Srinagar: In a first of its kind State level Naat Competition organised by Private School’s Association of Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK), a boy from Rajouri bagged the first position by virtue of his sweet voice and touching Naat.
Mohammed Arshad a class 8th student of M.E.T Thanamandi Rajouri won over the judges with his talent, to top the competition among hundreds of Naat Khwans from all over the state. The second and third positions were bagged by Manan Ayub of Amin Academy Kishtwar and Gazala Nazir of Iqra Public School Achabal Anantnag.
The students were awarded at a function by Minister for Education Choudhary Zulfkar Ali, who praised the Private Schools’ Association for organising such an event. He said that the private schools are doing a wonderful job both in general education and extracurricular activities.
Farooq Shah Secretary Education, G N Itoo Director Education, Tufail Mattoo Director RMSA and Mehboob Hussein Joint Director SIE were guests of honour to felicitate the meritorious students. The function was held at Taj Vivanta.
Earlier the finals were held at the Auditorium of Directorate of Information & Public Relations (DIPR). The function was graced by Chairman Fee Fixation Committee, Justice Hakim Imtiyaz Hussain, Director Information & Public Relations Tariq Ahmad Zargar, PSAJK Chairman G N Var and other officials.
This year the Naat Competition has been organised on a record scale. As many as 850 students drawn from 10 districts of Kashmir and 5 districts of Jammu participated in the competition during the month-long event. Out of 850 students, 45 students had qualified for the final competition. The competition started from Zonal level, then to the district level and ultimately the winners of these competitions participated in the grand finals.
The Association said that the aim of the competition was to imbibe the great values of the spirit of Ramadan in students. “In addition to it this competition also brought to fore the talented Naat Khwans that were otherwise hidden in these students,” said Var. “Our aim is to explore the talent and give them platforms. This is also part of our moral and religious education.”