India has a strong tradition of oral storytelling, as epics and stories have passed down the ages in the form of stories, performances or dance. Within these traditions lies a wealth of knowledge. Even oral tradition implies transmission of knowledge, ideas and cultural understanding from one generation to other.
An order from the department of secondary education said that all the elderly women will be invited on every month’s Saturday morning to hold story telling sessions. The informal sessions will be held for classes 1-5 in the ‘Bal Sabhas’ where children will indulge in cultural activities and express themselves through dramatization etc. Also the grandmothers of students will be speaking at sessions titled “Bal Sabhas with Grandmothers”.
[themify_quote]“The idea behind the initiative is to increase community involvement, to ensure the strengthening of our family values and flow of human wisdom to children. Even most of the stories are moral based so it will help to build the character of the students,”[/themify_quote]
says Arun Kumar Sharma, deputy director in secondary education.
He also added that these sessions will be held in such a way that they will help grandchildren to restore oral traditions which is being disrupted because of new and advanced technologies. The department of education hopes that these sessions with children will help elderly people to overcome their loneliness.
Additionally, grandmothers are known to be good story tellers so it will give a push to our gender empowerment efforts and will aid in strengthening inter generational bonds.
Named as ‘Bal Sabhas with Grandmothers’ the sessions will involve no financial implications for the department and in case no grandmother turns up, the most senior teacher in the school will perform the role of grandma.
The initiative will surely help the students to revive the Indian culture and also they will know about it in its purest form.
