Johor Bahru: The Malaysian Ministry of Education organizes a ‘National School Drama Festival’ annually. This festival, in which all states participate, was held this year in Johor on July 29, 30, and 31 with great fanfare.
In this year’s festival, which also included primary school students, Bhagavath Ananda, a student from Masai Tamil School, was selected to act to represent Johor state’s drama troupe. In the acting selection process where more than a hundred students participated, only ten were selected. It’s noteworthy that Bhagavath was the only one from a Tamil school among them.
In the Johor state drama titled ‘Waris Taming Sari’, Bhagavath excellently portrayed the character of ‘Tamak’, capturing the attention of spectators. It’s a matter of great pride for Tamil schools in this country as this Tamil school student was awarded the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ award at this festival.
In this competition where fifteen state teams participated, Johor, Sarawak, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Sabah teams secured the first five places respectively.
The Johor team achieved this feat after three months of continuous training. Mrs. Rajeswari Raju, the headmistress of Masai Tamil School, highly praised the contribution of teachers Hasik, Shadu, Shafiq, Othman, Masai Tamil School teacher Kasturi Ramalingam, other teachers, parents, helpers, and the State Education Department – all of whom worked behind the scenes for the team’s success.
“For such success of students, the help of teachers alone is not enough. The role of parents is immeasurable. The unparalleled cooperation of Bhagavath’s parents, Suresh Achappan and Padma Anbazhagan, is a great example how students can achieve in a selected field” Mrs Rajeswari further stated.
Masai Tamil School continues to accumulate many national and international successes in the field of drama. At the beginning of this year, students from this school performed the play ‘Bhakta Prahlada’ in a large auditorium in Tamil Nadu, leaving a mark in the history of Malaysian Tamil drama.
“Following this, Masai students are set to perform another international English drama in Shenzhen, China at the end of this year. A total of 18 students will participate in this event. Three teachers will guide them,” said Mr. Prabhakaran, the Assistant Headmaster for Extra-Curricular Activities at Masai School. Parents will also accompany them on this China trip. Mr Prabhakaran also expressed the school’s gratitude to the Parent-Teacher Association, which has been helping in many ways with the travel arrangements.
