The first Inter School event to commemorate the 150th
year of the foundation of St. Anthony’s High School was held in the new annex
building of the school with twenty schools participating in an overwhelming
contest. The elocution contest, that was christened Oratio last year, was the
first in a series of inter- school competitions to mark the Sesquicentennial
Anniversary celebrations of the school. The topic for the contest was
“Conserving our Heritage is as Important as Building our Future”. The
conference hall was temporarily converted into an auditorium to facilitate the
hosting of the contest. Girls and boys from St. James School, Don Bosco School,
Calcutta Boys’ School, Frank Anthony Public School, St. Augustine’s Day School,
Birla High School, Loreto Day Schools, Entally, Dharamtalla and Eliot Road,
Ling Liang School, Saifee Hall Public School, St. Thomas Day School, St. Mary’s
School, St. Aloysius Day School, Meghmala Roy Education Centre, South City
International School and Chowringhee High School in addition to the host school
participated in the three hour long competition. Apart from the contestants and Anthonians, a
large number of teachers and students from participating schools comprised the
audience. H. E. Mr. Sanjay Wadvani, OBE, British Deputy High Commissioner for
Eastern India, was the Chief Guest on the occasion. The judges for the contest
were Prof. Tapati Gupta , former Head of the Department of English at Calcutta
University and prolific writer and critic, Prof. Sobha Chattopadhyay, the
former Head of the Department of English at Jadavpur University, and Dr. Sheila
Niyogi, Associate Professor in the
Department of English at Jogmaya Devi College. Mr. Murli Punjabi, an ex-student
and benefactor of the school, sponsored the event.
The program was begun on a solemn note with the lighting of
the ceremonial lamp by the Headmaster, Fr.
Devraj Fernandes, the Chief Guest,
the judges and the sponsor. The Chief Guest, Mr. Wadvani eloquently addressed
the audience and the participants in particular about the difficulty posed by
public speaking, but at the same time emphasized the importance it holds in
today’s world. The Headmaster encouraged all the participants and impressed
every one of the young speakers of the importance of participating rather than
considering victories and losses. The students passionately spoke about the
balance between the need to conserve our heritage while maintaining sustained
development for the future. It was very heartening to hear so many young people
taking the dais to speak vehemently on conserving the glorious past of our
country and doing all we can to keep its traditions and culture intact. The
maturity displayed by the speakers belied the tenderness of their age. In the final analysis it was difficult to
make a judgment to determine the best speakers.
Before announcing the winners Mr. Murli Punjabi expressed
his pleasure at hearing the young orations speak so eloquently on a topic of
such gravity. He congratulated the speakers as well as the school authorities
for organizing such a wonderful contest.
The first prize was awarded to Ujaan Ganguly of St. James’
School. The second and third places went to Oishik Bandhopadhyay of Calcutta
Boys School and Sparsh Agarwal of Don Bosco School, Park Circus
respectively. The Championship Trophy
was lifted by St. James School. All the participating schools were thanked for
their role in making the contest a success and were also invited to participate
in the next Inter- School contest, The Groove, in June. The programme was
concluded with the school anthem.
