The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Imparting soft skills to poor children

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Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Imparting soft skills to poor children

L. Renganathan

Crafts workshop seeks to imbue responsibility

intricate: Participants at the state-level crafts workshop in Karur on Tuesday.

KARUR: “I want to join the Art and Painting course for the degree. It is my dream to be a cine art director one day,” says Babu (14) of Madurai with a twinkle in his eyes and a pencil in his hand that has conjured up marvellous reflections of famous cine stars and nature’s bounties. “Sir, I can understand what you say in English but cannot reply. My affordability is that much only,” a telling expression indicating his economic background. There are several Babus in the State-level Crafts Workshop currently under way in Karur–each one with a dream to pursue and perhaps realize one day or to cherish the memories of the vision after making a valiant attempt to realize that. They are all on a single plank, under-privileged.

B. Menaka (10) of Tiruchi wants to be a teacher, while Sai Surya also from Tiruchi wants to make former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam happy by becoming a scientist with a social bent of mind.

Given the opportunity any student would allow the brilliance in him or her to peep out from beyond the veils of economic and social stratifications that tie them down. The workshop being organized here by the Department of Art and Culture for the students of the Jawahar Bal Bhavans not only inculcates the intricacies of some remarkable crafts but also seeks to imbue in them a sense of responsibility and togetherness.A total of 120 students between the ages of 10 and 15 affiliated to the Jawahar Bal Bhavans functioning in the districts have congregated here over the past week. They have a well-laid out schedule all through the 10 days they are camping at the Lakshmi Natarajan Vidhya Niketan School in Karur.

“Basically the workshop revolves around the training imparted in batik, candle making, collage, clay modelling and doll making,” points out the Assistant Director of Art and Culture, R. Gunasekaran. However, we ensure that the participants taste overall skill development that would help them face the future boldly, he observes.

The vacation is being used meaningfully to impart some soft skills to the budding children. This is a result-oriented workshop that would give a big boost to the morale of the child and equips him or her to take on the competition with confidence, said the Jawahar Bal Bhavan Executive Officer S. Thanganayakam.

The salient feature of the present camp is that the most unfortunate of the under-privileged, a group of 10 students from the CHEERS Special School for rehabilitated child labourers in Tiruchi are participating in the camp. Menaka and Sai Surya, who come from this special school, might be handicapped by their lack of monetary resources but are never short of confidence.

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