Global Learning Circles



Sponsored By KOTHARI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, NOIDA, INDIA

Teacher : Vijaya Modali

1. What form of government you are having in your country?

Democracy

2. What is your National Flag, National Anthem and Emblem?

NATIONAL ANTHEM OF INDIA Written by Shri Rabindranath Tagore

" Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka Jaya He

Bharat Bhagya Vidhata

Punjab Sindh Gujarat Maratha

Dravida Utkala Banga

Vindhya Himachal Yamuna Ganga

Ucchala Jaladhi Taranga

Tubh Shubha Name Jage

Tubh Shubha Ashisha Mange

Gahe Tubh Jaya Gata

Jan Gan Mangaldayak Jay He

Bharat Bhagya Vidhata

Jaye He ! Jaye He ! Jaye He !

Jaye,Jaye,Jaye,Jaye He "

Translation of The national anthem- Jana Gana Mana In English

                   Thou are the ruler of the minds of all people, dispenser of India's destiny.

The name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind, Gujurat and Maratha. Of the Dravid and Orissa and Bengal.

 It Echoes in the hills of Vindhyas and Himalayas, mingles in the music of Yamuna and Ganga and is chanted by the waves of the Indian Sea.

 They pray for your blessing and sing thy praise. The salvation of all peaople is thy hand, thou dispenser of India's destiny. Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.

Pingali Venkaiyya is the designer of the Indian National Flag 

Colors Of The Flag:In the national flag of India the top band is of Saffron colour, indicating the strength and courage of the country. The white middle band, indicates peace and truth with Dharma Chakra. The last band is green in colour shows the fertility , growth and auspiciousness of the land.

The Chakra:The spoked Ashoka Chakra in the center of the flag replaced the Gandhian spinning wheel to add historical "depth" and separate the national flag from that of the Indian National Congress.

This Dharma Chakra depicted the "wheel of the law" in the Sarnath Lion Capital made by the 3rd-century BC Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. The chakra intends to show that there is life in movement and death in stagnation.

The National Bird: The Peacock, Pavo cristatus (Linnaeus), the national bird of India. It is symbolic of qualities like beauty, grace, pride and mysticism.

The National Emblem: The Emblem of India is an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. It was adopted as the National Emblem of India on 26 January 1950, the day that India became a republic.The emblem symbolizes a NATION that is "valiant in courage, strong of body, politic in council and a foe to fear.

3. List out the rights given to the citizens in your country.

1. Right to Equality

2. Right to particular Freedom

3. Cultural and Educational Rights

4. Right to Freedom of Religion

5. Right against Explitation

6. Right to Constitutional Remedies

4. What’s the strength of your government? (How many cabinet ministers are there in your government?)

32 cabinet ministers

5. Is there corruption in your government? (Do you often hear about it through media?)

Yes, we often hear news about corruption and other criminal allegations about politicians.

6. What’s the minimum age limit for voting?

18 years

7. Is that free & fare elections?

Free – Yes

Fare – During elections we hear news about unfair voting in some areas.

8. Is there any qualification required for the nominees to contest?

No

9. Who’s the President of your country? How long he or she can rule?

Mrs. Pratibha Patil is the President of India.

She can continue as the President for 5 years

10. Do you think your government is doing the best to your people? If yes, tell us why. If no, give some solutions to improve.

Yes, to some extent our government is doing good . But we think if all the ministers are educated and honest , people will be benefited and our country will also join the developed nations.

Government

By Hadley Middle School, Wichita,

Kansas- USA

Teacher : Meagan Higgins

(1) What form of government are you having in your county?

• In our country our government is a Democracy. In which each citizen

has an equal voice in every government decision.

• We have a democracy a democracy is government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.

2) What are your national flag, national anthem and emblem?

Our national anthem was made by Francis Scott Key, “The Star Spangled Banner”. The National Anthem Of America

Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light, 

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? 

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, 

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? 

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. 

O say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave 

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? 

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, 

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, 

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, 

As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses? 

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, 

In full glory reflected now shines on the stream: 

'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner! O long may it wave 

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

Our nation flag is the U.S.A flag. Our national flag is red white and blue with white stars representing the fifty states.

Our national emblem is the Bald Eagle. The eagle represents freedom.

3) List out the rights given to the citizens in your country.

Our rights are freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, keep and bear arms, freedom of speech, freedom of press, and the protection for those accused of crimes.

4) What’s the strength of your government? (How many cabinet ministers are there in your government?) This question was very hard for my students. They do not know enough about what our government does to think about the strengths.

There are 15 cabinets in our government.

5) Is there corruption in your government? (Do you often hear about it through media?) Again, many of my students are not informed enough to know about any type of corruption – answered from the view of an 11-12 year old.

No there isn’t corruption in our government.

6) What’s the minimum age limit for voting?

