Literacy India blends education with play

With an intention of involving more and more people  in the very important process of imparting education, especially among many under-privileged children in our country; Literacy India, an NGO dedicated to the cause of bringing these children into the mainstream, by empowering them with education, has come to Chandigarh with its play called the ‘Baghi Samrat’. The play will be staged in Bal Bhavan.

The play is based on a Persian play – Rustam-Sohrab. It has children, aged six to 18 years, participating in it. They take their performance all over the country. This not only gives them exposure but according to Jaspreet Pannu, executive director of the NGO, it also builds their confidence infusing them with a positive attitude.
 
Pannu considers theatre the mainstay of development. According to theatre and television personality Vardhan Chaturvedi, who is also the director of the play, theatre helps these children to constructively express their emotions; at the same time integrating what the kids do during the play with everyday learning and education.
 
While the kids have given acting a try with the play; this is no child’s play literally. It not only involves great hard work on the part of the children, but also has lot of effort going into designing it in the first place as an exercise of learning and education for the kids. The intention is to make the kids learn something from all that they are doing, nurturing their minds all along the way.
 
The play is an adaptation by Nikhil Raj. It is set in the UP and Bihar backdrop and has many serious elements of poverty, crime, terrorism, the Naxal movement, punctuated with some fun filled light comedy to grab the attention of children. The set for the play has been given great detailing and a lot of effort has gone into building it. Many children enacting the play have worked in films, advertisements and television earlier.
 
Literacy India through this play has made an endeavour to ensure that entertainment and education go together for the tiny tots and the learning through fun experience stays with then forever.