EDUCATION Minister, Priya Manickchand, in officially declaring the Regional Children’s Mashramani competition open, yesterday at the National Cultural Centre, related her extreme elation at being at the opening ceremony.

“While we look at our students display their talents, we should note that participating in these activities makes them well rounded individuals, and also helps to grow their confidence,” she declared.

The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited (GBTI), which has been sponsoring the Children’s Mashramani competitions for a number of years, said through a representative that “GBTI has continuously supported such ventures, as we believe that it is important to harness the talents of our children at an early age. It is also (GBTI’s) corporate responsibility to support such events”.

The GBTI representative thanked the Ministry of Education for allowing the Bank, the honour yet again to be sponsors of this event, and said the bank looks forward to continuing its sponsorship of the event in years to come.

Ms Desiree Wyles-Ogle, Head of the Allied Arts Unit, said at the opening ceremony that the children’s Mashramani programme is the largest cultural event for children in Guyana. She iterated that the main objectives of the programme are to promote the expressive arts through a national event; and to encourage the home, community and school to work together in an artistic manner to foster a sense of pride in our national identity.

This year’s participation brought out the cultural traditions and folklore from all the regions of Guyana. With competition being of a high standard, primary and secondary school students push themselves to the very limits of their capabilities to emerge on top of the proverbial pyramid in this regard.

A hip-hop category was added this year, and it was deemed the most exciting of the lot. The males in the competition dominated this event.
Today the National Cultural Centre will see completion of the Calypso and Dramatic Poetry segments, and the choir presentations and steel pan competitions will be staged on Friday, February 14.
Written By Rebecca Ganesh-Ally