KChR's summer school project wins Google contest

The "Balapanlar" project, within which children from the Nogai District of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) studied their mother tongue, played national musical instruments and practiced the jiu-jitsu wrestling in a summer school, took the first place in the Google's contest "Afar from the Capital" in the nomination "Education and Development".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the contest "Afar from the Capital" was organized by the Google with the support of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. Since mid-September, the authors of the project offered Russians to tell about some committed deeds that they could be proud of. Among the five projects selected for the final round from the regions of Southern Russia there was the "Balapanlar" (meaning "children" in the Nogai language) project by Bella Shakhmirzova, a journalist and translator. From October 16 to November 3, the Internet held an open voting for the selected projects.

According to Ms Shakhmirzova, the "Balapanlar" summer school in the Nogai District is intended for children from rural areas who have no access to high-quality additional education. The format of a summer school, where everything is free of charge for children, and where teachers come at their will and on the voluntary basis (with no salary received), turned out to be a new initiative not only for the district, but also for the KChR as a whole.

The summer school project of Bella Shakhmirzova from the aul (village) of Erken-Khalk, was announced the winner of the contest in the nomination "Education and Development" at the awarding ceremony in Moscow on November 9, the RIA "Karachay-Cherkessia" reports.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.