Azim Premji University & Education Department of Karnataka State Government organises KathaVana

The 3-day Children's Literature Festival 'Kathavana' reached its peak on the second day with a colourful festival which saw a huge congregation of children and a celebration of stories in many vibrant forms. Organized by Azim Premji University in collaboration with the Education Department of Karnataka State Government, the festival was held at the playground of the Government Model Primary School for Girls in Sarjapura.

Well-known writer of children's literature in Kannada Bolvar Mohammed Kunhi inaugurated the festival along with Ramamurthy, Block Education Officer of Anekal; Anurag Behar, Chief Executive Officer, Azim Premji Foundation, and Manjunath SV, Head of the Karnataka State Institute, Azim Premji Foundation.

The festival was attended by nearly 900 children from 26 schools of the 4 nearby clusters of Sarjapura, Dommasandra, Mugalur and Neriga (from the educational block of Anekal). The children spent the day in enjoying storytelling, reading, puppetry shows, writing, drama performances, painting and other fun-filled activities. The whole venue came alive with enthusiastic and joyful participation of the children, parents and teachers.

In his speech, Mohammed Kunhi emphasized the importance of reading and how reading aloud can help children understand the spirit of the story. He suggested that teachers should encourage reading by making library books available to children to borrow and take home. He also demonstrated to the children just how easy it was to write a simple story, and encouraged all of them to read more as well as form a habit of creating their own stories.

Organizations like Bookalore, Kathaalaya, Bimba and Tarikita as well as the students of Azim Premji University engaged the children through their activity centers, while various book publishers (including National Book Trust, Prism, Pratham Books, Tulika, Funky Rainbow and Navakarnataka Publications) set up bookstalls for children and teachers. Everyone attending the festival, especially the children, enjoyed every bit of the fun and colour.

The third and final day of Kathavana continues tomorrow (11th September) at Sarjapur. Teachers will be the focus of tomorrow's events as they experiment with the idea of 'literary circles', featuring discussions on stories, as an approach to constructively engaging with literature.

Source : Equity Bulls

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