With the ongoing pandemic, all our activities may be  directed online, but that did not stop Team Akanksha from hosting its Annual Service Awards, where the efforts of teachers, school teams and staff members were honoured and celebrated.  

2021 was a challenging year – a devastating second-wave of the pandemic followed by a ray of sunshine in the form of school re-openings, meant that our school teams and on-ground staff worked extra hard to ensure the safety and mental-well being of our children. Service Awards 2021 celebrated the hardwork, efforts and tireless dedication of Akanksha’s valued team members in the past year. 

Celebrating Our Team 

Akanksha organised a two-day virtual event honouring our 2 city teams, Pune and Mumbai on 22nd and 23rd of December. Nearly 100 school and central team members were honoured for their long service. The event was hosted entirely by Akanksha students – Roshani Shinde, Grade 9 from KC.Thackeray Vidya Niketan School and Om Zite, Grade 10 from Pujya Kasturba Gandhi for Pune, and Namrata Gupta, Grade 8 from Natwar Nagar School and Vedang Ithape, Grade 8 from Abhyudaya Nagar School for Mumbai. Our hosts’ cheerful commentary and fun insights brought in the new year and festive spirit. 

The celebration  included stunning performances by our students, parents and alumni. We had Triveni Dhamdhere, Akanksha alumni and current board member open the event with a beautiful message expressing her gratitude and appreciation for our educators and school teams. Another alumni, our artist superstar, Ruby Ram celebrated Team Akanksha’s values and ethos with her signature painting of the Akanksha sun as a fun surprise for our audiences. Akanksha student, Devyani from Natwar Nagar Mumbai Public School shared her learnings from a Trinity Communication Course that she completed during the lockdown, while Akanksha alumni Yashodhara and Nirjala talked about the impact of Akanksha on their life journeys through snippets of the Melting Pot podcast hosted by Payal Sinha. Earlier this year, Akanksha in association with The Melting Pot launched the R.I.S.E series, celebrating our people which is  available on Apple, Spotify and Google Podcasts.

A few highlights of this event also included a beautiful poem, composed and performed in Marathi by our Akanksha parent, Hemchand Nanaware from Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation School which captured the pivotal role that teachers play in a student’s life, especially in tough times of the pandemic, and a heartfelt Bharatnatyam dance performance dedicated to our teachers from Akanksha alumni, Pooja Khedekar. The event concluded with a beautiful video highlighting Akanksha’s achievements and milestones over the past year, including a special feature on our recent Nagpur expansion. Fun activities such as the Akanksha Bingo revealed hilarious and embarrassing things we are guilty of in the work from home setting, and a video of our students, Atiya and Zara talking about their relationship with art during the lockdown, added meaning and emotion to the event. 

We also paid tribute to our valued staff members that we lost in the pandemic – this two-day event saw more than 500 attendees who provided utmost support, love and cheer for all the awardees.