The Hindu: They Articulate Social Messages in Artistic Ways

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/they-articulate-social-messages-in-artistic-ways/article1380742.ece

They articulate social messages in artistic ways

Informative: Students of the Corporation High School, Adyar, at the cultural show held as part of the ‘Safe child’ project in Chennai on Friday.

Staff Reporter

Students of Corporation High School, Adyar entertain, educate their peers

CHENNAI: They stayed back after school hours, but seemed thoroughly pleased to do so. Students of the Corporation High School, Adyar, were treated to an interesting cultural show by their peers here on Friday.

It was held as part of ‘Safe child,’ a project of non-governmental organisation Nalamdana that works in the area of spreading awareness of social issues using the arts as tools of communication.

Through ‘Safe child,’ a project funded by Singapore-based Art Venture, Nalamdana trains students on various communication skills. In south Chennai, the NGO has identified three schools to start with.

“The children use these skills in art forms or other forms of expression, to articulate various social messages,” said M. Sampath, project in-charge.

Volunteers of the NGO have worked with a group of children of this school for nearly ten days. “We also used content from a work book prepared by Tulir [an NGO], to highlight ways to take care of one self,” said J. Bama, programme assistant.

Basic child rights, different types of abuse and self-protection are among the topics covered in these modules. Children are also informed about the child helpline – 1098.

Using the training and skills obtained, students of the school put up a cultural show that included song, dance, brief speeches and visual depiction of ideas on charts and posters. A dance item presented as part of Friday’s cultural show outlined a message on how children should take care of their body and mind to lead a happy life.

Such programmes would give students good exposure to a range of issues, headmaster of the school SK. Jayaram said.