
RANCHI: Students of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, located in the East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, are set to give a band performance during the Republic Day celebrations on 26 January.
Among three schools chosen nationwide to perform on the rostrum at Kartavya Path, this Jharkhand school earned its place alongside schools from Tripura and Sikkim.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Education Minister Ramdas Soren, and other senior state officials have congratulated the team on this remarkable achievement.
Notably, the Piper Band team from the school secured the first prize in the Zonal Level Band Competition held in Guwahati on 22 December 2024.
According to the school warden, the students left for Delhi on Monday.
“It is really an honour that the Piper band of our school will be a part of the Republic Day at Kartavya Path in New Delhi. A band of 25 girls, mostly tribals, will be performing before the President on Republic Day,” said Warden Rajni Murmu.
According to the warden, it is due to the hard work and consistent practice that these girls were selected for Republic Day.
“It is really satisfying that bands from only three schools have been selected from across the country to perform on Kartavya Path, and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Patamda, is one among them,” said the warden.
According to the State Programme Officer, Dhirasen Soreng, the girl band team from Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Patamda, was selected due to their precision and uniformity in playing tunes.
The girl band, on the other hand, is quite excited that they will be performing before the President.
“We never thought that we would ever get selected for the Republic Day parade. It is really a great honour for all of us that we will be a part of the Republic Day parade,” said one of the band members, Parvati Mahto, a class 11 student of the school.
The band has been in Ranchi since 4 January and practising rigorously to compete with the other schools for the national-level competition, to be held in New Delhi itself before the Republic Day, she added.
Mahto informed that the selection process for the pipe band competition began at the block level, followed by district and state levels.
The team that was selected at the state level earned the opportunity to participate in the zonal-level competition, ultimately paving the way for their Republic Day debut. Now, they are preparing for the national-level competition, she said.
The education department of Jharkhand has been making consistent efforts since 2015 to secure an opportunity to perform on the Republic Day Parade Rostrum.