Training in News Reading for Schoolchildren

Iyam Akashvani, Samprati Vartah Sruyanthaam, Pravachako Baladevananda Sagaraha is a line generations of radio listeners are familiar with. Almost poetic and elucidating rendition of Sanskrit news by Baladevananda Sagar, a former senior news reader with All India Radio, might have drawn the attention of even those with little knowledge of the ancient language.

Shortly, Sanskrit students in schools across Kerala will have an opportunity to step into the shoes of the legendary news reader. In a unique initiative, Samprativartah (www.samprativartah.in), an online Sanskrit news portal promoted by Sanskrit teachers in Ernakulam and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) are set to conduct a three-day training in Sanskrit news reading for school students up to Standard Eight. Incidentally, Mr. Sagar had read the first news bulletin in the portal last September when it was launched.

The training will be at Saraswathi Vidyaniketan High School, Chengamanadu, from April 20 to 22 by experienced Sanskrit news readers and teachers associated with Samprativartah. Trained students will then get to read Sanskrit news daily, which would be webcast on the online news portal. They will read Sanskrit news at present being read at school Assemblies, in studio settings.

“This will be the first of many such training sessions being planned. The idea is to give all Sanskrit learning students a crack at news reading”, said O.S. Harikumar, a Sanskrit teacher with St. Mary’s UP School, Thevara, a member of SSA’s Sanskrit Research Group, and the founding chief editor of the portal. According to available figures, around 4 lakh students up to Class 12 have chosen Sanskrit as an optional language.

Principals of schools who wish to send in participants may register the names of students along with the names and contact numbers of their parents in the online portal or through the mail ID Samprativartah@gmail.com on or before March 30. Students may turn up for the training in their school uniform carrying their ID. Samprativartah has been chosen as SSA’s best teachers’ initiative in the district and has been hailed at the State-level. It was also invited to the national level Sanskrit news meet held in Delhi last December.