The State Government’s ‘Bal Samagam’ programme to showcase the hidden talents of students is turning fruitful. A team of Human Resources Development (HRD) Department and Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) noticed active participation of students during the first phase of the programme which concluded on Tuesday.
Sports and cultural events were organised under the programme. Overall 52 lakh students from Class-I to VIII across the State participated in the first phase. Interestingly, students were also served ‘special dishes’ instead of regular Mid-Day meal.
“Children from low-income families are usually admitted in State Government schools. In such circumstances, we cannot charge fees for curricular activities wherein their hidden talents are exposed. The ‘Bal Samagam’ has been introduced to expose such talents,” said Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) Administrative Officer Pradip Kumar Choubey.
The Government has allotted a fund of Rs900 to each school for conducting the events. The school winners declared in the first phase will participate in the Bal Samagam at block level from January 22 to 23. Around 260 blocks have received a fund of Rs3700 each for organising the programme.
Subsequently, the block level winners will participate at district level from January 30 to 31. Rs3400 have been allotted to each district for the purpose. Choubey pointed that in a visit to Middle Schools at Hindpiri, Jagannathpur, Tetri and three more schools, parents of majority of the participants were present among the audience.
“The response of students was encouraging,” said HRD Secretary Aradhana Patnaik. Notably, Bal Samagam is basically like an annual function. Students have requested officials to conduct similar events on regular basis. The Primary schools were instructed to host the function in one day while Middle schools are given the flexibility to host the function in a span of two days.
Taking interest on Bal Samagam, Chief Secretary Sajal Chakraverty had held a meeting with all District Commissioners on January 7 to ensure that mentioned sports and cultural events are organised in all school in the first phase.