Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

San Fer­nan­do may­or Dr Navi Mu­radali is call­ing for more in­cen­tives to be giv­en to bud­ding artists. Speak­ing to re­porters af­ter view­ing an art ex­hi­bi­tion at the As­ja Girls' Col­lege in San Fer­nan­do on Wednes­day, Mu­radali said school of­fi­cials must be care­ful not to cap­i­talise on the tal­ent of young peo­ple.

He said more ex­hi­bi­tions must be held in all schools to show­case tal­ent."We must en­cour­age art in schools, and I am hap­py that As­ja Girls' are lead­ing in this re­gard. We have a rich his­to­ry of arts and cul­ture and we must pre­serve that," Mu­radali said.

He al­so added that the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion could as­sist stu­dents by pro­vid­ing art sup­plies."Schools can go to the min­istry and the pri­vate sec­tor to get as­sis­tance in get­ting sup­plies such as paint and can­vas."It is up to the in­di­vid­ual to use their cre­ativ­i­ty to show­case their tal­ent but we must pro­vide the op­por­tu­ni­ty for them to do so," Mu­radali said.

A range of two- and three-di­men­sion­al paint­ings, as well as leather craft and pot­tery, were on dis­play at the ex­hi­bi­tion.Prin­ci­pal Cindy Khan com­mend­ed the stu­dents for their work. She said art was in­tro­duced to the school three years ago at the CAPE lev­el and stu­dents were con­tin­u­ing to ex­cel.