Teachers and students after the elocution contest at St Michael’s School in Patna on Friday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Sept. 9: Participants from 11 schools from across the state capital today took part in an inter school English elocution contest at St Michael’s High School. DAV Public School, BSEB wing, emerged as the champions, showcasing their skills, while Don Bosco Academy clinched the runners-up title.

Welcoming the guests, school principal Father Peter Arockiasamy said: “St Michael’s is not only a school for Michaelites. It acts as a medium for interaction of talents of all the students from different schools. It has always been the first and foremost duty of St Michael’s to enhance the talents of students, be it from different institutions and it will continue to do so. These events would keep taking place in the future too.”

The event was held in three groups — A, B and C. Aditya of Class VIII of DAV, BSEB, emerged as the winner in Group A, whereas Chandrali Mukherjee of Class XI of the same school was the winner of Group C. Group B saw Nikhil Bhushan of Don Bosco Academy clinching the first place.

The chief guest on the occasion, Kaushalesh Singh, a lawyer of Patna High Court and the vice-president of St Michael’s Alumni Association, said: “These types of events should be organised from time to time. These events not only give opportunities to the students but also ensure boost their self-confidence of participating in such events. When an inter-school event like the elocution contest held today takes place, students are more benefited because they develop a feeling of competition and they try to compete against students from different schools. They know that along with proving themselves as good orators, they have the responsibility of bringing laurels to their own schools too.”

The schools that took part in the contest included St Michael’s High School, Loyola High School, DAV BSEB, DPS Patna, St Dominic Savio’s High School, Gyan Niketan, Don Bosco Academy and others. Most of the students spoke on Martin Luther King and Jawahar Lal Nehru.

Aditya of DAV BSEB recited a poem, The Legend. Chandrali of the same school chose to speak on the Nightingale of India, Sarojini Naidu. Her poem was titled The Queen Rival, which focussed on the Persian queen’s pride of her beauty that is challenged only by her two-year-old daughter.

Chandrali said: “The contest was quite tough and the speakers were really well prepared. I consider myself really fortunate to have won such a prestigious event.”