By Joseph Varghese
Birla Public School (BPS), the first Indian school in the Middle East to organise the renowned TED Talks, will host its first edition on Thursday.
Around 100 invited guests will attend the event that will last for about three hours.
TED stands for technology, entertainment and design. TEDx is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit, Sapling Foundation, under the slogan ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’. TED was founded in 1984 as a one-off event. The TEDx programme is designed to help communities, organisations and individuals to spark conversation and connection through local experiences.
BPS vice-principal George Edison said that the school was proud to host such an innovative programme and be the first Indian school in the region to do so.
“Tedxbirlapublicschool is the culmination of the joint efforts of all Birlaites. Everyone is contributing right from the conception to the execution of any such event and this is yet another example of many more to come,” he said.
“We are hosting it for the first time and we will continue to host it in the coming years on a bigger scale. We are always receptive to all novel ideas and adopt all the positive ones.
“It is a moment of pride for the school, a defining moment in the history of the school. Hundreds of students like the curator of this event are working hard to do things differently and make a mark.”
The curator of the event, Aditya Karkera, a class 11 student, said that the theme for the programme is ‘Be the Change’.
“The event takes place on Gandhi Jayanti, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi and we will focus on how Gandhi was instrumental in changing the future of India.
“There will also be relevant stage prop connected with the theme. We are fully geared up for the programme and it will be an exciting evening,” he said.
Aditya, one of the youngest curators of a TEDx event, also said that the present licence given by TEDx allows the school to have a 100-member audience.
“We have got the licence for this year which can be renewed every year. We have also got a prestigious line of speakers who will talk on diverse topics such as sustained economy to environment to health to innovation and technology among others,” he said.
The speakers on the occasion are Dr R Seetharaman, Group CEO Doha Bank, Dr Thomas Zacharia, executive vice president R&D, Qatar Foundation, Dr Eric Cooper, founder and president, National Urban Alliance, Nicole Van Hattem, Raw health coach, Tareq Halawa, mobile app designer, intern Microsoft and Sundeep Singhla, economist, Shell.
