When Phad art helped learning in school
The Hindu
How Phad art is helping students learn subjects in schools across India
Till last August, Samiya Verma, a class VIII student of Bal Bharati School in Delhi’s Pitampura had not heard about Phad art, which has its origins in Bhilwara district, Rajasthan. The rainbow-coloured palette of the 600-year-old traditional folk art attracted the young teenager, an artist herself, when she attended workshops to learn the patterns and strokes from traditional Phad painters. Today, Samiya is committed to learning and painting more of Phad to express herself better.
For about a year now, students like Samiya from about two dozen schools across the country have chosen to learn and use the traditional art work to comprehend their school lessons outside the classroom.
“Art is a powerful teaching tool,” says Kartik Gaggar, who initiated art-integrated learning for students to help them develop curiosity about their curriculum and also learn about age-old art forms that exist in the country.
Kartik helms Rooftop, a community-driven art experiences marketplace app which makes traditional Indian art forms accessible to all. The Phad Se Padh (Study with Phad) initiative was launched in association with the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Trust.
Given Phad’s story telling format, Kartik felt it would be a handy module to engage children in learning their school syllabus better, especially after two years of online coaching during the pandemic.
He says, convincing schools about the utility of the programme was not easy and coordinating with teachers and students was also a challenge in the beginning. But what started in a Jaipur school gradually found acceptance in more schools across Delhi, NCR, Mumbai and Rajasthan over the last one year. Students, teachers and parents are beginning to understand the joy of experiential learning.
Samiya, who volunteered to join the programme, now feels art should be incorporated in the school syllabus permanently. “We chose civil disobedience movement to explain through Phad. We realised that art is a fantastic medium to learn; the colourful paintings depicted our language of understanding powerfully,” she says.