KUALA LUMPUR: The state of Selangor emerged as the champions of the 22nd annual National Punjabi Bhasha Mela 2012 that ended on June 3.
They scored 186 points to take home the trophy for the event designed to promote the usage of the Punjabi language amongst school-going children between the ages of 6-19 years old.
Federal Territory came second with 158 points while Perak thirs (152). Next comes the Southern Region with 136 and Northern Region with 80 points.
The tournament, organised by the Sikh Naujawan Sabha Malaysia and supported by the various Punjabi Education Centres (PECs) nationwide, includes events like debate, story telling, news reading, poetry recital and spelling bee.
[Judges panel for one of the debates -- PHOTO JAGDEEP SINGH]
The Punjabi Bhasha Mela, first held in 1991, today hosts some 40 PECs nationwide. This year, the community-run weekend schools first took part at the regional level, with the winners then representing the various regions to the national tewo-day event.
The PECs are run by Punjabi Education Trust Malaysia (PETM), a wing under Khalsa Diwan Malaysia.
Singh Sahib Giani Kewal Singh, former Jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, had declared open the event.
“It is important to keep alive the learning and usage of the Punjabi language. You can see today, where the Punjabi language had languished, so has people’s attachment to Sikhi. I’m impressed to see that the Sabha has been undertaking this event for so many years. Its an achievement to have sustained it for so long,” Singh Sahib said in his address when opening the event.
Some 350 participants took part in the national event.
Selangor comprises of PECs from Klang, Port Klang, Shah Alam, Petaling Jaya, Selayang and Rawang.
Federal Territory consists of PECs from Sentul, KL South (Kampung Pandan and Sungei Besi) and Pulapol (national police training centre in Kuala Lumpur).
Perak comprises of Kampar, Ipoh, Taiping, Tanjung Rambutan, Batu Gajah, Sitiawan,
Tanjung Malim, Tapah, Bidor and Teluk Intan. Batu Pahat and Malacca joined regulars Seremban and Johor Bahru for the South Region.
The Northern Region teams come from Penang, Butterworth, Sungai Petani, Kulim and Kangar.
Ajj di taza khabar (Today’s Fresh News) and Shudh akhar jorh (Spelling bee) were two of the ebvents. In the former, a secondary school boy-girl team reads out news. The new items are given to them 30min before they go live. They decide how they present, who goes first, and how their interchange.
In shudh akhar jorh, he three-member primary level teams compete on their spelling prowess. First, they get easier words. The competition then heats up with bigger and more difficult words or phrases. In prashnotri (quiz), participants are tested on their language as well as Gurmat knowledge. There is one round on muhaveray (idioms and proverbs).
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