The role of teachers in bringing to light the creative talents and capabilities of students is crucial.
It asks for close observations and attention on the part of the school authorities especially teachers on students on an individual scale.
Once the talent is spotted or identified, it is again the challenging task of the concerned authorities to find an appropriate forum to allow their talent to be nurtured.
Right platform
When the curriculum is changing radically and it's content becoming increasingly activity-oriented there is scope for students to be creative.
Likewise, there is increased onus on teachers to be more sensitive towards the talents of their wards.
Finding the right platform for the budding talents to showcase their abilities is the key as always. Some schools float literary clubs while some others launch a school magazine to showcase the students' faculties. Theatre clubs, music bands and debating clubs are other places where students can hone their skills.
The English literary club at the Crescent High School at Vanimel in Kozhikode district is an exceptional example for its proactive roles in promoting and nurturing the talents of students.
The club — FEEL — an acronym for Forum for Enjoying English Language, recently brought out a collection of English poetry written by one of its member student T.K. Fayeda at the school. But this is only one of its diverse activities at the school to promote the students talents.
Besides organising literary meets, public-speaking contests and other cultural programmes FEEL also brings out a monthly students magazine named Ink in English .
“From news content connected with the school to creative works of students, we accommodate a variety of subjects in the magazine,” said Rasheed Kodiyura, the English teacher, who launched the idea of FEEL three years ago.
Young poets
Another impressive initiative by the club was an anthology of poems written by as many as 38 students of Std IX, which they brought out a couple of months ago.
The collection was titled Dawn of 39 and was compiled by another English teacher at the school Ali Vanimel, who also completed the illustration works for the poetry collection of Fayeda, which was published on March 6. Fayeda's collection was titled ‘Dirt-less Steps' and comprised 23 poems.
“I used to write poems and stories in Malayalam even before but it's the active participation in the activities of FEEL and the encouragements of my language teacher that motivated me to write in English,” said Fayeda, whose first collection of English poetry was published by FEEL.
“We are planning to bring out a second edition of her collection of poetry as all the 500 copies of the book was already sold out,” said Rasheed, who added that the initial fund for the production was collected from the club members and the teachers.
