COIMBATORE : The will-o’-the-wisp of the older generation for a magical lamp to be rubbed for the genie to emerge has been made true by the technological advancements. The advent of smartphones ensures that the technological giant remains at our fingertips. However, the same giant has led the generation-next away from the real to the virtual. Abreast of the sea-change, a mathematics teacher has sounded the clarion call to wean kids away from the screens to a real world filled with folk dances and lore.
Meet P Sugunadevi, a mathematics teacher at Onnipalayam Panchayat Union Middle School (PUMS) at Periyanaickenpalayam block. Three years ago, she passed out with flying colours from the Craft Skill for School Education at Hyderabad after undergoing orientation courses under the Centre for Cultural Resource and Training (CCRT) under aegis of the Ministry of Culture at New Delhi. It was during her term there that she learnt various folk dances from virtuosos and began passing it down to her students.
After establishing the Club, she took her wards to Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal and Gandhi Memorial Museum in Madurai, Perur Patteeswarar Temple, Isha Yoga Center in Coimbatore among other places for the children to gain insight into art, culture, sculpture and architecture. Her two-pronged approach aimed at weaning children away from social media all the while ensuring that a proper platform was afforded to them to showcase their latent artistic abilities.
Banking on history
“A majority of my 114 students were addicted to social media. I wanted them to learn various craft and about Tamil culture through folk dances and lore. That is when the idea of a cultural club was conceived in 2016. I have been training the children in traditional arts, crafts, appliqué arts, fabric paintings and rangoli,” she says. “Students must know about our traditional folk dances. I have been teaching folk art like Parai, Kollattam, Sattai Kuchi, Karakattam, Oyilattam. I also train children in Kurumba and Baduga dances. As many as 45 students learn these folk arts weekly twice, she says.
Native games revived
Tiruchy: To wean students away from smartphones and TV in the small village of Unaiyur in Tiruchy, teachers came together and revived age-old native, recreational games for children at Unaiyur High School on Sunday. Aware that the youngsters were immersed in the small screens of smartphones for entertainment and recreation in their leisure hours, teachers and headmaster S Sargunan took this initiative. The students were invited to the campus on Sunday to play games enjoyed by earlier generations to their heart’s’ content. Teachers had arranged for gilli and danda, golis, tyres and flat stones, among other items for the event.