‘Failure Week’ kicks off at Aditya Birla World Academy to celebrate failure
Mumbai: As Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has aptly quoted in his autobiography ‘Wings of Fire’ “Don’t read success stories, you will only get message. Read failure stories, you will get some ideas to get success.” In an endeavour to acknowledge and celebrate failure, Aditya Birla World Academy (ABWA) has organised a unique virtual event ‘Failure Week’ from 21st to 25th September 2020. This will be for the students from Grade 8 to 12. Most narratives around us rarely acknowledge the journey that includes several failures before successes. During the entire ‘Failure Week’, the emphasis the merits of failure and on the possible ill-effects of trying too hard not to fail. The failure week will be promoted on Social Media with #OwnYourFailure.
ABWA has planned activities like ‘OwnYourStory’ which will comprise stories by teachers and coping mechanisms/ reassurance provided by learners; Self-reflection where Counsellors will facilitate an art-based class; Guest speakers will share their own journey that will create a safe space for the learners to embrace risk, build resilience and learn from their mistakes. ABWA wants its students to imbibe that perseverance and grit are important skills that help them sail through the toughest times and its ok to not succeed in everything that you do.
Mrs Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson, Aditya Birla Education Trust, “Just like success, failure is an inevitable and an integral part of our lives. Failure provides us many opportunities to grow and evolve as human beings. Therefore, it becomes imperative to teach children the skills to cope and deal with failure so that they are able to build resilience early on in their careers. I am really excited about this one-of-its-kind event, which has been planned by our pastoral care team ably supported by other teams at ABWA.”
Mrs Radhika Sinha, Principal, Aditya Birla World Academy said, “Challenges, obstacles, failure are all developmentally necessary for each one of us. They humble us and bring us face to face with the real world! Ironical as it may sound, among the life lessons we learn through our journey, failure has the most positive and far reaching impact. It often is a turning point in our transformational journey. But, we all have within us, coping mechanisms that give us the ability to ‘bounce back’. And that is the beginning of resilience. So, if one success story does not complete itself, there is always another that soon begins.”