MINGORA: More than 200 students, both boys and girls, attended a five-day training workshop on painting, wood carving, music and theatre at Wadudia Hall, Saidu Sharif.

The training was organised by Huner Kada, Islamabad to promote tolerance among the youth. The students participated in different categories and took keen interest in the workshop.

Jamal Shah, the director of Huner Kada, told Dawn at the concluding session that before starting the practical training for youth they held two-day discourse on intolerance in the society to discuss the causes of increasing trend of intolerance in society to find solution for it.

He said that the participants were trained in different categories including painting, film and video production, calligraphy, music, photography, fashion designing and wood carving.

“The students of different institutions, both boys and girls, showed keen interest in the training workshop where they demonstrated their talent,” Mr Shah said.

He added there was a lot of potential in district Swat that could be flourished by providing proper trainings to the youth.

He said that the event was aimed at providing a platform to youth to show their talent. He said that intolerance was getting roots in the society. It was needed to encourage dialogue so that tolerance could be promoted in the society, he added.

Mr Shah said that Swat had experienced so many civilisations in the past. “Students can get advantages of the centuries-old heritages of the Swat valley,” he said and added that the region was affected owing to law and order situation during the last three decades. The message of peace and tolerance should be communicated to the people, he added.

The students presented their work including films of short duration, theatre drama and songs at the workshop.

Published in Dawn, November 25th , 2014