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Puri: Puppetry as a traditional form of art meant to entertain and disseminate information and social messages through the show, has been facing a slow decay in the face of television soap operas and films.
However, a primary school in the holy city has not only kept alive the rich art but also tried to train children through its curricula.
The Model Primary School at Police Line has also evolved the puppetry course material as an entertainer for students to get glued to their seats.
Senior teacher Annapurna Devi had introduced puppetry in the school way back in 2001. Soon, the performing art became part of the teaching methodologies. “I tried to turn puppetry into an interesting study material for kids after attending a training programme at the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in New Delhi in 2000. Now, the dying art form has reinvigorated our school curriculum,” says a beaming Annapurna.
School sources said Annapurna and other teachers select short stories and fables from books as theme for puppetry show. They along with the students prepare scripts and puppets to enact the story during the show. “A majority of our 300-odd students have tried their hands in puppetry. They virtually compete with each other to become puppeteers whenever we organise a show,” Annapurna claimed.
Apart from narrating stories from textbooks, Annapurna and her colleagues utilise puppetry to create awareness on various developmental schemes introduced by the Centre and the state government.
“Important socio-economic schemes including Right to Education, ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ and those on sanitation and hygiene have been chosen as themes of our puppetry shows,” Annapurna pointed out.
According to sources, education through puppetry has been drawing a more number of students to the schools than any other school in the locality. “We are trying to inculcate morality, fellow-feeling and scientific inquisitiveness among our students through the traditional art. Puppetry has certainly raised the intellectual calibre of our students,” said headmistress Hemant Kumari Mohanty.