കുട്ടികളുടെ നാടക വേദി -രംഗ പ്രഭാത്‌

Rangaprabhat Centre- N. Radhakrishnan
An experiment undertaken by a group of artists and educators in Kerala under the banner ‘Rangaprabhat’ to offer a support system of value creation in children and prevent school drop-outs through drama and a host of other activities.
A group of artists and educators led by Professor G. Sankara Pillai, a great artist and visionary, and his disciple K. Kochunarayana Pillai, initiated about 25 years ago at a place called Venjarmood, about 20 km north of Trivandrum, what was at that time called an experiment in primary education by the integration of non-formal and formal education through the liberal and creative use of the vast opportunities offered by children’s drama and by offering opportunities to selected children to spend their leisure time in activities that would enhance in them a spirit of cooperative endeavour, involvement in craft activities, creative dramatics, story-telling, improvisations, creative dance and folk music.
The experiment began with story sessions through which both Professor Sankara Pillai and Kochunarayana Pillai were able to attract the attention and sustain the interest of a group of over sixty children initially.
What guided all those who involved themselves in the experiment was the emphasis which Professor G. Sankara Pillai placed on understanding children and on catching them young, as well as on leading them not under compulsion but to learning through a variety of activities which are not available in the schools in which they study.
Professor Sankara Pillai, the brain behind this experiment, was encouraged to streamline the activities of Rangaprabhat by introducing puppetry and children’s drama. He launched the revolutionary concept of children’s drama in Malayalam for education, for which in the next 22 years he wrote several plays — all for the children of Rangaprabhat to enact. His aim was not to create new actors or actresses but to help children involve themselves in activities that would enable them to imbibe values and attitudes which the formal education set-up does not offer them at the moment. The emphasis was on helping children learn through creativity. As Professor Pillai would always say, the child likes to learn but hates to be taught.