31.05.2026
International Children’s Day at the Helena Roerich Academy (IRMT)
On Sunday, May 31, classes at the Helena Roerich Academy (for Children) at the IRMT began with a festive program dedicated to International Children’s Day, which is celebrated worldwide on June 1. Guests at the celebration included Russian curator of the IRMT Larisa Surgina, Indian curator Suresh Kumar, the assistant to the Russian curator Dmitry Surgin, and the IRMT’s accountant, Amar Jeet.
The program opened with “Saraswati Vandana”—a musical prayer to the goddess Saraswati, the patroness of the arts, whose small statue stands in the Academy’s music hall. Together with the children, the “Saraswati Vandana” was performed by Academy teachers: Anshul Kumar (music and vocal), Mamta Thakur (dance), and Sapna Thakur (painting). Afterward, the Indian and Russian curators of the Roerich Trust addressed the audience.
Suresh Kumar congratulated everyone present on International Children’s Day, noting that in India this holiday is celebrated again on November 14, the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru—the first Prime Minister of independent India, who was known for his love of children and who was a reformer of India’s education system.
Larisa Surgina noted that on Children’s Day in Russia, children’s festivals, workshops, and drawing contests are traditionally held. Especially for this day, friends of the Roerich Trust—volunteers from the International Centre of the Roerichs, Tamara Merges and Vasily Tkachev—prepared a video presentation for the Academy’s students.
The presentation, accompanied by the song “Sun Circle,” featured drawings by children from Russia and India who participated in the “Roerich’s Realm” Festival’s competition. And to conclude, Russian children, students of the Rabindranath Tagore School (St. Petersburg), greeted their Indian friends with a hearty “Namaste!” A joyful response came from our Indian children, students of the Helena Roerich Academy.
Following the presentation, the Academy students who participated in the May children’s painting competition were awarded certificates from the “Roerich’s Realm” Festival —more specifically, from its first stage, “Russia–India: From Heart to Heart.” The best paintings – the Festival’s winners – will be sent to Moscow, Russia, to be featured in exhibitions.
The celebration concluded with the distribution of sweet treats, in which guests, students, and teachers of the Academy, as well as assistants and staff members of the Roerich Trust, participated in a spirit of camaraderie.
