A novel method opted by teachers of Corporation Elementary School at Vavipalayam here to teach girl students of possible sexual exploitation they could face in life and also to explain social values/ issues and Tamil culture, has received appreciation of parents and social activists alike.
Child labour
To keep the children glued to the talks, ventriloquism using ‘glove puppets’ was adopted to narrate the social concerns that could confront the girls like sexual advances both on and off the school campus and child marriage, and child labour in the case of both the boys and girls.
Thomas Antony, a government school teacher from Erode district and a self trained ventriloquist, came forward voluntarily to conduct the session in the school on Friday.
Apart from tutoring the social issues, glove puppets of Mr. Antony also ‘recited’ poems of Subramania Bharati.
Art forms
For teaching ‘Thirukural’, the teachers of the host school brought in the voluntary service of Sundara Mahalingam, a retired government school headmaster, who used traditional art/dance forms to give a narrative in a manner which was easily understandable to the students.
More innovation
“These sessions held are the first of a series of innovative methods we have planned to teach many topics which are of relevance to the life of children as and when they grow up,” D. Devakumar, a teacher of the school and the brain behind the project, told The Hindu .
