A report about the children's knowledge festival organized by AID India appeared in the Hindu, September 3, 2006 . Full text is reproduced below.  

CHILDREN'S DAY OUT: Participants at the `children's knowledge festival' on the Marina on Sunday. — Photo: M. Karunakaran 

• 180 children from different villages in Tamil Nadu gathered for the State-level meet
• 15,000 children submitted entries for the story writing competition

CHENNAI: Thangaraj from Srivilliputhur loves to tell stories. He modulates his voice, makes dramatic pauses, and introduces interesting twists to his tales.

No wonder the 10-year-old had a great time at the two-day `children's knowledge festival' organised at Queen Mary's College in the city by Aid India.

A total of 180 children from different villages in Tamil Nadu gathered for the State-level meet which began on Saturday.

As Thangaraj narrated his prize-winning story on the sun and moon his friends listened to him in rapt attention. Most of them have humble backgrounds. Thangaraj's father is a mason, while his mother works in a cracker factory.

Overwhelming response

When Aid India, a non-governmental organisation working in the areas of education, health and village development, mooted the story writing competition they did not quite expect the kind of response they got. They were overwhelmed when 15,000 children submitted their entries.

"Each child came up with a creative idea and developed it into a nice little story. We selected 4,000 children for the block-level contest from which 1,500 progressed to the district-level competition," said Balaji Sampath of Aid India.

He noted that thousands of children benefited from the mobile library project initiated by them in several villages.

Nearly 8,000 children are members of these libraries.

"They seem to have enjoyed the stories we circulated in these villages. Many of them have developed similar writing skills," he added.

Pazhanichelvi. K wrote a story highlighting the importance of virtues such as honesty and dedication. Abirami from Rajapalayam, Abinaya from Srivilliputhur, and many others like Thangaraj and Pazhanichelvi were in Chennai for the first time.

Children from neighbouring villagers assembled at a common point and were escorted by Aid India volunteers to Chennai.

The event includes sessions on toy making, clay modelling, story writing, puppetry, games, music, dance, origami, maths, science experiments, and a visit to the Marina.

Mr. Sampath said employees of several IT and other companies had come forward to host two to three children in their homes. "This will give the children a good idea of a city home. City dwellers will also get a chance to interact with children from rural areas," he said.