School banner celebrating the International Day of Peace theme. (Photo source: Xian Liangjiatan International School)
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The Xian Liangjiatan International School (XLIS), located in a historic city that has been the focal point of the silk route and home to thirteen dynasties of ancient China, takes pride in our community. Our diversity is our strength, and we believe that community-driven approaches are the most successful pathways in leading education.
On the 21st of September, we celebrated the United Nations International Day of Peace. The parents played a very active role in reaching out to the wider community. Our theme for the year was “End racism, build peace!”. At the heart of the celebration was the aim of making students recognize the importance of intercultural understanding through the countries they represented as homerooms. As a school, we believe that peace is only possible if our children at school are culturally tolerant and open-minded.
The event kicked off with a parade of the different country contingents around the stadium before we proceeded to the indoor events. An array of fun activities were designed at various booths that were assigned for the different homerooms. The students took the initiative of designing the activities along with the homeroom teachers and the parent representatives from the classroom. What we witnessed was nothing less than an innovative, concerted effort from the entire community. The indoor gym was absolutely buzzing as parents and students were so excited to be back in school for an event. It was wonderful to welcome everyone back on campus after the multiple setbacks that schools have had over the past couple of years due to COVID. There was food from around the world in the various booths. The primary choir led the school in singing “Give Peace a Chance” by John Lennon and everyone in the audience joined in. There were speeches by our beloved principal, Dr. Lily Liu, and members of the senior leadership team. In their very passionate speeches, the students from primary and secondary called upon everyone to understand the impacts of racism and the need to eliminate it for peace to prevail.
As a school, we envision the continuation of innovation in our approach to improving the availability and access to high-quality, true international education for our community. We believe we can achieve our vision through continued partnership with our community and support from the local government.
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Shameek Ghosh is the diploma program coordinator at XLIS.
Brian Lalow is the deputy head of school at XLIS.
Website: https://xalis.com
