Children take part in a camp organised by Sadou Asom Moina Parijat at Shilpgram. Telegraph picture

April 3: The past three days have been ones filled with fun and knowledge for the 50-odd children from across the state participating in the Sadou Asom Moina Parijat camp at Shilpgram here.

Today, the concluding day of the camp, Prashanna Gogoi enlightened them on the nitty-gritty of Bihu, while yesterday and the day before, they got to learn about the cultures of different communities of Assam.

According to members, the Moina Parijat — an organisation dedicated towards intellectual development of children — has branches in 18 districts of the state, with six lakh students in its fold. It organises regular cultural programmes and competitions for the children to inspire them to be competitive and provide them with a congenial environment to grow.

In this camp, however, the participants had come from only nine districts. It was organised in association with the cultural affairs department of the state government.

The organisation’s secretary, Ratul Bora, said the aim of the programme was to introduce the children to the rich cultural mosaic of the state. “We organised district-level programmes in nine districts from where we selected these participants,” said Bora, who has been involved with the activities of the organisation from childhood.

He said during the district-level camps, the children were introduced to the cultures of different communities of the state. “We hope to strengthen our intimacy with the help of culture. During the past two days, the children were taught many things in this aspect by cultural worker Prabhat Bania,” he said.

Today, Bihu expert Prashanna Gogoi told them about the dhol, pepa, gagana and bin (a traditional stringed musical instrument). Gogoi told them that there were five kinds of dhols — bordhol, joydhol, dhepadhol, kamrupiadhol and bihudhol — and that the pepa had three varieties — gutiapepa, juriapepa and jorpepa.

Moina Parijat was formed in 1954 by merging Sadou Assam Parijat Kanan and Assa Pradeshik Maina Mel — two state-level organisations set up to work for children. It also publishes a monthly children’s magazine, Maina.

Wearing traditional attires, all the camp participants showcased what they had learned in the camp at 3pm today. They performed dances of various indigenous communities as well as Bihu.

Krishnashri Bora, a Class V student from Rajabari in Bokakhat, said she was happy to have participated in the camp. “I have learnt many things. Yesterday, we were taught about theatre and we all played different characters,” she said.

Nikhamoni Borua, a Class VII student from Mangaldoi, said she was happy that besides learning many things in the camp, she could see the Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra.