GIIS held the annual Peace Memorial Ceremony in August 2014, under the aegis of its Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Universal Values to sensitise the students towards world peace and ban of nuclear weapons.

The PEACE Cranes; messengers of Universal Peace

There was a little girl called Sadako Sasaki who survived the bombing. She was then two years old. The radiation from the bomb gave her leukemia when she was ten. Sadako believed in an old Japanese story that if you made 1,000 paper cranes, you would be granted a wish. She decided to fold 1,000 cranes and wish for good health. She died before she could complete them, and her school friends finished making them for her. She said: "I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world." Each year, thousands of paper cranes from all over the world hang from the statue of Sadako in Hiroshima’s Peace Park. The cranes and her message are a good way to remember that we must never give up on peace.

GIIS Ahemedabad:

GIIS Ahemedabad commemorated Peace Day as ‘Heal the World’ in collaboration with NGO ‘Yuva Unstoppable’ at Thaltej Municipal School. The whole school participated in folding paper cranes and children from classes V & VI prepared a skit on the story of Sadako and 1000 cranes of Peace and Hope. The day ushered with the special assembly on Peace Day, followed by a prayer song. Children took an oath for Peace. Students from classes III to VI visited the nearest Municipal School “Thaltej Prathmik Shala”, and shared the message of Peace by conducting a small cultural event in the school.

GIIS Bangalore:

The students of KG 2 did an origami activity of folding paper cranes. The story of Sadako was narrated to the students and they observed a few moments of silence to pray for peace around the world. The students drew the story of Sadako in their art books. They also held their paper cranes and took a pledge that they will never cause harm or injury to anyone.

GIIS Indore:

All the students folded paper cranes and took a peace pledge. A nun from Brhmakumari Ashram shared her thoughts on Peace. The students depicted the message, ‘Say no to War’& ‘Ensure Peace’.

GIIS Noida:

The day was marked by the children of classes I to VII making prayer flags for peace. Children wrote a prayer for peace on the pieces of cloth distributed to them. The idea was borrowed from the Buddhist custom of prayer flags strung in memory of the departed praying for peace to their souls. The flags strung together with ribbons were put up all around the amphitheatre and other places in school on 6th August. A special assembly was conducted to remember Sadaku . After a peace march, children sang a beautiful song , originally written by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, sung by the school choir group (Jang nah hone denge, Hum Jang nah hone denge...) to spread the message of Peace.

GIIS Surat:

Students of GIIS Surat also conducted a special assembly in remembrance of Peace Day and showed a video to students depicting harmful effects of nuclear bombings on twin cities of japan. They folded paper cranes and stuck them on the display board.

GIIS Chinchwad:

Each class conducted a unique activity to mark the Peace day. The day started with a ‘Peace March’ by the tiny tots of class I followed by a story-telling activity by class II with ‘peace’ as its theme. Students of class III wrote peace messages and put them on an art-tree to together form a ‘Tree of Peace’. Class IV made ‘Peace Posters’ and the students of class V enacted interview with great emissaries of Peace. Class VI conducted a skit spreading the message of peace based on Indian mythology. Classes VII and VIII participated in an elocution and a debate activity respectively based on consciousness of peace and war. Students of class IX had a class discussion on the topic of ‘Various Aspects of Peace’ whereas the students of class X exhibited their creative writing skills by writing poems on Peace.

The presentation of a plethora of activities conducted across classes and campuses with a central theme of ‘Peace’ marked it as unique. “Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time”; GIIS took this opportunity to sensitise its students to the importance of Peace.