Discover your “Ikigai”
“Discover Your Ikigai”, a Round Square debate, hosted by The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, on the 8th of September included over 100 participants from schools across India, Spain, Oman, Peru, and Pakistan. The student empowerment debate 'Discover your Ikigai’, aimed to discuss and evaluate the abstract concept of happiness. During the session, various perspectives on happiness were shared. Participants were able to express their point of view on the theme and were also able to share what makes some of the happiest countries in the world so optimistic. Additionally, important inputs were given by esteemed keynote speakers, Ms. Bulbul Chaudhari, Mr. Michael Dishnow, Mr. Prikshit Dhanda, and Ms. Khushboo Singhal about optimism vs. pessimism and the constituents of happiness.
Every school had been alloted a country to research on the Happiness factor. To prepare for the debate, team DAIS had to research on Norway and what made it one of the happiest countries in the world.
The aim of this conversation was to broaden the perspective on happiness and understanding of the theme from a student’s perspective, allowing them to establish that happiness cannot be defined and it is an ideology rather than a concept. The different perspectives discussed during the postcard enabled the students to understand what happiness means to an individual and how the idea changed from one person to another and also from one country to another.
The session was started by a small introduction from the host school where the Principal and Vice-Principal spoke about the importance of happiness in a student’s school life. After a moving talk by a keynote speaker, the delegates were split up into different breakout sessions. In the smaller group, they delegates defined what happiness meant to them with a small icebreaker session that helped initiate conversation amongst the group. After an interactive conversation on happiness they returned back into the main session for the next keynote speakers to address them.
The conversations proved to be incredibly interesting and effectively conveyed the essence of happiness. After the second breakout session, everyone moved back to the main meeting where the last keynote speaker, Mr. Michael Dishnow shared his ideas with the participants. As a concluding activity, the participants had an interactive session based on the address by the keynote speaker. The floor was then opened for questions and comments, after which the Principal of The Hyderabad School delivered a closing speech.
In conclusion, the debate led to a fruitful discussion as it helped students exchange perspectives on happiness and provided them an opportunity to share their ideas, opinions and beliefs. The debate connected students across the world and was an enriching experience for everyone to interact with each other.
DAIS Student Delegates: Kshitig Seth, Diya Piramal, Arjun Asudani, Pari Naheta.
DAIS Adult Delegates: Ms. Manisha Nanda
