It was a fun Sunday for more than 100 underprivileged children of Sindri who got to showcase their talent in various extra-curricular activities, thanks to the student society of BIT, Prayaas India, that organised a two-day fest at Arya Samaj Bhavan in Sindri.

Inaugurated by BIT director U.K. Dey on Saturday, Rainbow-15 saw the children - aged between seven and 17 - taking part in an array of contests like singing, dancing, rangoli making, painting, acting, oration and quiz.

The day began with a dance competition where five solo performances and same number of group presentations set the stage on fire. The participants were selected on the basis of an audition conducted last week.

These performances were followed by a singing contest and a 20-minute drama that was staged by slum children from four different educational centres of Prayaas India.

"Through the quiz, we tested the general knowledge quotient of 16 school students," said Debashish Nandan a final-year BTech student and secretary of Prayaas India.

On Day One, around 200 schoolchildren had expressed their concern for social menaces like female foeticide and dowry by organising a rally from Domgarh Basti to BIT Sindri.

Armed with banners and placards, they marched through different localities and tried to convince people to desist from promoting dowry and encouraged them to impart education among their children.

Members of Prayaas India have been imparting education among 700 slum kids through its four centres since 2008.

The students associated with Prayaas India fund their activity by selling old news papers and magazines.

"We also bear the expenses of admitting the underprivileged children to private schools. Some students from our centres have also successfully cleared different competitive examinations," said Pradip Sao, an engineering student and treasurer of Prayaas India.

Sao added that more than 3,000 children have so far received education through its various centres.