Sat: No State funds for Baal Vikaas

Addressing Chowtaal Sammelan celebrations at the Maha Sabha’s headquarters, St Augustine, Maharaj told devotees: “Many of you may ask, ‘Who is funding this festival? But I will begin by telling you who are not funding. The Ministry of Education and the State. They are not giving us a single penny to run this festival.” He said the children’s festival, which has been in existence for the past 31 years, was not being funded by the taxpayers.

“It is funded by you, the parents and the well-wishers of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha and in recent years, by the Republic Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.” The bank has provided funding for the festival for the past nine years.

The Baal Vikaas Festival, a compulsory programme for all of the 43 schools under the Maha Sabha’s jurisdiction, showcases the talents of the students in the fields of singing, dancing, and music.

Maharaj said the initiative formed part of the teaching and learning process.

“The principal and teachers are all here with their children, teaching them how to be disciplined, how to perform on stage and now the children have become masters in mass communication,” he said.

Maharaj said previously the students would have been shy to perform on stage “but now they face the camera and grab the microphone.” He said learning was not limited to book knowledge but included values and exposure to the aesthetics.

Maharaj said the Maha Sabha’s schools were successful because of its “anchorage in this kind of setting.” In his address, chairman of the Baal Vikaas Committee Ramlogan Palloo told the audience that Education Minister Anthony Garcia would face “stern opposition” from Hindu organisations if schools were being targeted for participation in Carnival events such as the annual National Carnival Schools Intellectual Chutney Soca Monarch.

During the recently-concluded Carnival season, Garcia had complained about the lack of participation by Hindu schools in the National Carnival Schools Intellectual Chutney Soca Monarch competition.

But Maharaj had said SDMS schools were being unfairly targeted, arguing that the decision to play the steel-pan/tassa and sing soca/chutney/calypso music in school was a parental choice.

He said it was not a decision which can be foisted on students and their parents by the Government and a minister.

Aldrin Ramgoolam, general manager, Information Technology Management Division, Republic Bank, said no culture can survive in isolation.

“We believe that when we promote these traditions, we spread positive awareness through our nation and to the world at large and we believe that our children are at the very heart and soul of our people,” he said “We are proud to be part of something that preserves our culture through the cultivation of the minds and talents of our children.”