Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 14: Women and child development minister Usha Devi inaugurated Rainbow-2015, an annual state-level children’s festival, at Adivasi Ground in the city Saturday.
The two-day festival organised by Orissa State Child Protection Society (OSCPS) aims to promote creativity, healthy competition, self-expression through art, drawings and exposure to new skills among hundreds of children from across the state.
Above 600 students from all districts participated in different workshops such as terracotta, pottery, paper craft, soft-toy making and contemporary dance.
“We have specially invited physically-challenged students from special schools across the state. The festival would be a platform for these children in order to exhibit their talents,” said Manoj Kumar Tripathy, programme manager of the event.
“Competitions among the students will be held in order to foster a spirit of healthy competition. An interaction programme with well-known celebrities like Kuna Tripathy, Ratikant Satapathy, Harihara Deo and child artist Swaraj Barik has been planned,” Tripathy said.
“The participants in this festival have been chosen on the basis of their performance at the district-level. The best-performing district will be felicitated with a trophy at the end of the programme,” the programme manager
added.
Thousands of visitors thronged the venue to experience the various handicrafts prepared by the kids.
“I was fascinated by the wide range of pots. The children came up with some wonderfully-designed pots in different colours. The paper flowers were also lovely. They looked like real flowers,” said Sandhya Mahapatra, a visitor.
Other dignitaries like state commissioner for persons with disabilities Kasturi Mohapatra, commissioner-cum secretary of W&CD Saswata Mishra and director of social welfare and director OSCPS Aswathy S were present at the event.
