Non-Tamil school pupils shine at festival

THIRTY-FOUR Indian pupils from national primary schools showed that not attending Tamil school is not a barrier to learning their mother tongue by participating in the Amuthe Tamile festival, Makkal Osai reported.

Amuthe Tamile is a Tamil literary and cultural festival organised by Penang’s Thesiya Palli Tamil Mozhi Pani Kuzhu that also conducts Tamil language classes in national schools.

Ponnuthurairaj Marimuthu, who heads the organisation, said there were 47 graduate Tamil teachers handling the classes in 34 national primary schools in the state.

At the festival, held at Universiti Sains Malaysia recently, students took part in competitions and performances highlighting Tamil culture and literature.

They performed dances, poetry, songs, drew kolam, answered quizzes and staged a cultural fashion show.

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy gave out prizes and thanked those conducting the Tamil language classes for their contributions.

He commended the initiative, saying it was good for the community that the Tamil language was made accessible for pupils in both Tamil schools and national schools.

> The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be sending a record 31 satellites into space within the next 16 months, Tamil Nesan reported.

ISRO has been successful in delivering payloads such as satellites into space at a relatively lower cost, leading to an increase in the number of organisations seeking its service.

The chairman of the Karnataka-based organisation, Kailasavadivoo Sivan, said a dedicated TV channel would also be set up to broadcast programmes related to ISRO.

The next launch by ISRO will be two commercial satellites aboard their successful PSLV-C42 rocket.

Sivan said following this, there would be nine rocket launches in five months, with a total of 50 launches planned over the next three years.