Pradnya Gaonkar Rane
Bal Bhavan is always buzzing with activity. You can see little hands busy at work strumming the guitar while you listen to mesmerizing voices singing the various ragas of the classical Hindustani music. In another part of the institute, dancers can be seen tapping their feet to the rhythms of the tabla while artists learn the techniques with colours to create masterpieces.
And at the moment, the hustling around appears to be a little more hectic than usual. Programme office cum coordinator of Bal Bhavan, Panaji, Shashikant Punaji informs that students are busy with the preparations of the Gunadarshan programme, a culmination event of their summer camp. The programme on different days at each of the 52 Bal Bhavan centres across the state. The Panaji centre will have it’s event on May 8 at Menezes Braganza hall, Panaji.
“The centres located in remote villages in Goa are often the main or at times the only source of activity or talent programmes for the children. After witnessing various Gunadarshan programmes across the state, I have realized that the students from these remote areas are truly talented and need to be brought to the fore front,” states Sheetal Naik, chairperson of Bal Bhavan, Panaji. Upon taking over as chairperson, Naik has introduced new skill based courses and programmes for the students. “Apart from the basic art and craft classes, dance etc, we have reintroduced some of the classes like the theatre art and drama. We conducted workshops on photography, robotics, inventors club which will now be included in our regular classes. Vedic mathematics will also be introduced shortly,” she states. Naik has also started five new Bal Bhavan centres. In fact the Corlim Bal Bhavan centre which was started recently during the summer, has received 300 enrollments, thus demonstrating that students are eager for such opportunities.
Across all the centres, Bal Bhavan received enrolment of around 8000-10000 students with an average 200 students per centre. Also, being a government sourced institution the fees to these summer camp courses are very minimal. In cities like Panaji, Margao, Mapusa the fees are kept as high as Rs 300 while in villages the fees are as low as Rs 60.
However, despite this minimal fee, Punaji informs that village enrolment is still low as children tend to visit their relatives during summer or engage in other farming activities during summer. But the number is increasing with every passing year.
This year, apart from the regular instrumental, vocal, performing art, craft drawing and dance, the Panaji centre also conducted workshops in drama, vegetable carving, best out of waste workshop, water colour painting workshop, creative writing workshop and robotics.
“Apart from these courses, we want Bal Bhavan to be a role model especially for the village students coming to Panaji on their study trips. We are in the process of installing solar panels in our premises especially for the kids to know the importance of this energy source,” informs Naik. Similarly, the barren spaces in the premises will be converted into botanical garden with medicinal, seasonal, household, spices etc and the classification along with the uses will be displayed on placards placed near the respective plant. “This is intended to inculcate a scientific temper among students and help them take up projects in these fields. Many such projects are in the pipeline and will be taken up soon,” says Naik.
Following the Gunadarshan programme, the best of the acts, will come together for Balotsav, the annual culmination talent show which will be held on May 18. This year four students have been selected for the Bal Bhushan puraskar “ Somdutt Gaonkar from Mollem Sattari for theatre arts, Tanisha M Shenvi Mauzekar from Mapusa for vocals, Siddhi Gawde from Taleigao for handicrafts and Nitesh Naik from Marcel for sculpture.
Apart from this, the students excelling in the respective exams conducted in every art form will be selected for various national level camps after which they are nominated for the Bal Shree award at the national level.
With these courses and new programmes, Bal Bhavan has definitely served as a platform for the upcoming talent but more importantly it has reached to those remote villages to discover and bring out the best of creativity from children there.
