A series of textbooks that seek to enrich the learning experience of school students under the Kerala State syllabus through art education are yet to gain the intended traction.
These books titled ‘Kalavidyabhyasam Padhanasahayi’, prepared by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) in 2019 after three years of deliberations by a team of around 20 experts, have not been printed for circulation among students.
Activity-based learning
According to some of those involved in the exercise, the intention behind the books is to make education child-centered. The books, which take an activity-oriented approach that integrates art, music, theatre and dance, cater to students from Classes V to X.
The chapters are designed to arouse the imagination of students, improve their observation skills, and express their creative outputs, all through activities such as drawing, music and sculpture. Each book gives brief notes about eminent personalities in these fields. There is space for the students to evaluate their work as well.
Though the work on the books was completed in 2019, they could not be printed due to multiple reasons. Later, they were uploaded onto Samagra, the website of the General Education department. The Directorate of General Education in March 2021 issued a directive to all headteachers, deputy directors of education, district and sub-district educational officers, and Principals of district institutes of educational research and training to make use of them. However, not many teachers and students are apparently aware of their existence even now.
Sources said that the Education department had earlier launched an initiative to integrate physical education with learning. Subsequently, it was decided in 2016 to make art learning part of the process when C. Raveendranath was the Minister in charge of the department.
Experiencing art
“Earlier, art classes in schools used to benefit only those who were really interested and skilled. Through these books, we tried to involve all the students in the exercise through the ‘art school’ concept. This was not to make them experts in arts, but to help them experience art and later learn to appreciate it,” one of the experts told The Hindu on Saturday. The experts relied on books such as Education Through Art by Herbert Read, and Art, The Basis of Education by Devi Prasad, one of the proponents of Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of Nayee Talim.
SCERT sources, meanwhile, indicated that these books might be updated along with the ongoing process of curriculum revision for schools. They could be printed and distributed in schools in the next two years, they added.
