Teacher’s Day 2022

Honouring “teachers who inspired today for a better tomorrow”
~ A DPGA Legacy…

Monday, September 5, 2022,
Dr. Pillai Global Academy, New Panvel

The teacher’s day celebration at Dr. Pillai Global Academy, New Panvel this year was an affair to spectate. The students of grades 11 and 12 planned and executed the event flawlessly with (nearly) the utmost confidentiality. The day was devoted to making the teachers feel relaxed, starting with their students taking over their classes as substitutes, who can never really replace them. The students from Grades 9 and 10 were extremely helpful in substitutions and backstage assistance during the event.

The main program of the occasion in the auditorium commenced with our charismatic hosts, Riya Gairola (A Levels) and Zainab Shaikh (IB 2) endearingly taking the stage with their witty personas. What followed was quite the concert to generate intensity and excitement among the crowd by the band (Tejas – AS Levels, Sreenivas – Grade 10 and Shubhanan – Grade 9). There were a series of sensational performances, speeches and games. The first was a speech by Mugdha Patil (Grade 8), who like us and many others was impacted by our teachers and their astonishing efforts.

It entailed a thrilling game of Pictionary for the teachers who battled it out with the hosts as their team leaders. The losing team was to be punished with a sour shot of lemon juice, but the sporting hosts could not allow their teachers to pay the price and came to their rescue by drinking it themselves. The exhilarating game was followed by a melody that filled the teachers with nostalgia and had them grooving with the singer, Tanvi Agarwal. The audience did not see an interval, as immediately after that, there was another game of musical sense for the teachers against surprising opponents: the alumni. The teachers took the victory there but handed it over to their students because of their gracious hearts.

The next segment was particularly memorable for how unapologetically hilarious and highly “opinionated” it was thanks to the craftsman, Yash Vijay. However, what came next was the ultimate showstopper – the seniors’ dance. First up were the boys who set the stage alight. Later, they were joined by the girls and penultimately the wholesome of 11th and 12th grade was on stage, off stage, in the aisle, basically everywhere, shaking a leg with the crowd. Congratulations to the choreographers, Kaavya Aggarwal and Rehya Banthia considering nobody fell on stage in the flamboyant yet gorgeous traditional attires they had donned.

Before everyone could bask in the glory of the performance, they were hit by a bigger asteroid: the emotional goodbye. The students from grade 12 went on stage to express their gratitude to the teachers who nurtured them, from caterpillars to butterflies and seeds to flowers. They got us all teary-eyed with their words and ended the official event on a bittersweet note. Bitter from the pain of this being their last year, yet sweet from the fact that they were not yet gone.

This celebration would not be possible without the unconditional support from our Principal, Ms. Shraddha Sardesai and Vice Principal, Mr. Prakash Nair. Also, credits to Ichha Ma’am for overlooking every single practice and supporting our rehearsals which helped in fine-tuning all of our renditions.

At the end of the day, it was all for our dear teachers who truly embody the quote, “good teachers teach, great teachers, transform” by Queen Rania of Jordan.

Author: Tanvi Agarwal,
IBDP 1 – Editor