3-day Children Literary Festival kicks off in hyderabad city

Kompally: Over 130 children from across 10 states of India came together to express their aspirations and ideas on gender equality at the Children Literary Festival, which commenced at Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) training centre here on Wednesday.

Plan India is hosting its second edition of National Children Literary Festival in Hyderabad for three days from January 29 to January 31. The festival aims at providing children a platform for child-led advocacy with educationists, policy makers, teachers, writers, story-tellers, and publishers to promote quality education, joyful classroom learning and gender equality in children's literature.

Speaking at the event, Mohammed Asif, Executive Director, Plan India said, "Coinciding with the five years of government's flagship initiative Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, this year's Children Literary Festival aims at promoting interest in reading and generating awareness around gender stereotypes. By means of the Children's Literary Festival, we hope to train girls and boys to be able change the way gender is portrayed in books and create a gender-neutral world, expressing the same by various other forms of art."

Around 100 delegates representing key stakeholder groups, over 100,000 children from ten Plan India states participated in the regional and state level editions including Bihar, Delhi, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana where they read schoolbooks, newspapers, poetry and stories to their peers, teachers and parents, enhancing their interest in reading and improving the quality of their education. Storytelling, workshops and other programs are also planned to help children in improving communication.