Music class for poor students

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  One of the City Corporation’s long-cherished projects that was waiting for a nod from the District Planning Committee (DPC) is all set to take off, finally. The project, ‘Nagaram sangeetha sandram’, which aims to find a place for music in city schools, would see light before the end of this academic year. According to K S Sheela, Education Standing Committee Chairperson of the Corporation, the idea is to supply schools with musical instruments - guitar, violin, veena, tabla and so on - and appoint a music teacher to train students who are not able to spend money on music classes. Schools can select the one or two musical instruments based on the preferences of their students and train them. Students who have genuine interest in music can also join the programme. In the first phase, the Corporation would choose some 50 schools - though there are nearly 120 schools under its purview - for the programme. The tenders for buying the musical instruments have already been issued and the interviews to appoint music teachers were held the other day. It is the shortage of music teachers that prompted the Corporation to think of starting the programme on a slow mode and then take it to all schools. ‘‘For the time being, considering the money and staff, we are thinking of providing one teacher to, say, three schools like in a cluster. Though we are aiming at the students from a poor background, it’s not that other students interested in music cannot make use of the programme. The teachers should identify the music talents in their children and select them for the project,’’ said Sheela.  The Corporation plans to fill its teachers’ bank with adequate supply, for which an interview was held alongside the one for music teachers. It has already begun steps to recruit English and sports teachers to its schools.The ‘Kalari’, which is a similar project catering to the financially backward students, aimed at developing their talent in sports, has been received widely in schools. With the musical project, the Corporation aims to repeat its attempts to keep division fall from happening in government schools within the Corporation limits. With just two months remaining for the academic year to end, it is nearly impossible for the project to find ground in 50 schools in such short time. However, the Corporation Education Standing Committee is confident that it would be at least able to kick off the project and maybe help spread its wings in the next academic year.