India First Foundation School awards Rs 1 Lakh to student-designer
IFFS students judge Uniform Design Contest; iNIFD Haryana wins coveted prize
It is every child's dream to be able to decide what he and his friends will wear in school. This dream came true for students at India First Foundation School (IFFS), when the school presented them with the opportunity to judge and select the winners of a fashion design contest. This was no ordinary design contest. It was a contest to design the uniform of IFFS. 
A co-ed residential school in Karjat, IFFS concluded its Uniform Design Contest with a Grand Finale on Sunday. In a process that sprawled over a few months due to its expansive and detailed nature, invites were first send out to 150 design institutes. The school received tremendous response from the design institutes. Over 200 entries came in for the competition. All entries were subjected to scrutiny based on parameters such as comfort level, colour, texture, wearability, appearance and suitability to purpose. From these, 3 finalists were chosen by IFFS to display their final uniform designs on the 16th of October 2011. "This event was a one of its kind display show organized for children. It was indeed interesting to witness that children were offering their own opinions and a few of them even voted towards the choice of uniforms. This individual expression of opinion is always encouraged at India First Foundation School", said Mrs Kavita Karve, Principal, IFFS.
The winners of the evening were the designer duo Mansi Kataria and Veenu Pundir from INIFD, Hissar, Haryana. They were awarded cash prize of 1 lakh rupees followed by 50,000 rupees for the first runner up which happened to be students of the J D Institute of Fashion Technology, Vile Parle, Mumbai. The second runner up of the evening was the team from INIFD Chandigarh which was awarded a cash prize of 25,000 rupees. The designers had presented summer uniforms, winter uniforms, sports wear and yoga wear for the students - each design keeping in mind the comfort and activity levels of the children.
The contest was organised keeping in mind the IFFS philosophy of "Education beyond Books". IFFS wanted to redesign the uniforms to ensure they are comfortable to wear according to the weather of Karjat. Another unique twist to this already unique evening was that two students of the IFFS family were a part of the panel of judges for the evening. It was an attempt to give the children's voice a space and have their say in the uniforms they would someday be wearing. The other eminent judges for the evening were the Principal of India First Foundation School, Ms Kavita Karve, Mr. Vinod Bhanushali, the president of T-Series, Mr. Sumit Dutt the founder director of Leo Stride Connect and Ms Seema Sharma, a senior teacher from IFFS.
It was exciting to have participants come to Karjat from Chandigarh and Haryana and from Mumbai which is home to many of the staff and students at IFFS. And even more thrilling was the spring in the step of the IFFS students as they walked the stage.
