July 2024
As always, when I, Pabitra, arrived at the meeting, the boys and girls were eagerly waiting for me. Upon my arrival, greetings commenced as usual, filling me with happiness. It’s heartwarming how the children greet me with, “Miss Hello, hope you are alright,” showing the intimacy we share.
An incomplete scrapbook was brought in, which set the stage for our discussion. The first question posed was, “Who is your leader here?” The children exchanged glances, and after a moment, Samun confidently declared, “Miss, I am big; I can control everyone.” A girl quickly countered, “Then why am I not the leader if I am the greatest?” Laughter erupted, lightening the mood.
We dug into a discussion about what defines a leader. While most of the children agreed on certain points, they struggled to articulate their thoughts on the qualities of effective leadership, as they had no practical experience in leading.
To illustrate the concept of leadership, we played a game. The objective was to identify the leader within the game by observing how they managed tasks and directed others. therefore I asked Samun to go outside and wait until we asked him to return. Initially, Neha was in the spotlight, but she quickly shifted her approach to emulate leadership qualities. Then Samun came back and despite the challenges he identified three leaders successfully, demonstrating an understanding of recognizing and supporting leadership.
Through the game, the children learned that leadership is defined by actions and responsibilities, not just a title. We then formed two groups to discuss the qualities of good leadership. They identified traits such as treating everyone equally, collaborating rather than just giving orders, being unbiased, considering everyone’s interests, being literate, being patient in decision-making, being fearless, hardworking, having a sense of honest service, and valuing others’ opinions.
Each group presented their findings, which led to the creation of songs, poems, pictures, and other contributions to the scrapbook. The remaining work on the scrapbook was assigned as homework. I also tasked the children with identifying potential leaders among themselves and explaining their choices in writing.
As the session concluded, we expressed gratitude to the boys and girls, recognizing them as the future leaders who would carry forward these discussions. With anticipation for the next meeting, we all headed home, inspired by the day’s learnings.