‘Kids are wrongly influenced by social media’

Nagpur: Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Ex-Servicemen Front organized a singing competition with a view to enhance the personality of the schoolchildren. The programme was held to mark the 101st birth anniversary of late politician Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay at Shikshak Sahakari Bank Hall, Gandhibag, on Monday. Around 200 students from 15 schools participated in the contest.

Vice-president of BJP Maharashtra Naik (Retd) Ram Korke said, "The competition is a first attempt made by me and other retired officers of the armed forces to help children develop their personalities. This is an issue that has been overlooked and is detrimental to the future of our children."

According to Korke, the way children in the country are being raised is a cause for concern. He said, "Children these days are dull. That is because parents expect nothing of them except scoring marks and securing a good packages. As a result, they don't have strong personalities because they haven't been given the chance to pursue their interests and desires."

Korke informed about the efforts being made to approach schools and parent-teacher meetings to spread the word. "We want to educate parents on the right way to nurture children. These days, kids wrongly influenced by social media. A lot of reality shows on television are misleading and kids believe it to be true."

Mayor Nanda Jichkar, Major (Retd) Hemant Jakate and Major (Retd) Prabhakar Puranik were prominently present. Vinod Mandawkar, S Kumar, Kirti Puranik and Shubhangi Sarve were the judges for the competition. Ex-servicemen and widows of martyred soldiers helped organize the competition.

Jakate addressed the young children and said, "Children are our future and I feel its my responsibility to help them grow into better human beings. Even parents must play their part."

Children from School of Scholars at Beltarodi and Hudkeshwar secured first and third positions in the competition respectively while Bhavan's Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir, Civil Lines came second.