A few schools in Parkview have had the opportunity to pioneer a ‘positive’ initiative.
Signs of Positivity is an initiative developed by Reg Pakari of Whack Art and Design. The founder believes positive reinforcement is always needed, particularly in times where many children are struggling to cope with day-to-day challenges.
Pakari added that he believes in social entrepreneurship as his business makes a profit from the sponsorship (which he garners for the initiative) and also from the sale of Signs of Positivity merchandise (such as T-shirts and stickers). The school also earns a percentage of the profits from the sale of merchandise.
“As an entrepreneur who has had to stay motivated during tough times, I often depended on positive quotes to keep me going – often a quote helps me just to get through to the next day.
In recent years, I’ve developed a need to motivate young people because I’ve never lost hope, even in the most trying times. I can attribute some of that to the presence of positive quotes. I acknowledge that there are many situations that can’t be fixed by just being positive but there are also many situations that can,” Pakari shared.
Pakari said both sponsors and pilot schools were thrilled about the initiative.
He added that there are 10 different messages for outdoor signs and 10 different messages for indoor signs. The indoor signs are duplicated nine times, so the school get a standard set of 100 signs (10 outdoor and 90 indoor).
“The idea is for the same messages to be a constant reminder to the conscious minds of the children and teachers and then their subconscious minds once they get used to the signs. There’s also a constant flow of learners coming into schools and moving on to new ones as they grow,” Pakari explained.
Principal Usha Bahadur of Parkview Senior School, which has had signs installed, shared the staff’s excitement about the concept, “The signs have only recently been put up around the school and the children are taking the time to read them. Seeing them and reading them every day will most definitely have a positive effect as positive messages have a way of ‘lifting one’s spirits’.
“They have been placed at strategic places around the school where children normally congregate, such as around the school grounds and classrooms. Smaller versions of the signs are being placed in all the classrooms as well for further reinforcement of the messages.”
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