Lok Virsa - folklore societies would soon be instituted in Chitral and Kalash valley

Daily Times - * Society to educate schoolchildren on their folklore and traditions in healthy, interactive mannerBy Mahtab BashirISLAMABAD: Lok Virsa plans creation of a ‘Children’s Folklore Society’ in two Sibi schools to promote Balochistan’s legends.According to Lok Virsa Executive Director Khalid Javaid, the society, which is to function in schools, one for girls and other for boys, under the Pak-Norwegian Joint Institutional Cooperation Programme will enlighten Baloch youth, especially students, on their folklore and traditions in a healthy and interactive manner.“The folklore society will enrich the children’s imaginative life by providing their thought with indigenous content, colouring their sensibility with hues of local life, create opportunity for them to enjoy a good childhood and explore use of their thought, and nurture and promote local folklore and cultural values. All this will promote peace, love, harmony and tolerance,” Javaid told Daily Times on Monday.The Lok Virsa ED said Government Boys Model School and Government Girls Model School of Sibi had been selected for the society’s establishment in consultation with local educational authorities.He said the administrations of the said schools would circulate details of the society enrollment among students. He said schoolchildren of all age brackets could join the society with the consent of their parents. He said the society would have a president and a general secretary, while the other members would be chosen by ballot.According to Javaid, the school principals, headmasters or headmistresses will act as the society’s patrons, and teachers named by them will be its advisors.He said the Children’s Folklore Society would make its budget and plan activities before submitting them to Lok Virsa for approval and release of requisite funds.He said the activities would include essay competitions on culture and folklore, quiz contests, interaction with local folk artists, rural musicians, folk painters, cultural celebrities and visit to cultural museums and art galleries.The Lok Virsa chief said two folklore societies would soon be instituted in Chitral and Kalash valley. He said a folklore society is already functioning in six government schools in Sindh’s areas like Pannu Aakil, Sangarh, Sukkar, Khadro, Tahir Soomro and Tandojam.He said the society was basically a nursery for folkloric studies (in Pakistan), which had the potential to develop into a full-fledged discipline and subject at college and university levels.
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