Mehfil-2017 , an arts festival held at a school in a remote area of tea plantations at Cheenthalar in Peerumade taluk on Sunday did not evoke much fanfare. There was no media blitzkrieg as often witnessed in the State arts festivals.
However, Mehfil-2017 crossed the State boundaries for its participation of art forms from different regions. It was a unique gathering sans language and cultural barriers. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Idukki organised the arts festival for the first time for children of migrant workers undergoing special training attached to educational institutions in the district. Tea and cardamom plantations are the major segment of employment for workers from West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Bihar, and Jharkhand.
The Peermade tea estates were in the forefront of providing employment to migrant workers, with their family and children accommodated in the quarters. It was with a view to providing education to the children that the SSA started special training attached to schools in the estate areas. As many as 436 children are studying at the training centres where basic education is imparted in their own language.
Unity among children
An official of the SSA told The Hindu on Monday that Mehfil-2017 was organised with a view to making a cultural link and promoting unity among the children. More than the competitive spirit, it can inculcate a cultural uniformity. This makes ‘Mehfil’ different from other arts festivals.
Unlike Tamil workers in the plantations who share similarity with Malayalis in their dress code, lifestyle and cultural activities, the workers from the North and Northeast had remained aloof with little interaction with the general people. ‘Mehfil’ provided a window to the local people to enjoy the vivid and colourful cultural life of migrant workers. The SSA started the special training centres for migrant workers on the model of single-teacher schools in remote forest settlements. The children of migrant workers were given care and education at the lower primary school level while their parents worked in the plantations. By imparting training in their mother tongue, the children feel at home and grasp the lessons easily. Mehfil-2017 held at St. Sebastian’s Higher Secondary School was a festival to showcase their own identity.
