Teachers Literature Festival gets underway at Lok Virsa

Islamabad
A large number of teachers participated in the second Teachers Literature Festival held on Thursday marking the start of three-day literature celebrations at Lok Virsa.
Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi and Lok Virsa in collaboration with Oxford University Press and Open Society Foundations are organising the Literature Festival where two-day Children's Literature Festival would be inaugurated today (Friday) by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervez Rasheed.
Capital’s second Teachers Literature Festival attracted more than 5,000 teachers presenting them a large number of renowned and well known authors, literary figures and performers through different interactive sessions including Art of Reading with Expression by Rumana Husain. Famous TV actor Adeel Hashmi shared important and unique understanding of Faiz Ahmed Faiz while Izzah Meyer facilitated a consulting session for teachers’ involvement in the making of new education policy. Renowned vocalist Tina Sani and TV actor-cum-singer Khaled Anum shared their thoughts in a session ‘Word and Music and the Changing Times’.
Mosharraf Zaidi moderated a session on 'How to promote critical thinking in the classroom' in which panelists including Peter Jacob, Nargis Sultana and Faisal Bari shared their valued points. Malik Bilal Haider shared his views in a session ‘Piracy and Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights’.
In a session ‘The value of heritage education and what can teachers do to promote it’, Lok Virsa Director Dr. Fouzia Saeed held an important discussion with Alima Bibi and Sheherezade Alam.
The audience enjoyed the famous drama ‘Toba Tek Singh’ of renowned writer Saadat Hassan Manto through 'dastaan goi' by Taimoor Rehman and Tajdaar Zaidi. Renowned scholars and educationists including Zubeida Mustafa, Nargis Sultana, Mosharraf Zaidi, Rafique Tahir and Dr. Fouzia Saeed discussed ‘Asataza ki Awaaz’.
On the first day of three-day celebrations, renowned writer Haseena Moin shared her thoughts in a session ‘How to write a script’. A special session on ‘How to protect yourself from online harassment’ was held by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
A documentary on conservation of Margala Hills National Park was also screened by The Dawood Foundation (TDF). The TDF is using this documentary on the park as a microcosm to illustrate Pakistan’s larger environmental challenges to the children visiting this festival. It educates the younger generation that their country is very vulnerable to the effects of Climate Change and that the degradation of environment will put a strain on it’s resources and lead to natural disasters.
Resident Representative of Dawood Hercules Group Brigadier Akram said the documentary depicts the breathtaking natural beauty of Margalla Hills -- an area with which children are quite familiar. “By providing a localised context to Islamabad’s young residents, we hope that our message resonates better, and children will have a clearer understanding of humans dependency on nature.”
The Children Literature Festival (CLF) inauguration would be followed by day ong activities, including performance of folk artistes facilitated by Lok Virsa, an interactive session ‘Promoting Libraries and Reading through Innovations in Pakistan’ and a session on ‘Curriculum of Peace or Hate.’ In another session, ‘Article 25 -- A Right to Education -- From Access to Quality Learning for All’, panelists will share their thoughts on education sector. A theatre performance ‘Kla Motte’ would be presented by Goethe Institut.
On the occasion, stalls by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi, CLF, Dawood Foundation, Pakistan Reading Project Mobile Library, Kuch Khaas Khel, Sabaq Foundation, Knowledge Platform, Child Artisans would also be set up while the Art of Book-Making would be presented by the Oxford University Press.