Children perform a theme dance at the children’s festival last year (file picture)

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 11: Children’s Day is round the corner and little ones are eagerly looking forward to Suravi-2011, the state-level annual children’s festival which will begin in the capital on Saturday.

A marathon cycle rally by schoolchildren will mark the launch of the three-day festival, to be organised by the school and mass education department.

More than 600 students, including 200 girls, will take part in the rally, which will be flagged off by higher education minister, Badri Narayan Patra and school and mass education minister, Pratap Jena. It would start from the Forest Park Square at 7am and culminate at the Unit IX Boys High School, which is the venue for the festival.

More than 6,000 students from all 30 districts of the state are expected to participate in Suravi-2011. A series of competitions ranging from painting, creative writing, dance and singing to storytelling, filmmaking, and quiz would be held here. The filmmaking workshop is already under way at the Capital Boys’ High School since Tuesday while the film screening began yesterday at the Rabindra Mandap.

Volunteers from United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), Swabhimaan and Bakul Foundation will be the resource persons for various workshops. The festival also features mock parliament and visit to tourists’ destinations. Aids and appliances will be distributed to special children.

The festival will conclude with a cultural programme on Children’s Day on November 14. Chief minister, Naveen Patnaik and Pratap Jena will attend the valedictory session and give away prizes to the prizewinners.