News from our head Round Square prefect Issy, in India

Our blog from the round square continues with an update from Issy, our head Round Square prefect;

“The conference opened with an impressive flag ceremony. It was amazing seeing all the different school uniforms from around the world.

The conference started off with an address from 2014 Nobel Laureate Mr. Kailash Satyarthi. An inspiring story of freeing child labourers definitely set the tone for the rest of the day. Next was our first “Barazza” session. Before the trip we had guessed what this might be but I don‘t think anyone was quite prepared for what it turned out to be. The entire conference was split into small discussion groups, in which we reflected on the previous talks and played ice-breaking games such as balancing a lemon on a spoon held on your mouth. Following a busy morning, lunch was a nice surprise. An array of delicious curries was only a snapshot of what was to come. After lunch we had a second address from Dr. Shashi Tharoor, a member of the Indian parliament. Full of statistics demonstrating how far India has come as a country, his main message was that we should not be taught “what” to know, rather “how” to know. Next was out first “multicultural evening”, where each school is given an opportunity to showcase aspects of their culture. From K pop to Ballet, we saw performances from so many different countries, it was definitely a highlight.

An early start followed by curry for breakfast marked the start of day two. In the morning we had our third address from Sophia, the robot. The speech was definitely intriguing (if a little disjointed), it showed not only how far A.I. had come but also that it has much room for improvement.

Another Barazza session allowed us to discuss what we thought of robotics. Little did we know that during our fourth address from feminist activist/musician, Madame Gandhi (unfortunately not related to Mahatma Gandhi), it had started raining. The walkways were now rivers, the playing fields had turned to mud. Nonetheless, many enjoyed a game of football, although most of the game was spent on the floor, covered in mud!”