Jammu, Dec 10 (KNS): Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar today said that education is much beyond the four walls of classrooms and comprises of plethora of other extracurricular activities exercised in the field.

These remarks were made the Advisor during the valedictory function of J&K UT level Kala Utsav 2021 Programme organised by Directorate of Samagra Shiksha to felicitate the winners of Utsav at Teachers Bhawan here.

Project Director, Samagra Shiksha, Deep Raj; Director School Education, Jammu, Dr Ravi Shankar Sharma, officers and officials of Education department and large number of students were present during the occasion.

While appreciating the students for their powerful performances, Advisor Bhatnagar said that the New Education Policy has a lot of scope for extracurricular activities of music and art. He maintained that all the 9 categories of art and music depicted during this utsav  are highly fruitful in building strong character of the performers.

He reiterated that in future much resources would be dedicated for promotion of such art forms. He exhilarated that in order to perform at such stages, the students would have made hard efforts to reach here and ‘everybody here is a winner whether he/she takes the trophy or not'.

The Advisor encouraged all the students to make these art forms their passion and explore these with all dedication. He emphasised that there is no limit in the quest one should possess in exercising the art. He mentioned that on watching today’s performances he believes that the UT would fetch first place in the National competition.

During his address, the Advisor appreciated the students for their performances which were full of energy and enthusiasm. He commended both the participants and teachers for their extraneous efforts despite being going through covid pandemic from last two years.

The Advisor also exhorted upon the participants to be proactive in adopting the tenants of Swachh Bharat and Fit India campaigns. He asked them to inculcate the culture of sports to remain physically fit and healthy. He also advised them to defeat the 3rd wave of Covid-19 disease by strictly observing the Covid appropriate behaviour and protocols.

The Project Director, Samagra Shiksha, Deep Raj while welcoming the participants said that he feels immense happiness in hosting such a prestigious competition. He congratulated every student, teacher and administrators including the Chief Education Officer, Jammu for giving their best in making the programme successful.

The Project Director also stated that the extracurricular activities are important part of life as they keep us stress-free and disciplined. He exhorted upon the students to take part in these activities in every form of art and exhibition. He lauded the efforts of Samagra Shiksha team for making all the arrangements for successful conduct of the Kala Utsav.

The Director, School Education Jammu said that schools are the stepping stones for students to showcase their talent on the platform offered to them in the shape of such events. He said that he finds himself fortunate enough to assist children to  exhibit their skill. He said that his office would make all kinds of efforts to give opportunities to students for regular display of their talent.

It was revealed during the event that a total of 14360 students from 3500 schools of Jammu division and 12227 students from 2849 schools of Kashmir division took part in this Kala Utsav.

The UT level competition was held between 8th to 10th of this month among the 36 shortlisted students in nine categories of art and music.

Those who were declared as winners include Saqib Aijaz (Vocal Music-Classical, Male), Bisma Sajad (Vocal Music-Classical, female), Mohsin Subhan (Vocal Music-traditional folk, male), Aniksha Balotra (Vocal Music-traditional folk, female), Rudra Sharma (Instrumental Music Classic, Male), Tejasvi Verma (Instrumental Music Classic, female), Sumit Kumar Instrumental Music Traditional, male), Harsimran Kour (Instrumental Music Traditional, female),  Mehran Rafi Shah (Dance Classic, Male), Ambreen Kour (Dance Classic, Female), Vishal Kumar (Dance Folk, Male), Harisha (Dance Folk, Female), Mohd Tawheed Dar (2D Visual Arts, Male), Shoba (2D Visual Art, Female), Deepak Kumar (3D Visual Art, Male), Nehail Qadri (3D Visual Art, Female), and Mumtaz Younis and Sabita in Indigenous Toys & Games in male and female category respectively. (KNS)