Aster inter-school drawing contest receives overwhelming response

MUSCAT: The recently concluded Aster-MOE Inter-School Drawing Competition was a hit in the local community with over 1,800 children of all ages and nationalities being a part of it.

The announcement of the event was greeted with enthusiasm by school officials, parents and children. The competition, held in Qurum Park, thrilled participants from a wide range of schools like Omani schools, Beacon House School, Indian School (Muscat, Seeb, Mabelah, Darsait), Sri Lankan School, Bangladeshi school and many more.

The topic, ‘My Beautiful Oman’ was selected keeping in mind the 45th National Day celebrations.

“Our aim was to remind children that we are blessed to live in a country like Oman. We have a benevolent leader, stable government, multi-cultural environment and amazing natural beauty,” said Seeniya Biju, COO of Aster, Oman.

The judges of the competition were Anwar Sonya Al Zadjali and Sheffy Thattarath, reputed artists from the Omani Society for Fine Arts. Ten winners each were selected from both junior and senior categories.

“The range of talent we saw today was spectacular. In fact we had a hard time choosing the winners. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, and so we had pictures of Sultan Qaboos, the Grand Mosque, Forts of Oman, beaches, mountains and so on. It was an amazing show of talent,” said one of judges.

“Aster should organise more such events which brings together the community using art as a medium,” said Ali Al Mamari, one of the parents at the event.

The management at Al Raffah Hospital believes in doing more for the community than just focusing on health-care issues.

“We had a lot of fun at the art competition. We made some new friends and it was an easy topic to draw on. So I really had fun,” said Mariam Al Zadjali, a young partici- pant at the contest.

“Children had a spectacular time and the whole event was wellorganised by the Al Raffah team. This was a good effort from their side,” said Zeenath Al Balushi, a parent.

The Aster Group has organised such events not only in Muscat but also in Sohar where the response was overwhelming too.

They hope to make this an annual event generating enthusiasm and awareness in the local community.