Children at the choral recitation contest at Gulmohar High School. Picture by Uma Shankar Dubey

Jamshedpur, Aug 26: Rabindranath Tagore’s “Bir Pursuh” (The Hero) was the hot favourite among the students who vied for top honour at the Inter-School Choral and Individual Recitation contest at Gulmohur High School today.

The contest was held as part of the school’s golden jubilee celebrations.

Fourteen schools in the city took part in the event, with children of class IV competing in the choral recitation contest and students of class V and VI contesting in the individual round.

The contestants in the group recitation category had to recite English poems written by an Indian poet. In the individual recitation round, the participants were asked to recite English poems by Indian poets, which narrated a story.

In the group round, the majority of the contestants recited Tagore’s Bir Purush (The Hero), while the rest chose Trains and Lukochuri (Hide and Seek) by Tagore. In the individual round, The Power of Music by Sukumar Ray was a big hit. The audience was in splits as Diptarka Dhar of Gulmohur High School recited the poem with a straight face.

To ensure impartial judgement, the teams were given code numbers and the participants were asked not to wear uniform. In the group round, the teams were given a time limit of four minutes and for the individual category the participants were give 3 minutes. “The judges focussed on articulation, memorisation, voice modulation and poise while marking the participants,” said Swarenu Shome, senior English teacher of Gulmohur.

“We are happy with the performance of the students who were all so confident and smart,” she added.

Little Flower School won the choral recitation contest and Kerala Samajam Model School came second. In the individual recitation round, Shatraya Mukherjee of Loyola School bagged the first prize, while Devanshu Hore of LFS clinched the second position. Diptarka Dhar of Gulmohur pocketed the third prize.