency Banki, Cuttack.
After Lighting the lamp and paying a floral tribute to the almighty the 2 days cultural and sports festivity was declared open. Headmaster Shri Agnihotri welcomed the honorable Chief Guest, the Guest of Honour and the parents. While addressing the gathering he rekindled the journey of SIRS from its inception through a very beautifully prepared video done by the students.
Dr. Sahoo built SIRS with a vision of creating a good school emphasizing on leadership and holistic education with equal accentuation on both education and sports and make them global citizens with values and cultures strongly imbibed. He thanked the chief guest and the guest of honour to have taken out their precious time for the SIRS Founders’ Day celebrations.
A very short valedictory was also held to recognize Manavi Agarwal and Vikalsh Bansal as BEST GIRL and BEST BOY of SIRS respectively. They have been all-rounders in the fields of education, sports, values and popularity, they also happen to be the first Head Girl and Head Boy of the School.
A riot of mesmerizing dance and music show followed the formalities. Children performed brilliantly. The Astaranga Auditorium glittered up with the various cultural events.
The Founders’ Day also engulfed in it various sporting events in the magnanimous sports stadium with many track and field events and a showcase of yoga exercises, drills, March Past, races, and many more were followed by Sports Award Ceremony.
The evening was very differently designed; children had staged a play on the movie Lion King with exactly the same musical extravaganza. Mufasa and Simba with the complete Lion King Family came live on stage it was an enthralling performance by the students.
It was a treat for the parents to witness the activities by the children throughout the day.
