When Kashvi Lamba (14), a class 9 student, was compelled to continue her education virtually due to the lockdown, she was unsure of how she would adapt to the new method. After weeks of struggling, her teachers implemented a change in strategy. They soon started incorporating creative assignments for evaluation. The inclusion of arts in learning started reaping benefits. “Our teachers would give us activities and project in place of tests. Since I enjoy arts and crafts, doing such projects were enjoyable, something I completed happily, without pressure,” shares Lamba.
The inclusion of artistic activities in conventional learning is proven to have manifold benefits. Even though the pedagogy of Art Integrated Learning (AIL) is yet to be fully incorporated in the formal education system, parents and teachers have already discerned the impact that arts can have on children.
The National Education Policy (2020) attempts to steer change in the Indian educational system by incorporating subjects like arts and similar allied activities in curriculums. The policy states ‘There is to be no hard separation between the streams and also between sports, cultural and vocational crafts’, thereby suggesting a focus on integrated education.
Fostering creative expression
The idea of learning key concepts through art as demonstrated by Kashvi is also backed by her mother Eena Lamba, a West Delhi resident. “With pen-and-paper tests, students just cram a topic and write it; learning through projects is more intensive. I have seen Kashvi indulge better with audio-visual material, it helps build imagination and thinking skills.”
AIL—it focuses on using art as a medium of teaching-learning various subjects—extends a proactive method for educating children that guarantees wider socio-emotional outcomes. It is known to enhance a child’s academic achievements. The pedagogy is, thereby, aimed at providing a creative space to learners in order to help them experience and express without the fear of judgment. This method seeks to help the child build key skills of expression, confidence, thus promoting holistic learning.
Social ventures lead change
At the age of 22, Jigyasa Labroo visited a classroom in Kashmir. As part of an activity, she asked the students to write a poem. On looking into the submissions, she noticed that most students had written about emotions like anger, confusion, and sadness. “We, as a country, really de-prioritise expression. Our expectations behind educating children are limited to getting good grades or landing a job. No one talks about encouraging the passions of students or building safe space,” Labroo says. In 2018, she launched Slam Out Loud, a social venture in Delhi that deploys the power of arts to enable children from under-represented sections to build ‘creative confidence’.
Delhi’s non-profit project Just for Arts, founded by Diksha Ahi, integrates art and STEM learning. “There are many organisations working on foundational literacy, but a few that work on character qualities and competencies. At Just for Arts, we seek to empower children through arts. We focus on 3Cs—collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity,” says Ahi, who runs it as a part time project. With a number of visible examples and evolving tools, it is no surprise that integrating arts in education will help pave the way for a creatively conscious generation of children.