Childrens Festival kicked off in style

BHUBANESWAR: Suravi, the State-level Children’s festival, kicked off in style on Saturday. A  cycle rally, flagged off by School and Mass Education Minister Pratap Jena, marked the beginning of the three-day programme organised by the School and Mass Education Department to mark the Children’s Day.The theme for this year’s programme is ‘Today’s Call, Education for All’.As a run up to the event, around one lakh students from across the State had participated in 13 competitions at block  and district levels. The winners from these competitions were brought to the main event being held at Unit IX Government Boys High School here.The school ground has been converted into a fair, with lights and creative compounds for each workshop. Right at the entrance is the enclosure for sand art where artist Sudarshan Patnaik could be seen handing out tips to the students.Besides, workshops on clay modelling, art and painting, balloon art, life and model making, dance and magic are being hosted. Dancer Harihar Das, who won ‘India Has Got Talent’ trophy, was present for the dance workshop.One of the major attractions of Suravi is the film screening and movie-making event. Movies are being screened everyday at Rabindra Mandap. Besides, a film making workshop is also being conducted. Around 30 students from 30 districts have been selected for this workshop.The students are capturing Suravi throughout and will be presenting the final output on November 14, Children’s Day. Also four child reporters from Koraput are covering the event.School and Mass Education Department Commissioner-cum-Secretary Aparajita Sarangi who was present during the event said, “The major focus of our endeavour has been to minimise the drop-out rate by making education exciting and involving students in the entire process.”  She added that the drop-out rate has fallen to 4.9 per cent from 52 per cent in 2003.“Currently, there are 72,048 students out of school and the Department targets to integrate them back to the school,” added Sarangi.Plans for similar events in future would be chalked out on Sunday.