Media Release

Dubai, May 23: Kannada Paatha Shaale Dubai held the valedictory ceremony of their third year of Kannada classes at JSS Private School, Dubai on Saturday, May 20. It had been their third year conducting classes where students yearning to learn the language assembled at JSS Private School every Friday morning to sharpen their Kannada speaking, reading, writing and grammar skills.

The guests who honoured the occasion were Tanveer Seth,  Education Minister of Karnataka, and Sabrina Seth. Tanveer applauded the initiative by the school and promised his support in future endeavours.  Deepa Jain Head of Chancery and Consul (Culture and Protocol), consulate of India Dubai, touched hearts by starting her speech in Kannada. She further assured her support on behalf of the consulate.

Praveen Kumar Shetty, president of Karnataka NRI forum UAE, praised the organisers and appreciated their efforts. Roger Narayan, a Hollywood and Sandalwood actor, was very cheerful and got the crowd wonderstruck when he said he completed his schooling in a Kannada Medium School.He now does voiceovers for English documentaries. U T Iftikar Ali, senate member, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences Bengaluru, also graced the occasion.

The president of Kannada Mitraru and convener of Kannada Paatha Shaale Dubai, Shashidhar Nagarajappa, welcomed the guests and gave an introduction to the school. He highlighted that the school was open to all children willing to learn Kannada, free of cost. "The concept of free school was realised by the support to JSS Educational Institutions in Dubai, which provided the space and faculty (ten teachers) working for seven months without pay to serve the community. The teachers were Shilpa Siddalingesh, Manasa Vinay, Meera Vineeth, Kavya Yuvaraj, Shwetha Vinay, Kamakshi Suresh, Premalatha Lohit, Mamatha Kotian, and Roopa Shashidhar," he said.
 
Other dignitaries present were Veerendra Babu, president of Kannadigaru Dubai, Prabhakar Ambalatere, general secretary of KNRIF, Sugandhraj Bekal, president of Karnataka Sangha, Sharjah.

The students were felicitated by chief guests with certificates and medals. The arts and crafts team trained by Manatha Kotian were honoured on stage with the first and second prizes, ably judged by Susmitha Dhruva.

The cultural programme performed by students of KPSD was splendid and transported the audience to their homeland. Jashmitha Vivek trained the students for dances. All the parents, guests and the well-wishers appreciated the effort of Kannada Mithraru, UAE

The parents look forward to the start of the fourth batch this November.

Premalatha, Satish Hegde, and Nagaraj Rao compered the event. Jeetendra, Vijaykumar, Harish Kodi, Sunil Gavaskar, Siddalingesh, Govind Bhat, Venkataramana Kamath, Vinay, Putta Raju, SS Meti, and Sudhir Bhandari, co-ordinated the whole event. Deepak Somashekara proposed the vote of thanks.