New centres of the National School of Drama have been proposed in Jammu and Maharashtra and are likely to be approved by the government soon, NSD director-in-charge Suresh Sharma said on Sunday.
Mr. Sharma was addressing the first in a series of webinars organised by the NSD till May 17 as the institute remains shut due to the coronavirus pandemic. Stressing the need for the NSD to reach out to students in different regions, he said the process of imparting training should be “decentralised” so local languages, cultures and art forms could be incorporated.
Apart from its Delhi campus, the NSD has four centres — in Bengaluru, Agartala, Gangtok and Sikkim. Mr. Sharma said the NSD, which is an autonomous organisation of the Union Ministry of Culture, had prepared proposals for two new centres in Jammu and Maharashtra.
“Senior officers of the government have assured us that the proposals would be accepted soon,” he said.
Responding to a request to set up a centre in Mumbai, Mr. Sharma said the Maharashtra capital already had many institutes offering drama training and that the centre proposed would be located elsewhere in the State.
However, an official of the Ministry of Culture declined to comment, saying there was no concrete plan yet for new centres.
Intake hike likely
As of now, the NSD enrolls 27 students into its three-year, post-graduate course in the dramatic arts in Delhi and 20 students in each of the regional four centres. Answering a question about increasing the number of seats from the online audience, Mr. Sharma said the NSD had asked the government to increase the faculty as well as set up new centres, which would lead to an increase in its intake.
In response to another request asking for three-year courses at the regional centres, Mr. Sharma said the NSD was in the process of converting the one-year courses at the four centres into two-year courses when the COVID-19 crisis hit. He said the NSD would continue working on the proposal.
On the upcoming new academic session, he said while there may be some delay in the admissions due to the lockdown, as of now a new session was still on the cards this year. He said the NSD would follow the Centre’s orders for educational institutes and universities regarding reopening and new admissions.
