Khirkee Arts Education Program

Art is important; it serves a vital function in society.

Unfortunately not everyone shares this perspective. Art is taken for granted more often than not and is seen by many as a self-indulgent way to while away time. But art does serve the greater good. Music, dance, theatre, visual art and everything above and beyond, below and in-between contribute immeasurably to making life worth living. Those of us fortunate enough to have had an exposure to the arts realize we are the richer for it.

The arts allow us to open our minds and senses; it encourages us to look at things in brand new ways. Art has the power to quite literally change the way we view the world. There is no one right response in art. This fosters subjective reasoning, a skill that is indispensable in the ‘real world’. Put another way, art introduces us to a varied palette as an alternative (or at the very least an essential addition) to the monochrome black and whites. The arts help us form opinions, to react, to predict, once again, these are skills that help us live and think critically in the real world.
It makes sense then to employ this potent force as early as possible and so make sure we, as society, reap the benefits.
Two words…Arts Education.

Some schools recognise the importance of arts education and some don’t. Some have the funds to support it and some don’t. The Gyandeep School in Khirkee Extension is one of the better schools in the sense that they do have an art room and they do have art teachers. Yet there is a lot more to arts education than drawing from comics and cartoon figures.
A group of artists have taken up the challenge of completely revamping the arts curriculum and have been invited by the School to take the art classes for the students. The artists, Aastha Chauhan, Sanjay Sharma, Ram Bali Chauhan, Rohini Devasher and Sonia Mehra Chawla have been taking the newly instituted art classes twice a week every week for a month.

This new arts education project, supported by Khoj, will work towards reinforcing ties with the Khirkee community and bringing an added dimension to learning that cannot be taught by any other means. Over the next few months the students will be encouraged to use their imagination, to hone their creativity and apply both practical and cognitive skills. Through active participation in art activities the children will develop creative problem solving skills and communicate thoughts and ideas in a variety of ways. They will learn teamwork, how to adapt to and respect each others' ways of working and thinking and most importantly, they will have a wonderful time!!!!!

Rohini Devasher
2005