‘Vishwa Hindi Diwas’ was observed on 10th January 2012, and the occasion was celebrated under the auspices of the Indian Embassy of Kuwait by holding an Inter-School speech presentation. On this proud occasion, two speakers each from the 12 participating Indian schools in Kuwait put forward their wonderful and thought-provoking views on the topic “Antarashtriya Sthar par Hindi ka Sthaan”, or “The Position of the Hindi Language at the International Level”. Some of the schools which took part in this event were FAIPS DPS, Indian Educational School, Carmel School, Indian Public School, Indian Community School and Gulf Indian School, among others. The programme began with an inaugural speech given by the Principal of Indian Public School, which was the host school. The Principal, Mr. Kenneth A. Rodrigues, in his welcome address, thanked the Indian Ambassador for giving this opportunity to IPS for hosting this event and congratulated the Principals and the students of the Indian schools for their enthusiastic participation. This was followed by the lighting of the lamp by His Excellency, Mr. Satish Mehta, the Indian Ambassador to Kuwait. The Ambassador, in his welcome speech, also read out a letter from the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who sent his best wishes to the Indian diaspora in Kuwait for this event. The Prime Minister also stated in his letter that the knowledge of Hindi is becoming increasingly necessary for knowing and understanding India, which is fast emerging as a major world economy.

The students of the Indian schools spoke on the widely increasing usage of Hindi all around the world, also saying that if this trend continues, then Hindi will soon become one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. The tremendous rate of India’s development in the field of Science and Technology and the Indian Cinema are considered the two major factors which contribute to the popularity of this wonderful language. At the international level, Hindi is considered a very ‘easy-to-learn’ language. The writings of great Indian poets and authors in Hindi have been translated into numerous other languages. In today’s times, it is very hard to find a language as versatile as Hindi.

The programme was a grand success. H.E., the Indian Ambassador, congratulated the students and teachers for participating in this event and also hoped to see even more participation in the future. Jai Hindi!