The children had come from Bihar's 37 districts. Some had travelled seven, eight hours in mini buses with teachers and fellow students making the trip to the festival that was inaugurated -- surprisingly, dot on time -- by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The next morning 18 girls had breakfast with Nitish Kumar at his home; 13 other girls had breakfast with the state education minister.
"The chief minister served us in our plates and gave us a wrist watch each. We were so excited that we could hardly eat," said girls from the Islampur Middle School near Hajipur. "But we asked him to upgrade our school to a high school, so that we don't have to walk to the high school which is very far."
Nitish Kumar had made another promise to each of the 2,200 participants the previous evening. Something very basic, but nothing short of a luxury for many. He said that each one of them would have a toilet in their homes by the end of 2007.
"We want to recognise, encourage and motivate the girls. It is an exposure for them. We have also organised eminent women IPS/IAS officers and doctors etc to speak to the children," says Anjani Kumar Singh, director of the Bihar Education Project, and the mastermind behind the festival for girls attending government schools.
Image: Hearing impaired children from a government school in Bihar. The state launched a programme to bring over 23 lakh out-of-school children to educational institutions in January 2007.
Also see: Only 5 hours, from anywhere in Bihar to Patna!
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