Confusion and poor planning mar talent hunt programme

Pratibha Karanji

Children disinterested

The poorly organised programme was marred by disinterest on the part of the participating children on one side and the pressure that began to mount on the organisers due to the delayed start on the other.

As many as 990 children from 99 schools, most of them from private ones, had taken part in the talent hunt programme. While children from private  schools came in costly and colourful attires, their counterparts from government schools only watched in bewilderment.

Some children took part in the fancy dress competition, a student displayed the model of an electric convertor, others showcased their Rangoli talents and a few others shaked a leg or two for various dance types.

While the students of private schools had adorned themselves in an assortment of dresses like Santa Claus, their poorer cousins had used easily available materials like leaves to showcase themselves as characters like tree goddess.

For the judges, though, it was a problem of plenty. There were 16 contestants each from classes one to four and classes five to seven. There were 26 competitors from classes eight to 10.

Tiresome wait

Fatigue had set in among the participating children, who were waiting for the programme to start since morning. The choices were difficult to make for the judges.

Earlier, the programme was scheduled to be held at Bethamangala. But, due to the election code of conduct, it was shifted to Bangarpet, resulting in confusions among the organisers.

Late start

The programme started only after 12 noon and the children could afford only a mechanical show. Also, proper arrangements were not made for drinking water for the participating students.

The fact that the education department was making efforts to judge the cultural talent among children from the entire taluk in a single day, led to disappointment among the public.