Month-long Special Children’s Cultural workshop concludes; Children thankful to teachers

Month-long Special Children’s Cultural workshop concludes; Children thankful to teachers

Leh, Feb 20: On the concluding day of the month-long children’s cultural workshop conducted by the Cultural Academy, Leh, a heartwarming performance was put up by the participating students. Dressed in traditional attires, their spirits were high as their tiny feet tried to keep up with the beating drum.

“This initiative received an extremely good response from parents who enrolled their children,” expressed Dr. Thupstan Norbu, Assistant Editor Cultural Academy, Leh, adding that such opportunities on various levels and intervals shall act as a great platform for instilling these small minds to stay connected to their roots.”

Dr. Norbu stressed the important role of parents and stated that children’s minds are indeed like a sponge and learn from their surroundings. “How can we expect our children to speak fluent Ladakhi, know folk songs, and rhymes and stories when as parents, we only know little?”

Over the month-long workshop, four batches were taught, covering more than 150 children from the expanse of Ladakh, also providing an opportunity for inter-regional interaction.

As tedious as it might have been dealing with dozens of children, renowned theater artist Tsetan Angchuk shared that he thoroughly enjoyed his time teaching the kids about Ladakh’s culture, be it as simple as wearing the traditional dress or teaching them the names of fruits in Ladakhi. “It’s not their fault that they don’t know names of fruits in Ladakhi,” said Angchuk, adding that if we don’t act now and teach them, we can only expect a more grave situation a decade later.

Angchuk also stated that through these workshops, children have had the reason to interact with their parents and more importantly grandparents who are a treasure trove of our culture, and ask them questions and learn, which he feels might be fading away. “There is a major influence of screen time in everybody’s life today and especially children get habitual of it from a very early age. We also tried to teach them the ills of excessive use of cell phones. Additionally, consumption of junk food is a major concern, which we encourage the children to stay away from.”

Executive Councillor, LAHDC Leh Ghulam Mehdi, veteran artiste Morup Namgyal, Deputy Secretary Cultural Academy Leh, Tsewang Paljor, and other guests were present, apart from proud parents.