Children dance, sing, paint at Makkala Habba

Mangalore, March 10: Children from different government and Ashrama schools across the district danced, sang, staged plays, painted their thoughts at the district-level Makkala Habba programme organised at Town Hall on Friday.

The programme which is an initiative of Bal Vikasa Academy, Dharwad, was organised in collaboration with Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat, Women and Child Welfare Department, Bal Vikasa Academy District Programme Implementing Committee and the District Public Instructions Department.

Inaugurating the event, Zilla Panchayat President K T Shailaja Bhat expressed the need to provide children with an environment that enables all-round development.

“There was lot of pressure on children which had been coming in the way of their development. Children, who were the future citizens, need a stress-free environment and they need to blossom like a flower”, she said.

Women and Child Welfare Department Deputy Director Shakunthala A said that the programme has been organised state-wide on an experiment basis. The main objective of organising Makkala Habba is to provide a platform to the school children, especially those hailing from poor socio-economic background, to exhibit their hidden talents. The programme also keeps studies away for a day and the children will be allowed to celebrate their day in their own style. Makkala Habba would boost the children's interest towards extra-curricular activities, she said.

“Bal Vikasa Academy which was established in 2010 has several plans for the development of the children and Makkala Habba is one of them. There are plans to organise Makkala Habba in taluk-level from the next year,” she said.

Coastal Development Authority Chairman Nagaraj Shetty was also present.