As many as nine students from the district got a rare opportunity to prove their news reading skills in Sanskrit at a programme broadcast by the All India Radio (AIR) on Sunday.
The opportunity came their way, thanks to the three-day training camp in Sanskrit news reading for school children organised by Samprativartah (www.samprativartah.in), an online Sanskrit news portal promoted by Sanskrit teachers in Ernakulam, and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).The students also shared their experience at the training camp.
More than 50 students studying in Standards IV to VII at schools across the district attended the camp. “We are planning to launch a weekly news programme on the portal with these trained students as news readers.
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The news package is likely to be telecast on Monday, starting next week,” said O.S. Harikumar, a Sanskrit teacher at St. Mary’s UP School, Thevara, and member of the SSA’s Sanskrit Research Group that founded the online portal.
The response to the camp was so encouraging that the organisers are planning to conduct more such events in other districts.
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Even during the camp held in Kochi, the organisers received a number of applications from other districts. “We limited the camp to students from Ernakulam district, mostly from government schools, owing to logistical issues,” Mr. Harikumar added. The camp also witnessed the release of a Sanskrit logo for the SSA designed by a Sanskrit teacher associated with Samprativartah. Mr. Harikumar said the logo, featuring messages on education, would be extensively used by the SSA for its Sanskrit-based projects across the country, he added.