The minimum age limit for voting is 18.

7) Is that free & fare elections? Fair is always debatable. There was some debate in past elections on counting of votes not being done correctly/accurately. There is also debate on how a candidate can earn the majority of the popular votes, but still not win.

Yes, those are fare elections.

8) Is there any qualification required for the nominees to contest?

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

9) Who’s the president in your country? How long can he rule?

Our current president is George W. Bush. Presidents can rule for two terms, each term is four years.

10) Do you think your government is doing the best to your people? I am not sure how much the kids know about what the government does for our people. Another group of students felt that our government is doing a good job because we were not having war over here (but yet, we are involved in war around the world).

We think that our government is doing the best for our people because they let us know what happens around the country.

GOVERNMENT

By School 7, Miass, Russia

Teacher: Rimma Zhukova

1. What form of government you are having in your country?

We come from Russia (the Russian Federation). Russia is a presidential republic.

2. What is your National Flag, National Anthem and Emblem?

Our flag is three-colored. It has 3 horizontal stripes: white, blue and red. The white stripe symbolizes the earth, the blue one stands for the sky and the red symbolizes liberty.

[pic]Emblem of our country

National Anthem of Russia

O Russia, for ever you’re strong sacred country!

O Russia, for ever the land that we love!

The fame that is great and the will that is mighty –

So be they thy treasure in ages to come.

Praised be the Fatherland, cherishing home of ours –

Cent’ries-old union of peoples in free,

Popular wisdom given us by ancestors.

Praised be our country! And we’re proud of thee!

From seas in the South and up to polar border

Our woods and our meadows have stretched far away.

Alone in the whole world, you stand one and only!

By God saved as ever our dear native land.

Praised be the Fatherland, cherishing home of ours –

Cent’ries-old union of peoples in free,

Popular wisdom given us by ancestors.

Praised be our country! And we’re proud of thee!

For generous dreaming, for life and for longing

The years approaching give us ample scope.

With faith in our Homeland we are getting stronger.

It was so, it is so and it will be so!

Praised be the Fatherland, cherishing home of ours –

Cent’ries-old union of peoples in free,

Popular wisdom given us by ancestors.

Praised be our country! And we’re proud of thee!

3. List out the rights given to the citizens in your country.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation that was adopted on December 12, 1993 establishes the basic rights. Here are only some of them:

The right to have education

To be equal in law

The right to use his/her native language; freely choose any language for communication, education

The right to take part in ruling the country directly or through their representatives

The right to have free medical service

4. What’s the strength of your government? (How many cabinet ministers are there in your government?)

Each branch of industry has its own ministry.

5. Is there corruption in your government? (Do you often hear about it through media?)

We haven’t heard about corruption in our government.

6. What’s the minimum age limit for voting?

The minimum age limit for voting is 18.

7. Is that free & fare elections?

Yes, it is.

8. Is there any qualification required for the nominees to contest?

The nominees must be honest, reliable and love the country.

9. Who’s the President of your country? How long he or she can rule?

The current president of Russia is Vladimir Putin.

Presidents can be elected for 2 terms, each term lasts 4 years. The President is involved in the work of the executive and legislative branches. Do you think your government is doing the best to your people? If yes, tell us why. If no, give some solutions to improve.

We are sure that our government is doing its best for its citizens.

Government

By School #7, Korolev, Russia

Teacher : Margarita Astakhova

RUSSIA

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The President of Russia is Vladimir Putin. It’s his second term. In March 2008 the new President will be elected. The minimum age of voting is 18. Yes, we have free and fare elections.

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The national anthem of Russia

Russia - sacred our power,

Russia - favorite our country.

Mighty will, great glory-

Yours riches on all times!

A refrain:

Be famous, Fatherland our free,

Fraternal people the union century,

Ancestors the given wisdom national!

Be famous, the country! We are proud you!

From the southern seas up to polar

Edge our woods and fields.

Were stretched. One you on light! One you such-

Defenses the God the native ground!

A refrain.

For dream and for a life

The Futures to us open wide open space of year.

To us force is given with our fidelity to Fatherland.

So was, so is and so will be always!

The Supreme Court represents the judicial branch of power. The Constitutional Court has the right to declare actions of the President, the Federal Assembly and the Federal Government unconstitutional.

Government

By Hillview College – Trinidad

Teacher: Ms. Yema Jaikaran

1. Trinidad and Tobago has a democratic system of government based on the Westminster model.

2. Our national flag is made up of three colors: red, white and black.

Each color is symbolic. The red represents the sun, the white the sea and the black the toil and labor of our people.

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Our national anthem is:

Forged from the love of liberty,

In the fires of hope and prayer,

With boundless faith in our destiny,

We solemnly declare:

Side by Side we stand,

Islands of the blue Caribbean Sea,

This our native land,

We pledge our lives to thee.

