Kuntadi Pratham Kini, a Class 6 student from Amrita Vidyalayam, Mangaluru, was among the 25 students from across the country who spoke about Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at the Central Hall of Parliament on the occasion of Rashtriya Ekta Divas on October 31.
Pratham, the elder of the two sons of businessman Sunil Kini and homemaker Kuntadi Akshatha, was among the “Super 25” in the Veer Gatha contest held by the Ministry of Defence last year.
These 25, along 50 other students, including NCC cadets and NSS volunteers, underwent different levels of online testing of their speech skills before 25 students got shortlisted for a speech on Patel. This event was organised jointly the Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies and Lok Sabha Secretariat.
“I have been learning Hindi since Class 1. There was no problem for me to speak about Patel in Hindi for three minutes,” said Pratham, who has been participating in elocution, speech, and Sanskrit slokas recitation events. “My mother helped me in preparing the speech,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Ms. Akshata said that the highlight of her son’s speech was his poem on Patel, which was refined by his Hindi teacher. “This poem had a good effect on the listeners,” she said.
After the event, Pratham said the participants were taken on a tour of Parliament. “I was very excited to meet the genial Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and several Central Ministers,” he said.
School principal Araty H. Shetty and school campus director Yatish Baikampady were present at the press conference.
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