Students must follow their hearts and devote their time to social causes to bring about change in the society, said Swati Maliwal, chairperson, Delhi Commission for Women in the capital on Wednesday.

“Follow your hearts and devote your time to social causes to make the society a better place,” Maliwal said while addressing students at a function organised by Springdales School, Dhaula Kuan.

Urging students to be the agent of change and social revolution, Maliwal, speaking as the chief guest of the function, said, “Be the change you want to see”.

Springdales School had organised the function to mark the end of Delhi Literacy Festival Week 2016 which was held at the school in celebration of 28 glorious years of the Delhi Schools’ Literacy Project (DSLP). Prizes and awards were also given away to winners of various events held during the festival.

Throwing light on rampant cases of acid attacks and rapes in the country, Maliwal urged the students to fight for the rights of women. She then highlighted the steps taken by the DCW during her tenure and emphasised the need to stop crime against women by proper reporting and investigation.

Underlining the importance of education, students of various schools in Delhi presented skits, poems and folk dance performances. A Rajasthani folk dance was presented by learners of Springdales School, Pusa Road and skits titled ‘Gyan Antrika Nari’ by Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan, and ‘Mujhe Jawaab Chahiye’ by Mira Model School, Janakpuri were performed, among others.

In the poster-making competition, Ritwik Tanwar of Delhi Police Public School was awarded first prize in the Southeast zone and Vanshika Babbar of Springdales School, Pusa Road was given the first prize in Northwest zone.

In the poetry recitation competition, Farhan Zafar of Dev Samaj Modern School, Sukhdev Vihar was awarded the first prize in the Southeast zone and Khushi Nayyar of Springdales School, Pusa Road bagged the first prize in the Northwest zone.

In the Learners Dance Competition hosted by St Frances De Sales, Janakpuri, Springdales School, Pusa Road, bagged the first prize, Sadhu Vaswani International School for Girls, Shanti Niketan came second and Springdales School, Dhaula Kuan won the third prize. In the Learners Song Competition, hosted by Dev Samaj Modern School, Nehru Nagar, Springdales School, Pusa Road won the first prize, Springdales School, Dhaula Kuan bagged the second prize and New Era Public School, Mayapuri and Jan Shiksham Sansthan, Piragarhi shared the third prize.
Jyoti Bose, Principal of Springdales, Daula Kuan and others also spoke on the occasion.  While Bose lauded the unabated efforts of the student volunteers and the schools in eradicating illiteracy, Rajni Kumar, founder of the DSLP, thanked the member schools for their continuous support and deep involvement in uplifting the deprived sections of the society.