Spoorthi, a cultural event for special kids today

MANGALURU: Lions District 317 D, Care for Challenged cabinet members will organize a cultural competition event ‘Spoorthi’, a district level talent competition of children with special needs, at Surathkal Bantara Bhavana, on Saturday.
Vishwanath Shetty, district co-ordinator, Care for Challenged, said this is an inter-school (special school) cultural competition for children from special schools from the districts of Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and Udupi.There are 25 special schools in these five districts and the organizers expect about 220 children from these schools to take part in the competition.
“Watching these children perform with enthusiasm and dedication would definitely be an inspiration to all of us. Hence, we have coined the name ‘Spoorthi’ to celebrate this event,” said Shetty, who is also the president of Lions Special School, Surathkal. “These special children have talent, intelligence and capability to perform as good as anyone else. More importantly, they love to perform on stage and get recognized. Hence, we thought we will get as many children as possible to come together and perform under one roof,” he added. Children from each school will perform on the stage for 10 minutes.
Each school will be paid Rs 2,500 for attending the event. “Teachers accompanying these children deserve to be acknowledged for their efforts and patience. It is estimated that 100 teachers will take care of the children. As a token of appreciation, each one will be paid allowances,” Maimuna Mohidin. Lioness coordinator said.
Vinay Hegde, chancellor, Nitte University, will be the chief guest and Kripa Amar Alva, chairperson, Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, will inaugurate the event. Sundara Poojary, deputy director, Women and Child Welfare, and K Devdas Bhandary, vice-district governor, Dist. 317 D will be the guests.
Three judges will assess the performance and give the scores. On the same day at 3.30 pm, Arun Shetty, district governor, Dist 317D will be the chief guest for the valedictory function. V U Seemon and H R Harish, Lion members will be the guest.