Here every creed and race

   Find an equal place,

   And may God bless our nation.

Our national emblem is our Coat of Arms. Please check hyperlink to view this.

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[pic]Trinidad and Tobago national anthem

3. The rights and freedoms of the people are enshrined in the National Constitution.

It is hereby recognised and declared that in Trinidad and Tobago there have existed and shall continue to exist without discrimination by reason of race, origin, colour, religion or sex, the following fundamental human rights and freedoms, namely:-

a. the right of the individual to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law;

b. the right of the individual to equality before the law and the protection of the law;

c. the right of the individual to respect for his private and family life;

d. the right of the individual to equality of treatment from any public authority in the exercise of any functions;

e. the right to join political parties and to express political views;

f. the right of a parent or guardian to provide a school of his own choice for the education of his child or ward;

g. freedom of movement;

h. freedom of conscience and religious belief and observance;

i. freedom of thought and expression;

j. freedom of association and assembly; and

k. freedom of the press.

4. THE CABINET

The Constitution provides for a CABINET under the general direction and control of the Government, collectively responsible to Parliament. The Cabinet has effective control of teh nation's affairs and is headed by the PRIME MINISTER, who is appointed by the PRESIDENT, and such numbers of other Ministers as he may decide to have, of whom one shall be the Attorney General, chosen from among the members of the House of Representatives and the Senators appointed by the President acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister.

The functions of the Cabinet include initiating and deciding on policy, the supreme control of the Government and the co-ordination of Government departments. The Prime Minister and his ministers retain office after the dissolution of parliament until a new Prime Minister is appointed or the old one reappointed. They may vacate office by replacement or resignation or by ceasing to be a member of the House to which they belong.

CABINET MINISTERS

Cabinet Ministers are appointed by the President acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister. Here the President has no discretionary power. The President acting on the advice of the Prime Minister, may assign to the Prime Minister or any other Minister responsibility for any business of the government including the administration of any department of government. The responsibilities so allocated to Ministers are detailed in their letters of appointment.

A Minister assigned responsibility for any department of government exercises general direction and control over that department and is answerable to Parliament for that department's activities. Ministers normally decide all matters within their responsibility. However on important political matters, they usually consult their colleagues collectively either through Cabinet or a Cabinet Committee.

In addition to the members of the Cabinet, the President may appoint, on the advice of the Prime Minister any number of Parliamentary Secretaries from among Senators and members of the House of Representatives. The functions of Parliamentary Secretaries are to assist Ministers in the performance of their duties.

5. Yes. All the time.

6. The age limit for voting is 18 years.

7. Supposedly.

8. Anyone can run for government once you are a national of Trinidad and Tobago with a clean police record.

9. George Maxwell Richards is the President. He can serve in office for five years. He can also be re elected.

10. No. A lot more needs to be done to curb the crime situation and the health sector needs to be revamped. Inflation also needs to be controlled. The government needs to put more serious emphasis on protecting and preserving the environment because we are seeing climatic shifts such as dry wet seasons and drier dry seasons.

Government

By University Prep Seattle, WA, USA

Teacher: Mark Cullen

1. What form of government you are having in your country?

While it is common for people to think that the United States is a democracy, we are, in fact, a republic. What’s the difference? Well, we are a republic with democratic principles. Let us explain.

A pure democracy exists in very few places. In a pure democracy, each person represents him or herself. An example of this is the New England town meeting.

New England is the area in the Northeastern part of the United States that consists of the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. In colonial times there were many small towns in this region, and many small towns remain. Mr. Cullen grew up in two of these, one in New Hampshire and the other in Massachusetts. The first had 300 people and the second 235! Towns this small often govern themselves with a town meeting; that is, all the voting citizens may come together 2-4 times a year to discuss important issues – and each citizen represents him or herself and has a vote.

In a republic, we elect representatives to, well, represent us. Each of us still has a vote, but other people speak for us. We have a national Congress with a Senate of 100 members (2 per each state) and a House of Representatives (435 members apportioned according to the population of each state).

We have three branches of government. The legislative consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the executive consists of the president and his/her Cabinet, and the judicial is represented by the Supreme Court, which has the final say among the three branches.

11. What is your National Flag, National Anthem and Emblem?

FLAG STORY

ON THE 14TH OF June, 1777, the Continental Congress passed the following resolution:

“Resolved, that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes alternate red and white- that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

The previous year a committee, that included George Washington, our first president, went to see Betsy Ross an innate seamstress. They came to Betsy Ross with a proposition that she happily accepted saying, “I’m not sure I can do this, but I will certainly try.” the proposition was to make the flag of for the United States.

Betsy Ross made This Flag

FUN FACTS

On June 20, 1782 the US Congress approved the seal designed by Charles Thompson, Secretary of the Continental Congress.

