Kolkata: The age-old habit of letter writing, if not well-nigh disappeared, is on the wane among kids and adults alike in the age of WhatsApp chat and emails. To re-enliven the art, Samagra Siksha Mission has brought it back to encourage students to take up pen and paper and jot down thoughts in the manner of a communique.
The central government's 'Dhai Akshar' programme has collaborated with Samagra Siksha Mission to launch a competition where students below 18 will partake in writing letters addressing the chief postmaster general. The contestants have to submit their letters to the Samagra Siksha kiosk, latest by December 14. Two types of letters can be sent to the chief postmaster general- 500-word inland letters and 1,000-word enveloped ones. Several schools have supported the national-level competition and students are excited about this one-of-a-kind initiative.
"Our handwriting and spelling will be a lot improved and we will have the experience of communication through letter writing. Moreover, we will learn how to write a letter by expressing random thoughts in a readable format," Sandipan Das, who studies in Class IX, said.
While another student Debapriya Das exuded both confidence and excitement about the initiative. "We have never written a letter before. It feels good that I will write a letter in my own hand and someone else will read it. I have not had this joy before," he said.
"Our spellings go awry in the beginning as we are used to the auto-correct and word prediction on smartphones. As a result, we never learn the correct spelling and right words. This is not only in the case of Bengali but also in English. This competition will help us improve typos and choose the right word for the right context," Debansh Mahato, a ninth-grade student, said.
Parents are also excited about the initiative of the 'Samagra Shiksha Mission'. "Why them? We never wrote a letter either. We are now stuck in social media. The experience of seeing so many kids writing letters in their hands is expressible. I hope everyone will take part in this competition," Maitreyi Banerjee, a parent, said.
The competition has pecuniary prizes of Rs 5,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 25,000 for winners in ascending order at the state level while the national level rankers will receive Rs 50,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 10,000 awards.
"Nowadays, short questions are more common in examinations and social media has introduced the technique of writing long words in short making the situation worse. As a result, the habit of writing among children has decreased and this initiative is very effective in improving their spelling and conceptualizing the correct words," Supriyo Panja, principal of Park Institution, said.
Panja highlighted another significant aspect of letter writing. "There are many rules for writing a letter like how to start it when addressing parents, friends, an editor, and an official. Many are not aware of this and will learn this through the competition. Writing letters broadens one's mind as it's a great mode of exchanges of minds," he said.
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