Knowledge
9 Kerala students to read news in Sanskrit on the airwaves
In an attempt to encourage students to pick up Sanskrit and popularise it, the SSA is organising a Sanskrit news reading session for students which would be broadcasted on AIR. Students underwent a 3 day training workshop to prepare for the same.
Sunday, May 15 is going to be a momentous day in Kerala, for on that day, 9 students from a district will showcase their news reading skills in Sanskrit on a program that would be broadcasted by the All India Radio (AIR).
In preparation for the event, Samprativartah (www.samprativartah.in) conducted a 3-day training camp in Sanskrit news reading for school children. This entire event is an effort by Samprativartah, an online Sanskrit news portal to popularise Sanskrit language. Samprativartah is promoted by Sanskrit teachers in Ernakulam, and the SIRVA Shish Bahaman (SSA).
Although the training camp saw a sizeable attendance of more than 50 students from classes IV to VII across the district, only 9 of them made the final cut to read the news.
When will the news be telecast?
"We are planning to launch a weekly news programme on the portal with these trained students as news readers. The news package is likely to be telecast on Monday, starting next week," said O.S. Harikumar, a Sanskrit teacher at St. Maryâ’s UP School, Thevara, and member of the SSA's Sanskrit Research Group that founded the online portal.
Eligibility to attend the camp.
"The camp was open only to students from Ernakulam district, mostly from government schools, owing to logistical issues," Harikumar added.
Encouraged by the overwhelming response the camp received, the organisers are thinking about conducting more such events in other districts.
Even during the camp held in Kochi, the organisers received a number of applications from other districts.
Sanskrit logo for SSA:
The camp also saw the release of a Sanskrit logo for the SSA, featuring messages on education being released. The logo was designed by a Sanskrit teacher associated with Samprativartah.
Harikumar said SSA would be using the logo extensively for its Sanskrit based projects across the country.