The placement of each subject in water-tight compartments and the importance given to Mathematics and Science as a passport to better income in the future, has perhaps turned the students’ interest away from Languages, Social Science and Arts, least knowing the connection between Science and Geography, Economics and Mathematics, Language and Management, Music and Mathematics and so on. Maybe because of this compartmentalisation classrooms have become dull and inactive.
“The NCERT Position Paper (National focus group on Arts, Music, Dance and Theatre), says that in the current situation our approach to organise the curriculum is to present knowledge as ‘packaged’ usually in textbooks, along with associated rituals of examinations to assess, where knowledge acquisition and marks becomes a way of judging competence in the subject area.”
This leads to an education that is imbibed in pieces instead of integrated whole. In the child’s mind, sometimes even in the teacher’s mind, each subject is separate from the others and have no inter relation or connection. The other flaw in this system is that the content only gets deeper, i.e. concepts that have been learnt are again reiterated without any scope for the child to experiment with his knowledge. In this way there knowledge is being served in a platter, without the child exercising his prowess.
To mitigate this problem, CBSE has advised the schools to implement Art compulsorily in all classes-Art, as in, Music, dance and drama. Firstly, art infused learning gives joy to the child and he learns without the pressure of learning. He learns to solve problems creatively and critically.
Secondly, art infused learning also enhances experiential learning. When the child learns with his senses and derives the meaning, then learning is permanent.
Thirdly, the inclusion of art in the classroom impacts positively on the development of life skills. Communication skills, thought and enquiry, imbibing high confidence levels and self-esteem are some of the important skills that the child picks up. His appreciation for aesthetics and creativity makes him a better human being and he becomes a better citizen of the country.
The child’s perspective also develops which gives him an edge over others by recognizing the link between subjects and topics. This fourth advantage of art integrated learning broadens the child’s mind.
Thus, the CBSE, seeing the various advantages of integrating art has made it mandatory for all schools and all classes to follow a time table that allows for two periods of art. Music, dance, craft and visual arts need to be compulsorily taught to the students. This come into force from the session 2019-’20.
