In order to kindle interest in Thirukkural among students the management of the Tagore Matriculation Higher Secondary School (CBSE) recently organised a mass “couplets recitation” programme on the school premises here. As many as 287 students, right from Class I to Class X, recited the 1,330 couplets, in the school playground, non-stop, for an hour and 17 seconds. However, to qualify for the Limca Book of World Records the recitation should have been completed within an hour. Though the students could not make it to the world records they were happy over the fact that they could commit all the couplets to memory in a commendable manner.
That the event was organized a few days prior to Thiruvalluvar Day, one of the main festivities during Pongal festival, gave it the much needed thrust.
The teachers trained the students in such a way that they all recite the couplets in unison without any deviation or any jarring notes. Their effort in this regard was lauded by Rajabather, Chairman of the Indira Gandhi Jayanthi Memorial, Educational, Cultural and Charitable Trust (that runs the school).
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The parents who gathered there to witness the occasion felt proud that their children could master the entire Thirukkural, a treatise on life sciences, statecraft and administration. The couplets which the students memorized would always be etched in their mind to guide them in their future endeavour, they felt.
Principal Sengazhani was present and the participants were given certificates.
The students are trained in such a way that they all recite the couplets in unison