Select students to get exposure on heritage protection: INTACH

A select group of award-winning school students from across the country will visit historic sites and meet conservation experts in Delhi later this week as part of INTACH's efforts to instill leadership qualities in them towards heritage protection.

City-based Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage today said the 15 national winners, picked out from its outreach campaign -- 'My City, My Heritage' -- will tour the capital city from July 5-7.

"They will visit various monuments and heritage sites and organisations working on preservation and heritage conservation and engage with experts associated with the field.

"It will include visit to the Aga Khan Foundation, Sanskriti Prathistan, the INTACH headquarters, and interaction with Dastangoi (medieval storytelling art form) artists," the heritage body said.
 

The Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) of the INTACH had organised the pan-India campaign with support of its 100 regional chapters across 100 cities.

"The campaign aimed at raising student's awareness about their city's heritage and inculcating a sense of pride in them about the cultural legacy.

"Around 12,000 students from class VI-IX participated in essay writing and poster-making competition capturing their city's heritage," Principal Director, HECS at the INTACH, Purnima Datt said.

Following a competitive three-phased evaluation, 100 regional and 15 national winners were selected.

The national award-winning essay entries included 'Symphony of the South' by Shruti Jeyaraman of class 9 from Chennai; 'Grandeurs of the Silver Street - The Fatehpuri Mosque' by Farhan Bakht Ahmed of class 7 (Delhi); 'Tribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands' by Nandini Malo of class 8 (Port Blair) and 'Humare Sheher Ki Akshhun Virasat - Patna Sahib' by Sudhanshu Shekhar of class 9 (Patna).

Entries were also received in 12 regional languages -- Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu, Bengali, Nepalese, Hindi and Punjabi -- highlighting the rich and varied heritage of various cities.

The campaign will formally conclude with a felicitation and award ceremony at the INTACH headquarters for the national winners on July 7 where noted poet Ashok Vajpayee is slated to be the chief guest.