The Hassan district unit of Bharatiya Gnana Vignana Samiti (BGVS) is organising the third three-day State-level children’s festival, on January 23, next year. Schoolchildren from distant places who participate in the festival will be made to stay with local children as guests in their homes. As many as 200 children in the city will be hosts for the visiting 200 guests.
Ahmed Hagare, State convener, BGVS, on Wednesday, told The Hindu, “The main objective of the festival is to promote unity. We have a unique experiment, where local schoolchildren host the guests, irrespective of caste or religion,” he said. The organisers will be selecting 200 schoolchildren in Hassan for this. The selected children and their parents will be briefed about the programme in advance. “The parents have to pick up and drop the guest children along with their own children at the programme venue every day. This experiment has been successful in the last two festivals,” he said. The BGVS organises the State-level event once in two years.
The last two festivals were held in K.R. Nagar of Mysuru district and Bidar.
Activities
The organisers are expecting around 400 schoolchildren and 100 teachers to attend the programme. Those studying in Classes 7 and 8 have been asked to enrol for the event. “It is entirely an activity-based event. We are trying to promote how students can be made to understand the syllabus through activities. We will be focusing on astronomy, the environment, learning mathematics through origami, story-building, cellphone photography, experiments in laboratories and other similar activities,” he said.
Well-known scientists including Palahalli Vishwanath and many resource persons will participate in the event.
Funding
The reception committee, headed by H.S. Prakash, Hassan MLA, is looking for a suitable place to hold the event in Hassan. “The venue will be finalised soon. We are estimating a total expenditure of Rs.12 lakh for the three-day event. We have begun raising funds from the public. Many people have responded positively to our appeal for financial assistance,” Mr. Ahmed added.
