As already pointed out in “Our Vision”, Wisdom has been named a ‘world’ school because we want to nurture our children to grow as global citizens with progressive outlook rising above the divisive thoughts of caste, creed, religion and other man-made barriers. Our objective is to wean our children away from illogical superstitions, conventional thinking, intolerance and narrow-mindedness. We want them to be eager learners receptive of new ideas and tolerant towards people from other cultures and traditions just like our ancient seers yearned for and prayed in a hymn addressed to the Vishvedevas in the Rig Veda :
-Rig Veda 1.89.1
Keeping this objective in mind we have taken a number of steps to give our children various platforms to come into contact with other cultures.
Teaching of Foreign Languages : German and Japanese
Language is the most potent and the most effective medium to understand a culture. We are teaching Japanese and German languages as an optional subject alongwith Sanskrit and Punjabi from Grade VI onwards. All the students of Grade VI are supposed to select any of these four languages as a subject. We have been teaching Japanese since 2012 but we introduced German language in April 2020. Unfortunately the COVID pandemic broke out and the schools got closed. We were compelled to teach German through online mode. But inspite of all this, we got a very good response from the students and in the very first year 63 students of Grade VI enrolled for this language. In the next session i.e. 2021-22, while all the 63 students of Grade VI got promoted to Grade VII, we had 92 new students enrolled for Grade VI. These figures are a clear indication that the launch of German language has been very successful. Although in this adverse situation we have not been able to expose our children to German culture but we are confident to take it up as soon as the situation improves.
Notable Attainments
We understand that learning a foreign language in isolation cannot be considered effective unless the learner comes across and interacts with the native speakers of the target language. Keeping this in mind, we keep inviting native Japanese speakers as resource persons from Japan to teach the subject and conduct workshops. Mr. Atsushi Funahashi and Ms. Ayaka Suzuki, Mr. Tatsushi Funahashi and Mr. Satoshi Hata have been our regular visitors.
Apart from these occasional visits by native speakers, we also had a full time resident Director (International Affairs) Mr. Satoshi Hata who stayed here with us for almost two years from October 2016 to June 2018. He guided and trained our Japanese language teachers and helped them improve upon their teaching methodology. He also prepared our students for admissions in Japanese universities and motivated them for pursuing their higher education in Japan. He also prepared students for Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) conducted by the Japanese Government. As a result of his efforts 21 students of our school have cleared N-5 and 2 students have also cleared N-4 levels.
Academic-cum-Cultural Exchange Programmes
Our school has established Academic-cum-Cultural Exchange Programmes with a number of Japanese Schools. Our first batch of 6 students along with the Principal, Mrs. Sangeeta Bahl visited Japan under exchange programme with Tathva International School, Tokyo in October 2012. They stayed there for 10 days and interacted with teachers and students of the host school. Again our second batch comprising of 10 students along with Mrs. Bahl visited Japan in October 2015 under exchange programme with Tabara School, Kamogawa. This was also a 10 days visit during which they were exposed to the Japanese culture and traditions. Our 3rd batch of 10 students alongwith the Vice-Principal, Mrs. Poonam Rawal again visited Japan in October 2017 under Cultural Exchange Programme with three schools in Saitama – Fudo Oka Senior High School, Washi-no-Miya Junior High School and Sunahara Elementary School.
Our students made a power point presentation of Indian culture before Japanese students and teachers. They attended Robotics Workshops in Lego School, Yokohama and Saitama University, Saitama. They also visited Kasai Sea Life Park and National Museum of Science in Tokyo. They enjoyed sightseeing tours to Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo Sky Tree and Yokohama Landmark Tower. The children also went to watch Kabuki theatre in Tokyo. Kabuki is a classical Japanese dance-drama marked for its stylization and the elaborate make-up worn by its performers. Interestingly, our children watched Mahabharata played by the Japanese artistes in Japanese language. All this was a wonderful experience and enlightening exposure for the students.
Our school also established an Academic-cum-Cultural Exchange Programme with Japanese School situated in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. The teachers of both the schools have visited each other a number of times to learn and understand each other’s areas of strength so that the same can be implemented in the respective schools for the betterment of children.
Japanese language Calligraphy workshop
A 2-days’ Japanese Language Calligraphy Workshop was organized in the school by Ms Hiroko Nagahama, a Japan India Student Conference Founder, on 1st & 2nd September 2017. A total of 48 students enjoyed this wonderful experience of learning the basic techniques involved in Japanese Calligraphy.
Notable attainment by Wisdom : Twice selected by JST for Science Project in Japan
Wisdom’s contribution towards Indo-Japan educational relations was recognized by the Japanese Government when we were selected to participate in Sakura Science Project in Japan. Two students of our school – Pragya Kaushik (Grade XII) & Vasu Aggarwal (Grade X) were sent by the school for 10 days’ International Science Project organized by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) at Shizuoka University in Japan in July 2017. A total of 4 students were selected from all over India out of which 2 students were from our school. They were joined by 5 students from Indonesia. All the travelling, boarding & lodging expenses were borne by the Japanese Government. Interestingly, the students got an opportunity to travel by Shinkansen (popularly called Bullet Train) in Japan.
