The At Education conference, 2012

Currently, art exams for ISC and ICSE have three hours, which is still less, when compared to the time required at times the setup is complex or large in size. However, this is still a much better situation than it was ten years back. This makes me look back to some notes I have written in 2012 after an art education conference in Bangalore.

The Art Education Conference, 2012

The Art Education Conference held at NGMA Bangalore was jointly organised by the Goethe- Institute/ Max Muller Bhavan, Bangalore, and the India Foundation for the Arts (IFA). It was informative and contributive in terms of current educational practices. It was an opportunity to hear a set of stakeholders, decision-makers, and practitioners in the area of art education providing their views on educational practice. The speakers included nd a set of teachers from Rural Karnataka who were part of the Kali Kalisu Programme, Dr. Pawan Sudhir of NCERT, Prakas Belawadi, Deborah Thiagarajan, Jinan K. B.,  Kirthana Kumar, M. K. Raina Manford Schewe, Dr. Vivek Bengal Sabina Wush, Kotiganahalli Ramaiah and Suresh Kumar Reddy of the Samuha Art initiative and collective Bangalore. 

The perspectives they provided were interesting and varied such as 'nurture learning centers' or to say 'ban the schools'! Presentations included a study from the tribal societies of Kerala on how children learn themselves when left alone to explore (A video presentation by Mr. Jinan), and how the brain responds and enhances brain capacity when involved with the art activity (Dr. Vivek Benegal, NIMHANS, Bangalore) and implications in excessive use of computers, to mention some examples. But all sessions were not equally effective, I guess. I think the opening and concluding sessions were not as effective as the presentations. The tour of the gallery was interesting but not very informative. The session by Nikhil Chopra too had nothing much to offer in terms of classroom practice and the work he showcased, a project from Kashmir, sounded very ordinary.  

The second day was very contributive with excellent discussions and presentations. It also seemed that the discussions were more effective on day two compared to day one. The presentation of a workshop conducted by Mr. M. K. Raina in Kashmir sounded more effective. Presentations by Ms. Kirtana Kumar and Shri. Kotaganahalli Ramaiah too received good attention. Probably the time given for each presentation and for discussion was short which impacted the overall output.

During the conference, I had a chance to interact with Dr. Pavan Sudhir from NCERT and had a brief discussion about the need for more time for the Art Board examinations. At present, the time given for both ICSE and ISC is two hours and thirty minutes. This seems to be too less for students of 14-17 years can handle very effectively. Sometimes even the climatic conditions of each region also impact the effective running of art examinations, for example, the use of watercolur in winters in the northern part of the country. So if the time frame is increased it will not only help students to improve their work quality but also help to avoid unwanted emotional stress that was caused by the time constraints. It will give them more confidence to approach the examination and a certain level of happiness while leaving the examination hall.