The SDG Odyssey of Ahlcon International School

Ahlcon International School is a school with an SDG soul! The Global Goals are in our DNA.

The vision of Ahlcon International School is to enable children to acquire the values and core strengths that would eventually help him/her become a responsible and proactive citizen of the modern world. AIS has been a fervent pathfinder and trailblazer in embracing internationalism and global citizenship. A school which is blessed with scintillating leadership of visionaries who believe in Global Perspective: Indian values, moving from the Millennium Goals to the Global goals was an organic transition.

The journey began when, in 2016, the then Principal, present Director of the school, Dr. Ashok Kumar Pandey, inducted the faculty into understanding assimilating and adopting the Sustainable Development Goals in the nervous system of the school. His already committed team absorbed the SDGs as its lifeline. Integrating the SDGs into the teaching learning process became the norm and the dynamic and innovative team of teachers created lessons and activities to bring home the message to all the stakeholders of the school.

AIS did not stop there!

The enthusiasm and zeal inspired the Preprimary AHM, Ms. Sunita Rajiv to pen 5 plays in 2018 on the SDGs for the Annual Show of Prep and the next year the team came up with their ideas for the annual show and staged next set of plays in ‘Spandan’, the annual show. The zealous team of teachers brought the plays to reality and the WORLDS LARGEST LESSON, a global endeavour, featured the play on SDG16 -Peace, Justice and strong Institutions, on its Facebook page and secured the place of AIS on the world map. SOS4LUV, another international project, led by Aggeliki Pappa, recognized AIS’ contribution in the field of SDGs and gave Ms. Sunita Rajiv, the title of Global Ambassador on their page.

Every section head enthused their teams to develop the SDG culture in responsible consumption, teaching learning process and classroom transactions. While primary inspired the students to align SDG 3, Good health, and wellbeing, into its curriculum, the Senior section HM Mr. Puneet Duggal initiated and audit of the stationery consumption which was lavish in all the sections and brought his team to rethink the expenses on preparation of Display boards. This inspired everyone to follow. SDGs were gaining the foothold in AIS. The 17th SDG, Partnership for the Goals, propelled the mission of the school leader, Dr. Ashok Pandey to take up the challenge of spreading the awareness for SDGs in all the schools of the city. Dr. Pandey created a team of Master Trainers, who were given the task of bringing SDGs into the teaching learning process of 10 schools in the city. The challenge was to be accomplished by September 2018. With the tenacious zeal and unshakeable enthusiasm, the team accomplished the task and by August 2018, AIS was ready to have its first SDG FEST, completely online, which was carefully curated on the Sustainable Development Goals.

25th September 2018 was a Red-Letter day in the calendar of the United Nations and for AIS who embarked on its first SDG FEST in the capital.

SDG CHAMPS: Student Leaders

Ayush Chopra carved a place for himself on the Global scene with his dedication for the SDGs and was invited to give his speech in the International Summit on Youth For Human Rights at UN Headquarters.

Paridhi Puri represented the school and was represented Ahlcon at #kidstakeover as Yasmeen Haque, at UNICEF office

Khyati Chauhan represented Ahlcon at the United Nations general assembly in New York on World Children’s Day

Yash Goel was the first Ahlconite to have made it to the UN for his dedicated pursuit of the Global Goals.

Ahlcon International Celebrates the Sustainable Development Goals

25th September 2018 marked the 3rd anniversary of the adoption of The Sustainable Development Goals by the UN and Ahlcon International embarked on the journey of making it a memorable event in August 2018 itself. We organized an SDG FEST- 2018 which comprised of seven different categories of activities, all based on the SDGs and were spread across K-12. The reach out was phenomenal indeed:

• 2018 - 7 online competitions
  22 schools participated.


• 2019 - 6 Online competitions
  21 schools participated.


• 2020 - 13 online competitions
  40 schools participated.


