HYDERABAD: SN Vikas, Principal, College of Fine Arts, Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University (JNAFAU) in an interview, says parents need to change their mindset towards arts as a career option for their children. They should allow the children to pursue the field they are interested.
Excerpts:
Many students who want to get into JNAFAU are not aware of the admission process and entrance test. Could you explain the selection process for admissions?
We select students through an entrance test which includes a written exam and a practical test. First section requires the candidate to answer objective questions on English language, general knowledge and general art. Apart from this, there are two practical tests. The candidates have to draw an object given to them and an imaginary situation. Based on the drawing skills of candidates and their score in written test, admissions will be given.
JNAFAU is still common for both AP and Telangana states. How are the seats distributed among both the states?
We have a total of 260 seats. This year, there is no change in the process of distributing seats. Earlier we used to share seats among three regions, Osmania University (OU), Sri Venkateshwara University (SVU) and Andhra University, based on the population ratio. We are still following it. There are five departments in the university, each one of them will follow the same ratio for their seats.
Many parents still don’t allow their children to pursue arts as their career. What is your advice to such parents?
I think parents need to be educated on this issue. Many of them think arts students don’t get good jobs. But it’s not true. Most of our students got placements with more than `4 lakh, which is more than the average package of many engineering and management graduates. There are five streams in fine arts and they all have job opportunities across the globe. If a child is blessed with skills in arts, he or she should be allowed to pursue it. There is no point in forcing them to study other courses.
You said there are different streams in fine arts. What are they?
Fine arts includes fine important fields - applied arts, photography, animation, painting and sculpture. Each one of them is unique. They all provide a great scope for students to learn and earn simultaneously.
Recently there was demand to convert some of the fine arts courses into engineering courses. What is your stand on this demand?
I don’t think that merely changing the name will make any difference to the subject. What is the point of calling it engineering course when it includes arts from the beginning? Just because we use machinery in the process, it doesn’t make those subjects engineering courses. Instead of changing the names, the colleges should focus on improving the quality.