RYLA International makes a start

KOCHI:  International Rotary Youth Leadership Award, RYLA - 2011, the first of its kind event kick-started in Kochi on September 29. Rotary Club of Cochin Harbour, one of the prominent clubs of Rotary International in Rotary District 3201 is hosting RYLA. A B Sankarankutty, Chairman, RYLA said, "We have been conducting RYLA since 14 years which is commonly known by the name Harbour RYLA. It has been successful and popular among school children around Kochi. We have conducted local and national RYLAs. So we thought of conducting an international one this time. It’s never been done before in Kerala.” RYLA is an initiative set up by the Rotary International with a vision to mould young citizens of the world to become future leaders. The students  participating in RYLA are selected by the Interact clubs of the Rotary clubs. "We have Rotary clubs all around the world and each rotary club has interact clubs consisting students from different schools. It is the respective school authorities who select the students for Rotary Youth Leadership awards,” Sankarankutty said. Students belonging to the age group 8 to 14 are participating in RYLA. In some special cases, students of 14 to 18 ages have also been admitted, with the consent of their schools. Students from Malaysia, Srilanka, Germany, USA, Bangladesh, Korea and different states in India are attending this year’s event. "RYLA International will enable students from different countries to get an opportunity to meet their peers from various parts of the world and get to know their culture and customs,” he said. Called Harbour RYLA, the event itself has been organised outside Kochi at Munnar. Sankarankutty said that the theme of RYLA is celebration of life and the programme schedule will strictly stick to this agenda. “We have sessions like Discover Yourself, Tips on public speaking, Reach out and conquer, Sparkle as a leader, Celebrate your life,” he said. Even though Rotary district 3201 has given a few students full scholarships, usually a  subsidised rate is taken from those participating in RYLA. The international RYLA will conclude on October 4.