• 2021 - 14 online competition
  56 schools participated

The first event was graced by the Chief guest, Rabbi (Priest) Ezekiel Isaac Malekar, Honorary Secretary of the Judah Hyam Synagogue, & other dignitaries. The teachers & students from participating schools were the special guests of the day. The event began with the SDG anthem – ‘We are the change, we are the teachers’, created and sung by the choir of teachers whose melody enthralled one and all. A play based on the SDG 5 - Gender Equality, was staged by the students of class 1 which captivated the audience with its theme and humour. Two outstanding SDG Goalkeepers of Ahlcon, Paridhi Puri and Ayush Chopra, presented their perspective on the Global goals.

It was way back in 2018, when Ahlcon International had already taken the lead in organizing Inter school online events as part of its first ever SDG Fest. Right from sending the registration form, to receiving entries for 7 events, all had been done completely through emails. The thought being that we save our children from being exposed to pollution, avoidable travel time and save all from being harassed by the heavy traffic of the city.

With the cooperation of our partners in the journey, our SDG FEST – 2018 had been a true success, with 22 schools participating most enthusiastically in the 6 events spread across all the sections of the school. It is indeed a delight for us to share we received almost 600 entries for this fest in the first go only.

This was the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Ahlcon International.

We have engaged in this field by successfully integrating the SDGs into our teaching learning process. The journey, that started in 2016, has witnessed embracing of the Sustainable Development Goals by each section of the school whole heartedly and now all our endeavors are aligned with SDGs.

Right from lesson designing, creating activities, theming Display Boards, choosing topics for the debates, ideating for Annual functions/Exhibitions, aligning the goals of the four houses of the school, all are inspired by our conscious commitment for the SDGs.

Another big leap was stepping into the Climate Reality Leader Corps by the visionary, Dr. Ashok Pandey and initiating his team into it. Climate action became a priority and Ms. Sunita Rajiv received her training to be the Climate Reality Leader in 2020. Mr. Abhinav Datta has also joined the team as a Climate Action Project Facilitator 2021.

The Student Council duly acknowledges and includes SDG Ambassadors and the prolific teachers of the school have been instrumental in spreading the word in the community. Our partners in learning, our parent community is equally enlightened and motivated to make SDGs, their goals for leading a responsible life. The Eco Club of the school has been instrumental in translating the SDGs in projects, Paryavaran Mitr, a dedicated organization has always banked n AIS for bringing the green revolution in the lives of students. The students’s autonomy is proved by the fact that students have created their own foundations/ organizations which are well supported by their families. Together Youth Foundation, Utpravan Foundation, Anubhuti, all are doing phenomenal work, to name a few.

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda will require everyone working in unison from all sectors. Being educators, it is our duty towards the world to ensure that our learners are aware of the dire need of knowing and implementing the SDGs. We are conscious of the fact that other institutions are also working on making SDGs a part of their curriculum.

The vivacious approach of our Principal, Mr. Sanjay Yadav, whose motivation leads the school to inhale and exhale the SDGs in its respiratory system, makes the integration of the Global Goals more meaningful day by day. The SDG signatures of the school are sprinkled on the social media and the world has taken notice of AIS as a school with SDG in its DNA. The sustainability in pursuit of the SDGs has made the school a leading institution in the horizon of education. By the present year 2021, the school has impacted more than 150 schools in Delhi NCR. Mr. Sanjay Yadav is proactively collaborating with member schools of the NPSC (The National Progressive School’s Conference) as an Executive member and has taken on the responsibility to take SDGs to all the schools under the NPSC banner.

The international reach out is worth mentioning too. Participation of the whole school in Global Council for Education and its 100 ACTS based on the SDGs, international alliance with SDG 2030, Model United Nations, the programs of UNODC, celebration of Labor’s Day at a magnificent scale by taking over the role of the support staff by the students, observing Earth Day by working in a non-lit campus for the destined hour, International Day celebrations in assemblies, exchange program, participation in International webinars, training educators across the world for SDG 4 Quality education, are some of the key features which give AIS its inimitable dimension.

With each passing year, Ahlcon International writes a new chapter for spreading awareness for the SDGs. The Odyssey is on to make the future a promising one for the coming generations.