Port Blair, Nov. 8: The Onge Children of Little Andaman have displayed their remarkable talents at the Zonal Level Science, Arts and Commerce exhibition held at Government Model Senior Secondary School at Hut Bay in Little Andaman.  Seven Onge Students from the Government Middle School, at the tribal habitat, Dugong creek participated in the exhibition for the first time with their diverse exhibits such as canoe, helicopter, Onge hut etc.

A 5th class Onge student Ujala designed a revolver with the metal wire and demonstrated it before the visitors.  He said he felt much delighted in taking part in the exhibition with his own exhibit for the first ever time in his life. “I feel very happy to be here with my exhibit. I like to participate in more such exhibitions with more exhibits of mine”, Ujala said.

Dr Pronob Kumar Sircar, Tribal Welfare Officer from Dugong Creek said the Onge Children were much enthusiastic to take part in the exhibition, especially mingling with other children from different schools. He said a few Onge students visited the science exhibition last year, but this time they participated with their own products.  He added that their I Q level is high and they understand the scientific concepts without any difficulty.  He also informed that all the children have been enrolled in the school and recently the school has been upgraded to Middle level school to provide uninterrupted education to these children in their own habitat.  The infrastructure development fund provided under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has been effectively used to improve the facilities at the school, he added.

A teacher from their school at Dugong creek, Manoj who accompanied the children for the exhibition says, “The Onge Children perform well under the new education system. The ‘play and learn method’ is very useful to impart education to them”. He further said the Onge parents are keen to send their children to school as their wards get nutritious food under mid day meal programme and as  such it contributed much for cent percent coverage of Onge children under formal education system.

The Principal of the Model School at Hut Bay, Nadira Begaum said, “The school hosts the exhibition every year and this year more than 200 students from 14 schools including 2 private schools took part in the exhibition with their exhibits on wide ranging concepts such as global warming, pollution control, energy through non conventional renewable energy sources, rain harvesting etc.”

This two day long exhibition was inaugurated by the Deputy Chief Engineer of Andaman Lakshadweep Harbour works, T N Krishnamurthy on Tuesday last.  Speaking on the occasion, he highlighted the importance of organizing such events to channelize the hidden talents of the students in a constructive way. The Principal, Nadira Begaum and Vice Principal, Nehru also spoke on the occasion.  The programmed ended with a colourful cultural programme presented by the students.