The Institute of Social and Cultural Studies(ISCS), Kolkata offered a glorious opportunity to budding stalwarts namely high school students from the Delhi Public School, Ruby Park, Kolkata, and the Heritage School. In a venture never before undertaken, students
at the plus-two level received adequate exposure with regard to the world of academia by attending seminars,workshops presided over by eminent speakers, followed by the composition of a 2000-word research article on an issue of contemporary relevance. Orientation(23rd May 2023)- Around 50 students from both schools were in attendance as the Programme Coordinator of ISCS, Ms Kankana Roy, briefed them thoroughly on the internship schedule and activities which would require the students’ wholehearted participation.

The GMeet session with the Programme Coordinator was an engaging one, allowing the students to directly interact with one of the representatives of the organization and present questions. Research Methodology and Academic Writing Workshop- A week after the Orientation, an online workshop was hosted by ISCS with two eminent personalities namely Professor Shrabana Barua and Dr. Arindam Basu as the speakers. Prof Shrabana elaborated on the basics of research in view of the students’ upcoming assignments and future prospects, while DrBasu discussed the nitty-gritty of academic writing, thereby allowing students to have a detailed insight of both worlds. The session was presided over by Ms Kankana Roy. The speakers were incredibly delighted to be assuaged by a flurry of questions from the eager students.
Coeval Discourse on Climate Change- 5th of June marked an important day for ISCS in two ways. First, of course, as the revered World Environment Day. Secondly, ISCS hosted its IXth Coeval Discourse on the topic ‘‘India’s Action Plan on Climate Change”, in the form of a panel discussion solely involving high schoolers. After a rigorous selection procedure among 50 students, three each were shortlisted from the two eminent schools. Chairperson Minakshi Mishra, the Zonal Director of ICCR(Indian Centre for Cultural Relations), lauded the students on their dedication and the enthusiasm with which they tackled sensitive issues such as global warming, rising sea levels and the like in connection to the geopolitical and socio-economic repercussions it presented for India, at the same time arguing on the feasibility of some of the solutions presented.

10 Visit to the Maulana Abul Kalam Institute of Asian Studies(MAKAIS),9th June 2023- The interns were privileged to be able to pay a visit to MAKAIS, wherein they attended a lecture on Indian Culture and India’s precedence in the G20. The revered Dr S Prasad Ghosh interacted with them, following which they were given a tour of the sprawling campus, the highlight of which were the two libraries. Submission of research articles and assessment- In an effort to gauge the skills developed by the students in the month-long internship, they were asked to write a research article each, for not more than 2000 words.

While relevant topic clues such as ‘ the UNESCO and the Intangible Heritage of India’ or ‘ India’s role in the Covid Emergency’ were provided prior, students were free to compose their articles on a topic of relevance separate from those provided. Four students were shortlisted, two each from both schools for their commendable workDisha Roy Barman, Agni Brahmachari, Snehal Jalan and Sahil Agarwal. ISCS lauded them by presenting them with the latest publications as a token of appreciation. Editor in chief: Arindam Mukherjee Published by, Director, ISCS,India, 48/2, Dr. Suresh Sarkar Road, Kolkata-700 014 E-mail : iscskol@gmail.com, Website : www.iscskolkata.com; Pre-Press works : ADSONATA, (M) : 987452277