Fifty children selected for Bal Shree Awards

New Delhi, June 9 : Fifty children in four different streams have been selected from all over the country for this year's prestigious Bal Shree Honour.

The awards will be presented to the children by the President Pratiba Devisingh Patil at Rashtrapati Bhawan tomorrow.

Briefing reporters in New Delhi today, Director, National Bal Bhavan, Amita Shaw said that three children among the awardees are from special category.

She said the Bal Shree Scheme seeks to identify creative children within the age group of nine to16 years in four identified areas of creativity. They are creative performance, creative art, creative scientific innovations and creative writing.

She said that children are the backbone of our society and we have to develop their creative skills for their personality development.

Shaw further said that the Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Arjun Singh has already assured to open 100 Bal Bhavans throughout the country.

In this context Chief Secretaries of the States have been asked to open Bal Bhavans in their States where these do not exist.

She said Bal Bhavan children have been selected to work in NASA projects. Speaking on the occasion, eminent story writer Nasira Sharma has emphasized the need for Bal Bhavans even in remote villages.

ANI