INVESTITURE CEREMONY AT ISM

 The Indian School Muscat held its Investiture Ceremony of the senior section for the academic session 2008-09 on the 8^th of May 2008 in the school multipurpose hall.  In all, 209 senior students were entrusted with important posts of responsibility as school Council Members, House Captains and Prefectorial body in a solemn ceremony attended by all senior students, proud parents, members of the School Managing Committee, Vice-Principals, HODs and teachers.  

The Chief Guest for the momentous occasion was Capt. M D Suresh, Defense Advisor, Embassy of India, Sultanate of Oman and Ms. Hiyaam Al Barwani, Educational Advisor, American Embassy; Muscat was the Guest of Honour.  

The ceremony commenced with a perfectly synchronized march in by the student council members to the marching beat of the school band to take their positions.  The school choir presented a devotional prayer song to initiate the glittering ceremony.  

Keeping in with the motto of the school ‘Kindled to Enlighten’, the master of ceremony Mr. Deep Wilson requested the Chief Guest and other distinguished guests to light the lamp to bring divine ambience.  

At the outset, the school Principal Mr. Achuthan Madhav offered salutations and expressed his gratitude to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said for his benevolence and support to the cause of education that ISM is receiving and progressing with decades of achievements.  He offered prayers to Almighty to grant His Majesty long life and bless the people of this great country with perpetual prosperity.   

Warmly welcoming the gathering, the Principal mentioned that these young boys and  girls, after receiving the badge-of-office from the Chief Guest and the Guest of Honour will go through a remarkable journey and being  Boys Dean(Head Boy), Girls Dean(Head Girl), Co-ordinators, Asst. Co-ordinators, Captains, Vice-Captains and Prefects.  They will grow up as excellent and confident leaders with the identity of ISM.  This will make them learn the practical meaning of truth and honour and also equip them with problem solving techniques.  He expressed his appreciation of the sustained parental cooperation and the continued devotion of Managing Committee for their affirmative support.  

Two senior students, Priya Susan John and Aamr Shaikh inspired the gathering with their talk on the leadership with nuggets of wisdom portrayed by eminent leaders such as the former President of India Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, Mr. Narayana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys, etc.  

The Chief Guest Capt. M D Suresh ceremonially invested Master Aditya Kurian as the Boys Dean (Head Boy) and Miss Nikita Benson as the Girls Dean (Head Girl), Master Gaurav Hanover as the Assistant Head Boy, Miss Anjana Nanda as the Asst. Head Girl and four House Captains and other members of the student council were decorated with the badge-of-office honour.  

The girl prefectorial members and the Vice-Captains were conferred with their badge-of-office by the Guest of Honour Ms. Hiyaam Al Barwani escorted by Mrs. Lakshmi Neelakantan, Vice-Principal Pre-Primary.  The Boy prefects and the Vice-Captains were honoured with the badge-of-office by Mr. N C Vijayachandra, Vice-Principal senior section accompanied by Mr. S I Shareef, Vice-Principal Middle Section, Mr. Naushad Somjee, Asst. Vice-Principal, Middle Section.  

The Principal administered the oath of office to all members of the student council and the prefectorial body.  Mr. N C Vijayachandra, Vice-Principal Senior Section led the office bearers in prayer.  

Accepting the honour, on behalf of the entire school council members and prefects, Master Aditya Kurian, the boys Dean (Head Boy) and Ms. Nikita Benson, the Girls Dean (Head Girl), formally gave their acceptance speech in assuming the school council responsibilities.  They thanked the staff for the opportunity and promised to work hard to take ISM to new heights.

The office bearers for the year are: House Captains – Sachin Chavan (Red House), Shalaka Pai (Yellow House), Angad Atwal (Blue House), Disha Amin (Green House), the coordinators include M C Saran & Surbhi Jhavar (Sports), Jerryes Wisley & Shrabosti Chowdhury (Co-curricular), Savio Derrick Rodergues & Roshni Chatterjee (Public Relations), Chintan R Doshi & Nitya Balakrishnan (Social Service).  The Assistant Co-ordinators are Saatvik Rajendra Sharma & Sabahat Khan (Sports), Aleron Eric Nunes & Deepa Venkatramani (Co-curricular), Saurabh Ramchandran & Akanksha Oza (Public Relations), Param Biyani & Bushra Khan (Social Service).   

Befitting the occasion, ‘Joy of Life’ a fusion item was presented by the school orchestra matching the celebratory mood and enthralled the gathering with lively beats of   percussion instruments under the masterly directives of Mr. Michael Bhakre of the Music department.  

Capt. M D Suresh in his concluding speech congratulated all the office bearers and advised them to strive ahead with the ‘go-getter’ attitude. Ms. Barwani in her address complimented the beaming students and called them a gathering of stars and urged them to exhibit leadership by example with a sense of service, humility and self confidence.  

The event came to an end with the vote of thanks followed by the National Anthem.