The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : This vacation, learn while you play

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

This vacation, learn while you play

AT THE CAMP: V. Sivankutty, MLA, interacting with the participants of the summer camp at the State Central Library in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. - Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

From magic shows and story telling to quiz competition and pleasure trips, the children's wing of the State Central Library has come up with an array of exhilarating programmes for children as part of its annual summer camp, which started here on Monday.

Over 800 children right from primary to high school section are taking part in the month-long programme, which began with a musical presentation of Kumaran Asan's `Veenapoovu,' by the children of the library staff.

Some of the proposed programmes include face-to-face with dubbing artiste Bhagyalakshmi; sessions by noted humorist Sukumar; blood donation; Earth Day celebrations; discussion on the role of children in energy conservation; talk on how to care for pets; talk on how to deal with stress during the time of examination; interactive session on personality development in children by T.P. Senkumar, Managing Director, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation; magic show by Gopinath Muthukad, chat with Rishi Raj Singh; and classes on origami, scope of information technology and road safety.

Children will also have an opportunity to interact with noted film, television and cultural personalities, including Nedumudi Venu, Madhupal, KPAC Lalitha, and Murali. A one-day tour will be organised as a part of the camp. Children will also have access to the park attached to the library. The park, complete with swings, slides, merry-go-rounds, water fountains and lawn also includes a lectern from where children can hone their public speaking skills. The camp will be held from 10.30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Unlike last year, there is no registration fee for the camp this time around as the Government had allocated around Rs2 lakh for the purpose according to B. Daivadathan, State librarian.

For effective management of the students, the camp will be divided into groups comprising primary and high school students, he said.

The library's annual summer camp is also a sure-fire way of improving its membership base as a good number of the camp participants will go onto become the members of the library.

Inaugurating the camp, V. Sivankutty, MLA, urged the students to make the most of the vacation by expanding their frontiers of knowledge through fun filled and information-oriented activities.

The library, situated adjacent to the existing State Central Library in the same compound, has separate sections for comics, academic books and novels for children studying in various classes right from lower primary to Plus Two. The library has over 20,000 books in its collection. It also has a multimedia centre, which functions as a game station. The section has already proved to be a hit with children.

SANGEETH KURIAN

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