Yet another batch from our school comprising of 6 students and 1 teacher-supervisor again went to Japan to attend a 7-days Sakura Science Project organised by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) in the last week of May 2018. The students visited Hiroshima, Tokyo and Yokohama. They were exposed to a number of scientific institutions like Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency where they got the opportunity to interact with space scientists. They also visited Chugoku Electric Co , Miraikan Museum and Robotics Show. Apart from this they went to Hiroshima High School as well as Hiroshima University where they saw students working in science laboratories and interacted with students and teachers. They also visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial. They came back with amazing experience and fond memories. It needs to be mentioned here that all the expenditure of this trip also — airfare, boarding, lodging, transportation, meals, insurance, VISA, EVERYTHING….was borne by the Japanese government.
Extension Lecture by Padma Shri Dr. Tomio Mizokami
Dr. Tomio Mizokami, Professor Emeritus, Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Japan visited our school on 13th December 2017 to deliver an extension lecture on Indo-Japan Relationship in Historical Perspective. It was organized by the school as part of Indo-Japan Friendship Exchange Year Celebrations. Prof. Mizokami gave a very informative and illuminative presentation with a wide ranging references from Tagore to Subhash Bose and to the recent bonhomie between the Japanese Prime Minister Shinz Abe and the Indian Prime Minister Narender Modi. Interestingly, Prof. Mizokami made the presentation in chaste Hindi and Punjabi. Prof. Mizokami’s illustrious work in Indo-Japan relationship has been recognized by the Govt. of India when on Republic Day last year he was awarded Padma Shri. Wisdom congratulates Prof. Mizokami for this honour bestowed on him by the Govt. of India.
Visit by Japan Foundation Delegation from New Delhi
Mr. Kosuke Noguchi, Director and Ms. Yuiko Wakana, Japanese Language Advisor of Japan Foundation, New Delhi visited our school on 19th January 2018.
They went to different classes and observed the Japanese language teaching. They conducted a Tourism Quiz related to places of interests in Japan. They also introduced online Japanese courses for self-study. The students took keen interest in the activities and the quiz competition.
Japanese Emperor Akihito's Birthday Celebrations at Japanese Ambassador Residence in New Delhi
It is a matter of immense pride for Wisdom that we have the regular honour to participate in the birthday celebrations of the Japanese Emperor Akihito. A dinner party is hosted by The Japanese Ambassador to India Mr. Kenji Hiramatsu and his wife Mrs. Patricia Hiramatsu at their residence in New Delhi in December every year. The dinner party in December 2017 as well as in December 2018 was attended by our Secretary-cum-Manager Mr. Vinod Rawal and our Director Mrs. Anita Rawal.
On both the occasions Mr. Hiramatsu highlighted the day-by-day strengthening relations between India and Japan and gave details about how the two governments were promoting cultural and academic exchanges between the two countries.
The Embassy of Switzerland in India Celebrates 70 Years of Swiss - Indian Friendship at Wisdom
The Embassy of Switzerland in India celebrated 70 years of Swiss-Indian Friendship : Connecting Minds – Inspiring the Future (SIF 70) in the year 2018 to commemorate the anniversary of Swiss-Indian Treaty of Friendship which was signed in New Delhi on 14 August 1948. It was a proud occasion for Wisdom having been selected by the Swiss Embassy as the only school in Haryana as part of their celebrations. The Swiss Embassy was spreading a message of friendship, understanding and inclusiveness through a novel initiative – “Swiss Films on Wheels.” They showed our children a very popular German movie, Heidi, which is a children’s film based on the Swiss author Johanna Spyri’s novel published in 1881.
Teaching of German Language and Culture
In the beginning of the academic session 2020-21 in April, we introduced second foreign language, German, as another optional subject to be taught from Grade VI onwards. But unfortunately the COVID pandemic broke out immediately afterwards and the schools got closed. We were compelled to teach German through online mode. But inspite of all this, we got a very good response from the students and in the very first year 63 students of Grade VI enrolled for this language. Now they have been promoted to Grade VII and even when the COVID situation is still persisting and online education is still the mode of instruction, we have 92 new students on roll in Grade VI. In this unfortunate situation we have not been able to expose our children to German culture but we are confident to take it up as soon as the situation improves.
Motivating students for higher studies in Japan
Japan is one of the most advanced, disciplined and civilized countries of the world. There is so much to learn from Japanese culture. Their sense of perfection and national pride is without any parallel in the world. We, at Wisdom, motivate our students to purse their higher education in Japan. There are some universities in Japan which offer courses through English medium. Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University is one of the leading universities of Japan offering such courses. Wisdom has entered into an agreement with this university and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) through which our students are given preference in admission in this university with a minimum Scholarship of 65% Tuition Fee wavier to at least one student every year. We already have six students studying in this university pursuing degree courses.
