World media attention
It didn’t take long and foreign newspapers also took over the pictures of children practicing. An Indian news website described the situation with the words: “During the event, Slovak youth practiced yoga in the presence of Prime Minister Modi and President Pellegrini.”
The portal even used a photo of Bratislava students in yoga positions as the cover image for an article about the prime minister’s foreign trip.
Interest was also shown by the most widely read Indian media, on whose pages a moving image (GIF) of practicing Slovak schoolchildren appeared.
Weeks of preparation and contact with another culture
In this regard, the editors contacted the director of the aforementioned school, Lenka Kaščáková. The management of the institution does not hide their joy from the fact that their students could be part of the event, which so successfully connected education, culture and international cooperation.
As director Kaščáková explained, the initial impulse came directly from the Embassy of the Republic of India, which approached the school with an offer to present yoga during the official visit of the Indian leader.
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Students of the fifth and sixth grades participated in the program, in which the Secondary Medical School in Bratislava also participated. The performance itself was preceded by several weeks of joint practice and getting to know the basic principles of this old exercise, the school director explained.
“We see it primarily as an educational and cultural activity. Practicing yoga supports the development of students’ concentration, movement coordination, balance and overall physical well-being,” said director Kaščáková.
At the same time, she added that this event represented an extremely valuable experience for the school, thanks to which the children not only got to know the elements of Indian culture, but also got an exceptional opportunity to directly participate in the official program of an international visit at the highest state level.
