Ten students of the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) are on a trip to Romania these days to participate in an international cultural festival.
They have performed Odisha's Santali tribal dance there. During this program, they will also perform Shakespeare's plays in Odisha's tribal language.
This is for the first time that the KISS students performed Santali dance abroad.
Earlier, KISS students mainly travelled abroad to participate in international sports competitions. Now, they have travelled to European countries like Romania to promote tribal dance performances and cultural exchange programs.
More than 150 students from 30 countries participated in the program. The performance of KISS students has been highly appreciated there.
First, after they reached the University of Craiova, Romania, the Ambassador of India to Romania, Dr. Manoj Mohapatra, felicitated the KISS students. Under the direct supervision of Dr. Mohapatra, they stayed there and performed cultural programs at the University of Craiova. Apart from that, they also had cultural exchanges with tribal dance performances.
With the help of the Erasmus Student Mobility program, the students of KISS have participated in this two-month educational and cultural internship. Along with the KISS students, 10 students from the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) are also on this trip. This is the first time that KIIT and KISS students have participated in such a program together in a European country like Romania.
They will stay there for 2 months. There, they will also perform Shakespeare's plays in the tribal language of Odisha. This is the first time that students from any educational institution will perform Shakespeare's plays in tribal languages on an international stage. This is said to be a matter of pride and honor for KISS, the tribal community and the entire state of Odisha.
Importantly, students from both KIIT and KISS will perform Romeo-Juliet, Macbeth-Hamlet by Shakespeare, written in Santali. The Santali language, Ol Chiki script, has recently completed 100 years. Along with this, the students will receive a certificate for the course on Romanian culture and language.
Expressing happiness over this, KIIT and KISS founder Dr. Achyuta Samanta said, KISS students used to go abroad and earn fame in the fields of sports and education. Now they will make a name for themselves internationally by performing cultural programs. This is a matter of joy for everyone.