Life Chennai Coimbatore Delhi Hyderabad Kochi Thiruvananthapuram
Messages for life
Teaching through song and
humour.
SOLOMON PAPAIAH gets the second prize in a debate
competition. The winner was Valli. Vairamuthu gets the second prize
in a poetry competition. The winner again is Valli. In the math
competition, it's Valli again. Her father is angry. Devastated.
How could his daughter — almost grown up now —
dance and sing on stage with everyone watching. When Valli's younger
brother comes home crying, her father asks her to give him her
prizes. When they sit for dinner, he asks her to give her egg to her
brother. She, after all, is a girl.
At least her mom's on her side. When a village thug
teases and harasses Valli, and the Panchayat orders a measly
compensation or suggests marrying the victim to the villain, her
mother and other women force the men to get the thug to fall at
Valli's feet — the ultimate humiliation.
And Valli goes to school happily ever after. And
there's more than a smile on every face.
Yes, there was. The play was not a preacher. It was
fun enough to have the audience in splits. Whatever preaching the
play had to do, the actors did with song and dance.
It was the launch of a mission on Sunday. Organised
jointly by the Tamil Nadu Science Forum, the Tamil Nadu Primary
Education Improvement Campaign and the Makkal Palli Iyakkam, the
statewide Kala Jatha (street play) Movement was inaugurated at the
Taramani bus terminus. With a combination of three troupes working
together, the organisers have planned to take the play to 300
villages in the State.
In a beautiful routine of traditional street
theatre, the actors had the audience of slum dwellers, mostly women
and children, glued to their feet or to the ground. It was almost 9
p.m. before the play ended and they left.
The play emphasised the need for education, damned
the State's system of education, the curriculum, and effectively
made its point that students should spend more time studying.
So a teacher (in black gloomy robes) pours
knowledge into his students through their mouths, and makes them
vomit the knowledge during exams. The kids, mothers and fathers in
the audience just loved the vomiting bit. The man in black will not
allow his students to live life (``no goli, no pambaram, only
studies").
In another act the students show off their new
English skills, singing `Rain, Rain go away' and dancing in circles.
No labourer father in Tamil Nadu would tolerate that. ``Is this what
they teach in your school when we are so desperate for rain? Woe to
those teaching such lessons.''
But the teacher won't let students ask questions.
It would be a contempt of school. The teacher's word is final.
``Oh no, we know more than you do. We know the
names of trees, birds and animals. We can even identify them. We
know so much. But you fail us. The fault is not with us. It is with
you,'' rebel the failed students.
Watching the play, Vasanthi Devi, chairperson of
the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women, said children like them
be encouraged to learn even after school hours (schools should be
open in the evening for special classes), that they be given special
tuition, and even parents be taught in school on how to improve
their livelihoods (so they can also learn to value schools and
realise the importance of education for their children).
The play had the kids and parents laughing all
through. Maybe they also got the message.
By Feroze Ahmed
Photo: K. Gajendran
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