The 18th year of the International ICT Seagulls Projects was completed despite the negative effects of the pandemic. The main reasons for that were; the İmece Circles (SQC) methodology and the continuing consultancy, in addition to the commitment and hard work of the participating schools. They worked hard and they created miracles in their categories. In the “Middle School” category of the Seagulls Project, there were three schools (one school from Sri Lanka and two schools from India). Within the “High School” category two teams registered, one from India and one from Thailand. On the other hand, two “Community Seagulls” projects consisting of adult volunteers working in non-governmental organizations spread their project time over two years. Project leaders of that adult category shared the reports of their first year, and they are going to start their work for the second year on November 1st.
This year, for the first time, students from an Indian private school named “Blue Bells High School, Haryana” dedicated their project work to providing technical support to the older members of the community who are having problems with the use of technology in their daily lives due to the pandemic. Thus, a new category they created: “Young Leaders of the Community Seagulls”. In 2017, a teacher leader of a Sri Lankan Secondary School (Judith Perera) conducted a similar project, regularly teaching English to adults in their villages in support of Sri Lanka’s tourism, and received recognition for her work. Years pass by, and innovative steps appear within the borders of our Project making us very happy and hopeful for the future days of the world.
I would like to share the project topics and award categories of the teams registered for the “K-12” category in 2021.
8 12-year-old students (SQC Dew Drops) from St. Anthony’s College, Sri Lanka, led by their award-winner teacher Judith Perera, set up a YouTube channel to share the sightseeing aspects of the Rakwana region with the community and students at the school. They called it a “Virtual Field Trip”. Their goal was to endear nature, make good use of time, use Covid in a useful business, and promote the natural beauty of their region. Thus, they were given the “Most Interesting Method developed for the Pandemic Days Award” and the “Taner Özbey Special Award*” given by YİMEDER due to using technology for a different field and purpose. To see their project, please tick the link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/167RQaTtASU5hoBTSPfCQhd1wFizsgAG/edit#slide=id.p1
Choosing the project as resisting the negative impact of Covid-19 both physically and mentally, the “SQC Sunshine” of 7 students from the 12 and 13 age groups of The City Montessori School in Lucknow, India prepared a very informative project by using the quality tools. The team got the “Most Informative Content for Pandemic” award and the “Champion Team of Minor Age Groups” award. Since 2006, the teams from CMS have been participating in the ICT Seagulls projects under the dynamic leadership of Dr. Vineeta Kamran, Archana Behari, and Sumita Bhadoria. To see the project, please visit the following link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1I7ETMrDqzDm3WG8Ymt3DPOKlridlfjUr/edit#slide=id.p1
Bhavan Vidyalaya “Nidhuvanam” SQC/team consisting of 11 13–14-year-old students, 2 parents, and 2 community leaders aimed at finding a solution to one of the most important problems of education which is “Plagiarism and use of unfair means in online exams”. Led by Gulshan Kaur, the project leaders Anjum Vigha and Anupama Parashar, the team received the awards of “Champion Team of the 13-14 Age group” and the “Most Successful Academic Study of 2021”. They also developed a new method of self-evaluation. Please visit the following link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/167RQaTtASU5hoBTSPfCQhd1wFizsgAG/edit#slide=id.p1
The “SQC SocioTech Connectors” at the Blue Bells Model School in Haryana, consisted of 10 high school students, two parents, and two community leaders, aimed to blend innovation with sustainability and helped local people who are ignorant and/or inadequate in using technology and serve the community in this way. They got the “Champion High School Students in Service to Society” Award. They also got the “Prof.Dr. Ümit Serdaroğlu Special Award*” of YİMEDER. The students worked with their leading teachers, Dr. Madhu Gupta and Sanyana Sanjay Bhasin under the dynamic leadership of Alka Singh. Please visit their web page: https://www.sociotechconnectors.in/
Assumption Samutprakarn School, from Thailand, participated in the project with 8, high school students, as the “SQC ACSP”. They questioned the educational system of their country and worked on a new system. Mrs.Siriya Kanivaranon, Mr. Koompan Jantawan, Ms. Sureerat Kay and Mr. Bogdan Jarcau led the team. The team members got the “Most Enthusiastic Team” and “Associate Professor. Erol İnelmen Special*” Awards. To learn more, please visit the web page of the project: https://acsponline.org
*Special Awards are given on behalf of our three precious members who worked hard for the establishment and development of our NGOs_“Association for Innovative Collaboration (YİMEDER)” and the previous one named “Association for Continuous Improvement (Sü Ge Der). Their losses still deeply sadden us. May their souls rest in peace.
Two-year-lasting “Community Seagulls” Projects:
- The team, which aims to increase the love of reading among the town inhabitants by establishing libraries in villages in Edremit, Balıkesir (A western city in Turkey) under the name of “Gulf Seagulls”, started its second year under the leadership of Sinan Tortum.
- “Energy Seagulls” led by YİMEDER also work for preparing a resource book that will raise energy awareness in young age groups.
We are thankful to our jury members for their great efforts and contributions. Their names were as follows:
*Prof. Dr. Syed Ali from Johns Hopkins University, USA,
* Prof. Dr. Richard Ennals from Kingston University, UK,
* IT Director of YİMEDER Mr. Mehmet Gül (TR) and
* Education director of Daily Cumhuriyet (Republic), Ms. Figen Atalay (TR).
I would like to congratulate all the teams that have received very good results by working for months, to thank their supporters, and to wish their successful work to continue in the future.
The main topics of our 19th project, which will start on November 1, 2021, are determined as:
- Will the pandemic end? Will there be new ones? What’s life going to be like afterward?
- Will the Paris Agreement bring any solution to the climate problem of the world? Why/not? What is your solution?
- Women’s Rights & Violence against Women: Do you have any solution?
- Why is education in every country losing blood? What are the causes and solutions?
- How would you solve the water problem as the future leaders of the world?
We wish you healthy and cheerful days. We hope, more teams will be with us in the year 2022.
Associate Professor Hayal KÖKSAL