Thirteen is a symbolic number for citizens in the US, origination with the 13 colonies; there are 13 stripes on the shield, 13 stars on the crest, 13 olives on the 13 olive leaves, 13 arrows, and 13 letters in E PLURIBUS UNUM

The American bald eagle is the most prominent feature of the national emblem and many other national importance's.

The olive leaves represent peace and the arrows represent war. These demonstrate our desire for peace but our willingness to defend with might the nation that the seal represents.

The ribbon the eagle holds in its mouth holds the nations motto, “E PLURIBUS UNUM” meaning “Out of many, one” reminding us that out of many states was born one nation.

Our flag is known as “Old Glory” and as the “Stars and Stripes.”

Our national anthem is “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Oh, say can you see,

By the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed

At the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars,

Through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched

Were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare,

The bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night

That our flag was still there.

O, say, does that

Star-Spangled Banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free

And the home of the brave?

Our emblem is the bald eagle on the Great Seal of the United States.

12. List out the rights given to the citizens in your country.

We have so many rights that it would take several books to tell you about them all!

Our essential rights are contained in our Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to our Constitution.

Here is a summary of our Bill of Rights prepared by the California Polytechnic Institute:

Bill of Rights - The Really Brief Version

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution are summarized below.

|1 |Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. |

|2 |Right to keep and bear arms in order to maintain a well regulated militia. |

|3 |No quartering of soldiers. |

|4 |Freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. |

|5 |Right to due process of law, freedom from self-incrimination, double jeopardy. |

|6 |Rights of accused persons, e.g., right to a speedy and public trial. |

|7 |Right of trial by jury in civil cases. |

|8 |Freedom from excessive bail, cruel and unusual punishments. |

|9 |Other rights of the people. |

|10 |Powers reserved to the states. |

Read the complete text of the Bill of Rights.

Rather than discuss all of these in great detail, we made our discussion more interesting by having a vote among all our 6th graders as to which of our rights is most important to us. Interestingly, there was nearly a tie between freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Our students feel strongly about being ably to worship freely and being able to speak freely.

13. What’s the strength of your government? (How many cabinet ministers are there in your government?)

Our students agree that while we may disagree with our government, we still support it. And we have the right to state our views without getting into any trouble. The most impressive thing about our government recently was the presidential election of 2000. We did not know the outcome for 35 days, and yet it was very peaceful and we accepted the final decision of the Supreme Court whether our candidate won or not.

We learned a lot about our government from your question about cabinet ministers! It turns out that there are 15 Cabinet members in the United States, but there are 6 additional people who have what is called “Cabinet Rank.”

Each of the official Cabinet members runs a department of the United States government:

Agriculture

Commerce

Defense

Interior

Justice

Labor

Education

Energy

Health and Human Services

Homeland Security

State

Transportation

Treasury

Veterans Affairs

Housing and Urban Development

The Cabinet Rank members are:

Vice-President

Office of Management and Budget

Environmental Protection Agency

White House Chief of Staff

U.S. Trade Representative

Office of National Drug Control Policy

14. Is there corruption in your government? (Do you often hear about it through media?)

Well, we are sorry to say that sometimes there is corruption, though we don’t hear about it very often. Last year a man went to jail for trying to bribe members of our national Congress. And a senator from Alaska is being investigated for using public money (and workers) to improve his house. The biggest problem we have is that lobbyists spend a lot of money trying to get government officials on their side.

Yes, we hear about it on the television news and in the newspaper.

15. What’s the minimum age limit for voting?

You may vote when you turn 18.

16. Is that free & fare elections?

For the most part, yes. Unfortunately, we have had two very controversial elections in the last few years. One was the 2000 presidential election, which we mentioned before. The other was the election for governor in Washington State in 2004, when one candidate defeated the other by 133 votes out of 2.9 million votes cast. Who says each vote doesn’t make a difference?

17. Is there any qualification required for the nominees to contest?

To be able to run for president, you have to be 35 years old and have been born in the United States. The current governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenneger, is not able to run for president since he was born is Austria.

18. Who’s the President of your country? How long he or she can rule?

George Walker Bush is currently the president of the United States. He may serve a total of eight years – 2 – 4 year terms.

19. Do you think your government is doing the best to your people? If yes, tell us why. If no, give some solutions to improve.

We think our government makes a good effort. However, as we have seen from things like Hurricane Katrina, it is not always well-organized enough to be able to respond to urgent needs quickly. Fortunately this past week in Washington State, there was a quick response to our floods, though the floods themselves weren’t anywhere nearly as serious as Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

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All men and women over 18

THE PRESIDENT

THE SUPREME COURT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

THE PEOPLE

THE FEDERAL ASSEMBLY

the Federation Council

2 representatives from each federal subject

the Duma

450 deputies

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

the Chairman

of the Government,

Ministers

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