A children’s event, Drawing by Chalk from the Imagination, was held today in the plaza in front of Assembly House, and in the building itself, under the auspices of the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Predrag Markovic. This marked the first time the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia was involved in celebrating Children’s Week, a traditional event ever since 1934, and this year taking place from 2 to 8 October in Belgrade.

About 400 children from Belgrade, Banja Luka, Skoplje, Burgas, Cetinje, and Kosovo and Metohia, toured Assembly House; participants in the event then hen gave a recital of folk dances in the Large Hall. The attendees were addressed by the chairman of Children of Palilula, Branislav Jovic, who underlined the importance of social care for children and according importance to their creativity. He presented Mr Markovic with a plaque, as a mark of gratitude for agreeing to host Drawing by Chalk from the Imagination.

Mr Markovic welcomed the children, inviting them to play ‘both in the house and in the yard, as no country is good where children cannot freely play both inside the house and in the yard, and where there are no rules of play.’ He added that he had asked for clear rules of play – ‘play but don’t destroy, be merry, but don’t hurt anyone’. He called on the children to take care of each other, as some of them had special needs, adding that ‘children won’t play anywhere, in any house and in any yard, but only where doors are open to them and where people rejoice – and Assembly House is such a place’.

In the Assembly’s benches, the children were invited to send messages to the deputies, by writing or drawing. They then used coloured chalk on the plaza in front of Assembly House to express their imaginativeness and creativity, but also to send messages to the grown-ups. Finally, a jury made up of experts awarded prizes to paintings considered best.