The first National Kiddoree, organized by the Sri Lanka Scout Association, will be held this Saturday (26) at the Viharamahadevi Park from 9 a.m onwards. Scouting, or the Scout Movement, the largest voluntary organization created for children in the world, is a huge movement leading the great process of making good citizens. It has now spread to 57 million across 172 countries of the world.
The Sri Lanka Scout Movement currently has over 80,000 members, which is also a member of the World Organization Scout Movement and operates at local, district, and national levels intending to make the future generation of children good citizens leading a positive change in the communities.
Janaprith Fernando, Chief Commissioner of the Sri Lanka Scout Association speaking to Daily Mirror, said that on the 13th of November 2014, the Sri Lankan Scouting Movement started the “Singithi” Scouting Division which includes children between the ages of 5-7 years.
“Age group 7-11 is Cub scouts, 11-15 scouts, 15- 18 Senior Scouts, and then Rover Scouts. So this will be the first national event we are having for the “Singithi” scouts named Kiddoree. Nearly 7000 Singithi scouts have registered with the event. We will have open-air activities mostly, and there will be a talent show as well” he added.
Accordingly, the first National Kiddoree will be held under the theme of “Singithi Lowata Heta Dawasak” (A Tomorrow for the World of Children). Most importantly, the first National Kiddoree will be graced by the Bangladesh High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Tareq Md Ariful Islam.
Principal sponsors of the first National Kidoree are Unilever, Atlas, Prima Ceylon (Pvt) Limited, CBL Munchee, Daintee Limited, and Sampath Bank.
Accordingly, the Kiddoree was graced by the Bangladesh High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Tareq Md Ariful Islam and his wife. Expressing his pleasure and appreciation to the Sri Lanka Scout Association for organising the first Kiddoree, Tareq Md Ariful Islam reiterated the importance of exposing children to the outer world to expand their capacities. “These events are the key to developing friendships among children and gathering new knowledge while expanding the horizons of the children’s world. The scouting movement throughout history made the best of citizens, and I believe that the first national Kiddoree is the foundation stone for developing core values of children who are the future of our world. These kids will one day lead the scouting movement and the world as well”, he added.
The Viharamahadevi Park was filled with 5,000 Singithi Scouts. The Sri Lanka Scout Association currently has over 80,000 members islandwide. The SLSA conducts Jamborees for the Scouts, Cuborees for Cub Scouts and the latest feature, Kiddoree, was aimed at developing skills among scout kids.
The Chief Commissioner Sri Lanka Scout Association, Janaprith Fernando, in his message, said that it is important to inculcate discipline in individuals from their childhood, and the Singithi section can play a pivotal role in achieving this. “The first National Kiddoree goes down in the history of the SLSA as an important milestone as we had over 6,500 participants representing all provinces of the country”, he said.
Chief Organiser Commissioner Chandrani Fernando said that the age range between 5-7 is a crucial age range which determines the future of any personality thus, improving core mental and social attitudes among children is of utmost importance. “The main theme for Scout kids are friendship and happiness. Therefore, the first National Kiddoree becomes a platform for expanding friendships and heightening the happiness in the kids’ world, which will have a greater impact on their futures as well as on the future of the country”, she added.
