Media Release
Dubai, Nov 3: The Kannada Paata Shaale, Dubai (KPSD) is popular for its free weekend Kannada classes conducted by Kannada Mitraru - UAE. The dedicated organizers aim at teaching Kannada to NRI's children residing in the UAE. They have been successfully running classes for the past 6 years under the leadership of Shashidhar Nagarajappa, its president along with 60 volunteers. The information was released in a media statement during the inauguration of the seventh year academic programme.
Kannada language classes for 2020-21, will start from November 6 and the learning sessions will be online, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The inauguration of the academic year 2020~2021 will be done by a renowned poet and author Chandrashekhara Kambara, (awarded with Jnanapeeta, Padma Shri and many more awards) and T S Nagabharana (president of Kannada Development Authority – Government of Karnataka), Dr Muralidhar (secretary of Kannada Development Authority – Government of Karnataka) and famous personality, speaker Professor Dr Krishne Gowda.
The initiation taken by the Kannada Mitraru UAE team with a clear vision of teaching mother-tongue to the next generation was started with 40 students in 2014. It's remarkable that the academic year registration crossed 320 entries on November 3. The classes will be conducted online on weekends ( Friday ) by self-motivated, dedicated, volunteering teaching team who reserves their Fridays for teaching.
“It is appreciable that teachers are handling free classes and as a part of community service their spirit and support of the team have helped to speared the mouther tongue to the next generation. We are grateful for the support KNRI Forum, its president, Praveen Shetty and vice-president, Mohan Narasamhamurthy and all the Kannadigas in the UAE." stated Shashidhar Nagarajappa who always dedicates the credit to the entire team.
“The dedicated and self-motivated team of teachers and volunteers work without any expectation and with the team effort we are able to unite and work for the cause of Kannada literacy,” says Siddalingesh Revappa, the vice-president of Kannada Mitraru UAE.
The general secretary of Kannada Mitraru, Sunil Gavaskar said, “We are also thankful to JSS Schools and Bilva Indian schools in Dubai for their support and encouragement."
“This free school is run with passion and in a professional way, by the commitment and discipline of its teacher and volunteers. We even have our own internal IT team to handle online classes and web content development without any cost, Girish Patwari, Kotresh Yarlagatti and Shashidhar Mundaragi Vinay are some of the team members dedicated to Kannada Paatha Shaale IT support,” says its treasurer Nagaraj Rao Udupi.
The convener of the school, Roopa Shashidhar further explains, “The students will be divided based on their prior knowledge of Kannada, namely primary class (Prarthamika), middle classes(Madyamika), higher classes ( Prowda ) where Kannada letters, the formation of sentences, short stories, puzzles and so on will be taught."
KPSD online registration opens every year on October 2 on Gandhi Jayanti celebration day on their website www.kannadashaale.com. The team may be contacted by WhatsApp on the website link or communication with the school conveners Roopa Shashidhar on 0504229394 and Shilpa Jyorthi on 055 487 2544 is possible.