IN BRIEF

PMO walkathon to raise funds

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Officers and staff of Prime Minister's Office (PMO) were out yesterday to raise funds in a walkathon held at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas. The funds were collected from various departments under the PMO and the highest amount collected received prizes held at the end of the event. According to Misle Hj Abd Karim, the administrative officer at PMO, 20 per cent of the funds would be donated to the less-fortunate, while the rest was for the department's future activities. Also present was Minister of Energy at the PMO Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Dewa Major General (Rtd) Dato Seri Pahlawan Hj Mohammad Hj Daud. Prior to starting the walkathon, the participants had an aerobics warm-up session.

The male participants walked a distance of four kilometreswhile the female participants walked a distance of 2.5 km. Some one thousand officials and their families took part in the event.

STPRI students on a mission to S'pore

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Eight students and four teachers from Sekolah Tinggi Perempuan Raja Isteri (STPRI) left for Singapore yesterday for an eight-day twinning programme at Tanjong Katong Girls' School. Nurazlinah Hj Hambali, the programme coordinator said that the aim of the programme was to expose students to new environments via participation in the activities arranged for them. Contemporary education also involves a lot of informal learning outside the classroom, so the planned activities will provide the students with skills for a balanced, well-rounded education, she said. This is the second time that STPRI has sent a contingent to the Singaporean school.One of the students, Hjh Ili Amni Majdiah Hj Zulkipli, related that they would be assigned a "buddy", a student at Tanjong Katong, who will guide them through the planned activities that will include sports, performing arts and academic pursuits, among others. She said that she was chosen to participate in the programme because of of her excellent PMB results. The STPRI delegates will return to Brunei on March 28.

Kg Madang holds Maulidur Rasul

BRUNEI-MUARA: The Madang Consultative Council held a Maulidur Rasul celebrations yesterday with the champions of the azan (call for prayer) and doa (prayer) recitals contests performed as the highlight of the event. The final of the competitions organised by the consultative council was held last Friday so that the winners would get a chance to showcase their talents during the celebrations. According to the event chairperson Pg Hj Ali Pg Maon some 26 children from Kg Madang participated in the competition. He said that they organised the competition specifically for children because they wanted to encourage them to participate in activities to mark Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) birthday. The competition was divided into Category "A" for female for children aged 10 and under, Category "B" was for girls aged 11 to 14. The young girls competed in prayer recitals and had Surah Al-Fatihah as a compulsory reading while other electives comprised short prayers and verses from Al-Quran. The Category "A" for male is for contestants aged 10 and under who competed in azan recitals whilst the Category 'B' was for boys aged 11 to 14 competed in both the azan recitals and prayer. More than 150 villagers attended the event with the guest honour, Brunei-Muara District Officer Dato Paduka Hj Md Yussop Bakar. The Brunei Times