LEH: A week-long cultural workshop for children aged between 9 and 14 organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Arts, Culture and Languages, Leh concluded on Monday with mesmerising presentations of cultural programme and speeches by participating children in the Lotsava Auditorium of the Cultural Academy, here.
The audience which included parents of the participating children and other guests were awestruck to see little children making speeches so articulately, telling jokes, playing musical instruments and singing traditional songs.
Executive Councillor for Agriculture, LAHDC, Leh Tsering Wangdus, who was the Chief Guest on the occasion, congratulated Cultural Academy Leh headed by Tsewang Paljor and Camp Director Sangeet Natak Akademy awardee and founder-director Ladakh Theatre Organisation (LTO) Mipham Odsal for successfully conducting the workshop. Wangdus assured all possible efforts from LAHDC to such causes in future.
While describing the cultural workshop an alternative learning centre for children in their winter vacations, Special Officer for Culture, Cultural Academy, Tsewang Paljor said that future is safe in the hands of little children as he found almost all of them creative and positive towards the society.
He advised parents and schools to groom potential of different places as a workshop for seven days will not be enough to realise their full potentials in different fields or to inculcate many good habits among these children.
He also appreciated Ladakhi people in general for having a sense of cultural identity as people this year started wearing Ladakhi Goncha, costume, out of an interest not because of any compulsion.
Representatives of parents, Advocate Odsal Wangdus and New Editor AIR Diskit Dolma also spoke on the occasion. They urged parents to develop their children holistically through different exposures and training than focusing only on academics alone. Director LTO Mipham Odsal said that today’s transition era needs a cultural renaissance to preserve and pass on Ladakhi rich cultural heritage to the younger generation. He also urged for moral education in schools for a healthy society.
Dr Thupstan Norbo while briefing about the need of conducting such workshops expressed gratitude to Mipham Odsal for his creativity in conducting such a workshop so smoothly despite having children of different age groups.
Children in Ladakh have winter vacation for two and half months and most children, who are privileged to have electricity, satellite television and Internet facilities, are always glued either to TV screens or to computers and social media. Therefore, workshops on cultural heritage and ancestral wisdom and knowledge to the youngsters of today’s Internet generation, is a need of the hour.
Such workshops were organised last year also wherein children were given training in Ladakhi folk song besides boosting their confidence through different activities.