SLS students excel in National Art Competition

Rawalpindi
Over a dozen young artists from Sadeeqa's Learning System (SLS) Montessori & High School were invited to receive certificates and prizes at the opening ceremony of The Little Art's 4th season of ArtBeat - National Child Art Competition & Exhibition, says a press release.
The opening ceremony took place at the Sir Syed Memorial, Islamabad with a large crowd of excited students accompanied by their families. This year's competition had the largest participation of children, with over 6,000 artworks from 210 schools and 25 community organisations from across the country.
The jury, consisting of painter R. M. Naeem and principal of Punjab University Art College, Shahida Manzoor, amongst others, had the tough task of choosing artworks to be exhibited. Out of the 356 artworks chosen for exhibition, 14 were made by students of SLS School.
The guests of honour for the opening ceremony were BISP chairperson Marvi Memon, honorary President of the Sir Syed Memorial Society Brigadier (r) Iqbal M. Shafi, Unesco Director Vibeke Jensen, Executive Director DG Pakistan Valerie Khan, Artist and Professor Aqeel Solangi, Visual Artist Sana Arjumand and Artist and Assistant Professor (NCA Rawalpindi) Sajjad Akram.
The children's paintings were exhibited in a beautiful manner, the lighting bringing out the colours and details that the children had put their heart and soul into. The theme of this year was Kaisa Pakistan (How do you see/wish to see Pakistan?), and all the paintings depicted happiness and hope - a much needed dose of optimism for all the adults present.
Director of The Little Art, Shoaib Iqbal told all the students that this was their day - it was what they saw Pakistan as through their eyes that everyone was celebrating. All guests of honour had personal and wonderful words of encouragement for all the young artists. Most of the guests made the effort to speak in Urdu so that all the students present, many of whom came from marginalized schools, were inspired to make more art.
The exhibition in Islamabad was open to the public till the 18th and is now travelling to Lahore and then Karachi. The SLS students whose paintings are exhibited are Maham Ali, M. Idtehaj Hameed, Anushay Zeeshan, Hafiz M. Omar Akhtar, Fiza, Zunaira Majeed, Hassan Javed, Sajal, Ateeq Mehmood, Amal Shahid, Shiza Anwar, M. Faheem, Ali Asif, and Master Sheharyer Nadeem.