Safe Saturday- Creative and Educational Programs at Deshiya Mahali Tola Primary School.
Bihar, India Katihar district - The weekly program of Deshiya Mahali Tola Primary School is called Safe Saturday, a special event that recently took place in the school, and students, teachers, and parents participated in it enthusiastically. The day itself consisted of a range of educational and cultural activities which were aimed at encouraging the process of learning, which is not confined to the usual classroom routine, spurring creativity and increasing the student interest.
The school is becoming known with its innovative approach to the development of students and community through the program, which is called Safe Saturday. Teachers and staff members collaborated to arrange a sequence of activities in which art, music, performance, and interactive learning were combined and gave children a pleasant respite to the usual academic day but promoted valuable living skills.
Principal Kalpana Kumari who has been gradual in steering the school in the direction of holistic development has stated that the Safe Saturday program has changed the school atmosphere. She claims that these activities make students more eager to come to school, as well as, make them stronger and more interested in studying.
Creativity and Culture Take the Center Stage.
The school was lively and happy since the dawn of the day. The program began with a bright exhibition of student art work where children would show a drawing and painting they had created on a number of topics. The level of creativity exhibited was not just talent based, but also showed the curiosity and interest of the students in expressing themselves. Both teachers and parents commended the students in their artistic accomplishments and applauded that most of the works were very insightful and beautiful.
Along with the visual arts, music was one of the key events in the Safe Saturday schedule. The students were charged with energy and rhythm through the program by the use of harmonium, performing dholak and jhal that gave a musical mood in the school premise which echoed throughout the school grounds. As the performances were organized by young learners, they were not only entertaining but also educative wherein the children were taught teamwork, confidence and coordination by practicing and presenting it on stage.
The cultural expressiveness of the school underpins other objectives other than entertainment. Through the promotion of music and visual arts, the school hopes to improve confidence and communication levels as well as provide students with the avenue to express their talents beyond text books and exams.
Play and Creativity Learning.
Among the best parts of safe Saturday event was the part where playful learning was incorporated. Games and interactive activities were used to present the students with fundamental academic ideas in a light way through teachers. Through these games, students were motivated to solve problems, cooperate and healthy competition with one another and this made the learning process more interesting and memorable.
Principal Kalpana Kumari noted that play-based learning has proved to be effective in terms of increasing the attention and involvement of the students. She observed that the children who may be shy or hesitant in ordinary classroom would come out in their creative and interactive parts of the programs that are witnessed in the safe Saturday.
The students had a very strong feeling of pride in taking their work through the various stations, where teachers, parents and classmates would see their work. The platform allowed many students to leave their comfort zone and present themselves before the audience or comment on their drawings. This is a social confidence, which is one of the less obvious, yet important results of the programs that promote student participation in non-traditional learning.
Community bonds are enhanced by teacher and parent involvement.
The program of the Safe Saturday was successful not only due to the efforts of the students; teachers were important in the process of organization and leading of every activity. Such teachers as Sushma Kumari, Sabir Hussain, Gopal Ray and Shambhu Kumar Rajak were busy in taking students into mentoring, organizing the events so that every child could make the most out of it.
The involvement of parents was also high. Numerous parents came to the activity and mingled with the educators, giving them credit about how the school has tried to make the learning process more entertaining. Parents stated that they noticed significant improvements in their interest in school among children since the start of the Safe Saturday program. According to them, students are now more than willing to discuss their learning experience in the day and show greater interest in class work but also in their home creative work.
This feeling of community involvement has several advantages to the school. Parental involvement in school matters increases the home-school communication and makes children feel more encouraged in their academic paths. It also creates a feeling of collective responsibility towards the growth of students and development of schools.
The Leadership and Vision of the Program.
The date with the Positive impact of the Safe Saturday is accredited immensely to the leadership and vision of the principal, Kalpana Kumari. Since assuming her office she has laid emphasis on good education and emerging methods of teaching that are not based on rote learning. Her style is based on the idea of a holistic development, which helps the student to develop abilities in creative work, expression, social interaction and teamwork, as well as academic education.
Safe Saturday has become a weekly event in the school community as observed by Kalpana Kumari. She elaborated that although such academic learning is central to the school mission, such events enable students to build self-confidence and happiness in learning which are important to success in the long term. She further emphasized that despite the low number of teachers, the school has been able to provide good teaching by using teamwork, creativity and community support.
Those teachers who are present at the event expressed that the safe Saturday has enabled them to learn more about abilities of their students. One of the teachers said, "You find some secret talents coming out, students who might be silent in group discussions are the ones that lead in artistic or musical undertakings. Other forms of communication such as drawing and music can provide students with alternative methods of communicating what they are learning so that this educational process can become more inclusive and interesting.
