The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Fun day for future citizens

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Saturday, Nov 15, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Fun day for future citizens

Staff Reporter

Colourful rally, with ‘leaders’ at the helm, marks Children’s Day

— Photo: C. Ratheesh kumar

Little stars: Leaders, including the “Children’s Prime Minister,” set out for the rally taken out as part of the Children’s Day celebrations in the city on Friday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For a change, it was children who brought the traffic along the arterial M.G. Road to a halt on Friday. Thousands of them, dressed as freedom fighters, political leaders and religious heads, marched in unison waving miniature national flags to add spice to this year’s Children’s Day festivities in the city.

The stretch from Secretariat to VJT Hall was closed to vehicular traffic from 3.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m., as these children, under the watchful eyes of their teachers, took to the streets for a colourful rally to bring curtains down on the day’s events, which also marked the birth anniversary of the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The rally, which began at the S.M.V. Government Higher Secondary School, was led by the “Children’s President, Prime Minister and Speaker.”

The ‘leaders’ were selected from an elocution competition held in various districts last month. Gopika Prasannan, a class VII student of Nemom Government Upper Primary School was the president. The prime ministerial portfolio went to V.S. Anupama, a class IV student of Carmel Girls Higher Secondary School. Anusree V.V., a class VII student of Mannam Memorial School was the speaker.

Over 5,000 children representing 64 city schools took part in the event organised by the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare.

Earlier in the day, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs M. Vijayakumar released a Children’s Day stamp brought out by the council.

Painting as stamp

A painting done by Ashiq Rahaman, a class VIII student of Mohammed Ali Jawahar Higher Secondary School, Kozhikode, was chosen for the stamp. The painting which depicted an agrarian countryside was selected from over 4,000 entries received as part of a State-level competition conducted by the council.

Cultural festival

At St. Joseph’s Higher Secondary School here the day was marked by an inter-school cultural festival ‘Jo-Fiesta.’

Participants from around 40 schools took part in the event which witnessed competitions in light music, mime, dance and instrumental music.

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