Saudi Gazette report AL-KHOBAR — Children in the Eastern Province showcased their skills through story-telling and spelling prowess at “Child Fest 2015” held at Arab Development Institute here recently. The festival was organized by Samina Mazher Husain, director of UCMAS Abacus for the Eastern Province, for Indian students learning the art of mental math – Abacus. It was sponsored by Risma Al Saudi Contracting Est. with the support of its General Manager Mazher Husain. The festival reflected the abilities of students in public speaking and clearly demonstrated the fact that given a competitive platform and incentive, they can transform quickly. A total of 12 children in the age group of 8-12 years narrated stories in their individual style. Each story which had a lesson and morale kept the audience rejoiced. Umair Khan was judged the first place winner, while Arav Gurprasad Kamat and Muzammil Chunawala got the second and third places respectively. In the spelling bee contests, a total of 23 children who had moved to the final round after elimination rounds mesmerized the audience with their abilities to spell difficult words. The contest was held in three groups where the students were divided on the basis of their age. In Group A (8-9 years), B.S. Kavya got the first prize and Kowshik Rutwa stood second. In Group B (10-11 years), Neha Sharma ousted Mohammed Anas in the last round and got the first prize. In Group C (12 years and above), Sanjeta Manivannan got the first prize and Mohammed Noor Hashim Shaik stood second. Both the events were judged by senior faculty members of International Indian School Dammam (IISD). They were impressed by the pattern of the program and appreciated the efforts of the organizers in providing such a wonderful platform to children in developing their extra-curricular skills. Among the judges were Tasneem Ahmed, vice principal of the IISD Girls Middle Section, Naseem Maliki, senior English language teacher at IISD, Riffat Siddiqui, teacher at International Indian School, Jubail, and Almas Bunglowala, academic coordinator and teacher at Al-Khozama International School. Nayeem Javed, a well-known personality development trainer, gave a keynote address and provided insight into the ways to live with peace and happiness. The function was anchored by Safi Hyder Jannaty, Safare Mohammed and Farida Taher conducted the story-telling and spelling bee contests respectively.
