New Delhi, 16 February 2022: The parliamentary standing committee on education, women, children, youth and sports has come up with a reform proposal titled “Reforms in the education of performing and fine arts”. According to the proposal, subjects like music, dance, visual arts, and theater should be made compulsory up to Class 10 to get rid of “colonial orientation” and become more “India-oriented”.
For this, the panel has also suggested a consultation with bodies like the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT), and different university departments to work on a curriculum for arts education.
Parliamentary Reform Proposal for Art Education: Details
- Art education should be made a compulsory subject up to Class 10 due to NEP’s (National Education Policy’s) emphasis on integration of art in education.
- Art education should also include local traditions like episodes from folk tales, stories, plays, paintings, etc., so that such a learning method generates interest in students for their nation’s artistic legacy.
- Art education should also form an essential part of teacher training and it should be included in the curriculum of teacher training institutions across the country.
Note:
- The reform is introduced to tackle the colonial orientation that is giving rise to a mechanical mindset. Such a mindset gets limited only to technical design without the ability to think creatively.
- To give space to creative thinking, the panel has recommended “massive public campaigns” to change the mindset of parents, guardians, school authorities, and policy makers towards incorporating arts in the education system. This would help them understand the need for inclusion of arts in any of its forms in the curriculum.
Parliamentary Reform Proposal for Art Education: Suggestions and Recommendations
- The parliamentary panel recommended that the government should explore the possibility of establishing a Central University like Rashtriya Kala Vishwa Vidyalaya (National University of Arts) through an Act of Parliament, as there is insufficient infrastructure and inadequate number of seats in arts courses.
- This central university can have regional centers at prominent art/cultural locations with dedicated departments equipped with the latest facilities.
- The panel has also proposed the creation of a regulatory body in line with the technical education regulator All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to take care of the need for a regulatory mechanism for higher education as well as research in performing, fine, and visual arts.
- The panel also proposed that the union ministries of education and culture jointly should appoint a task force to identify sectors and institutions where students of performing and fine arts can find viable career opportunities.
- The panel also recommended that the education ministry should give the status of Institute of National Importance (INI) to institutes such as Film and Television Institute of India (FTTI, Pune) and National School of Drama (NSD, New Delhi).
- Recognition to such reputed institutes/bodies will help them in expanding their work and vision and grant graduate and postgraduate degrees to students.
- It also suggested that the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) should open more regional centers. It should start courses based on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and mobile telephony; set up a wing to provide subtitles in foreign languages for Indian movies; and introduce courses on film management.
Note: All these recommendations and suggestions are aimed to radically transform the current scenario of art education in colleges and universities across the nation.
