Month-long summer camp kicks off at Lok Virsa

Apart from languages, students to learn about art, music and storytelling

ISLAMABAD: A month-long children’s summer and language camp for children kicked off at the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage - Lok Virsa on Wednesday.

Based on the feedback of past summer camps, this year Lok Virsa has focused on the Punjabi and Brahvi languages in the camp.



“The summer camp aims to sow the seeds of pluralistic society in the youth of Pakistan and provide them with an orientation about the languages, poetry, crafts, music and festivals of different provinces and communities,” said Lok Virsa Executive Director Dr Fouzia Saeed adding that they had already held camps where students were taught Balochi, Wakhi, Pashto and Sindhi languages.

“A large number of children actively participated [in past camps], who learnt vocabulary and a lot of the indigenous folk cultures and languages of these communities,” she added.

“The summer camp is an initiative to contribute towards creating ownership among children regarding Pakistan’s languages and cultural heritage besides reaffirming our identity of being multi-cultural and pluralistic country,” Dr Saeed said.

As many as 29 students from the age of six to 12 years are participating in the camp which will last until July 31 at the heritage museum.



During the camp, the children will learn at least 15 sentences and apart from a vocabulary of Punjabi and Brahvi languages.

Moreover, children will also interact with master artisans, folk artists, folk musicians, storytellers and cultural practitioners during the camp to acquaint them with the cultural heritage of the country.

The children will also visit various national museums during the camp.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2017.