Scintillating art performances by twelve teams of Government school students from across J&K featured in the final round of Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan’s (RMSA) Kala Utsav here today, even as Minister for Education Mohammad Altaf Bukhari vowed to throw up new opportunities to enable children of state to showcase their talent.Twelve teams from Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh divisions, who emerged winner at different levels of competitions, showcased their skills in Theatre, Music, Dance and Visual arts as a jam packed auditorium at Teacher Bhawan applauded their performances.Minister for Education, Mohammad Altaf Bukhari was Chief Guest and Minister of state for education, Culture floriculture Priya Sethi was guest of honour.Government Model Higher Secondary School Pooch, Government Higher Secondary School Kathua, Government Higher Secondary School Bandipur and Government HSS Barwal (Kathua) emerged winner in Theatre, Dance, Music and visual arts respectively.The Winner teams in each category would participate at the National Level cultural event being held in Bhopal Madhya Pradesh(MP) shortly. The winner and runner up teams were also presented mementoes by the Ministers.
In his address, Minister for Education said that the government would hold series of cultural events and student tours within state to enable children to know the cultural mosaic of the J&K and show their potential at highest platforms.Applauding the performance of the students, the Minister said state of Jammu and Kashmir has no dearth of talent but there is a need to hone their skills. He said of late, the government schools are doing fairly well in all fields and government would continue to encourage them by holding more such events in future. He also applauded the teacher fraternity for putting up their best efforts to prepare students to face competitions. “ We may not have uniform infrastructure in all Government schools, but our strength is our teachers which have no match in qualification and competence” he said and called upon them to put in more efforts to realize the goal of taking the education standard in government schools to new heights. He said government’s efforts are to attract maximum enrollment and for that the teachers have to put in more efforts.
Addressing the students, Priya Sethi said that cultural activities are inseparable from education and schools are best means to preserve and keep the state’s heritage alive, “The performances which we witnessed today bear the testimony that our children have all the ingredients to promote and project their rich cultural heritage” she said and suggested that schools can become best mediums to preserve and promote art forms, which many fear are dying.She suggested exploring new options to encourage students, especially in government schools to take forward the cultural legacy of the state and country. She stressed on giving more opportunities to the children with special needs as well. Priya Sethi said to promote art in education by nurturing and showcasing the artistic talent of school students this is a great initiative of union HRD ministry." After this state level function, the students will participate in the national level competition “kala utsav” which should be a matter of pride for the state, Priya said .Secretary School Education, Farooq Ahmed Shah also spoke on the occasion and elaborated on the department’s efforts towards raising the education standard in government schools.