Students break the ice, de-stress at Raj town's `masti ki pathshalas'
Shoeb Khan
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Kota Jaipur
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Rattled by a spate of suicides by students, the Kota district administration has asked over 100 coaching institutes spread across the city to undertake extra curricular activities on a regular basis to de-stress aspirants preparing for various entrance examinations.Collector Ravi Kumar held a meeting with representatives of institutes on Friday -a day after the coaching hub registered the 29th suicide by a student -and directed that the centres should keep some days for `masti ki pathshala' (extra curricular activities).
Following the directives, the institutes held painting, singing and other such activities in classrooms on Saturday , drawing a huge response from students. Stressing that the masti ki pathshala element would become a regular feature, Kumar told TOI on Sunday: “I have asked institutes to send the feedback and we will also take feedback from students independently to plan our future course of action.This is certain that we will again hold `fun days' with different sets of activities like trekking, movies, exercises etc.“
Much to the surprise of students, almost all coaching institutes distributed crayons and colour paper when classes started on Saturday morning, asking them to paint whatever came to their mind.
The results were amazing.
Sulgna Sinha, a student from Faridkot in Punjab, drew a painting depicting her farm land with a bumper mustard crop, enveloped in morning fog, and her father walking past the crops towards a gurdwara. “It's been four months since I am here. I painted what I was missing the most at my native place. For two hours (while painting) I lived with my family and played on my farm land,“ said an elated Sinha, a medical aspirant.
Two students from Kashmir, Nadia Riyaz and Rifat Bhatt, drew paintings showing chirping birds on chinars and children playing with snow, with an iced stream and a snow-capped mountain in the backdrop. “This is a time when our family spends days together as we hardly have anything to do in winters,“ Riyaz, aresident of Verinag in Anantnag, said. Those who were not good at painting came up with motivational slogans.
Many students took the opportunity to showcase folk songs of their native states. Deba Asem of Manipur, who left the jam-packed classroom spellbound, said after her performance, “It was an ice-breaking moment with my batchmates as they asked a lot of questions about my culture, dress, food etc. I was surprised most of them were not aware I am from a northeastern state.“
In a marked departure, some institutes changed their strategy of showcasing their bright students. In hoardings put up by one institute at sev eral prominent places in the city, pictures of toppers have been replaced with the tagline `happiness' with faces of kids.
Following the directives, the institutes held painting, singing and other such activities in classrooms on Saturday , drawing a huge response from students. Stressing that the masti ki pathshala element would become a regular feature, Kumar told TOI on Sunday: “I have asked institutes to send the feedback and we will also take feedback from students independently to plan our future course of action.This is certain that we will again hold `fun days' with different sets of activities like trekking, movies, exercises etc.“
Much to the surprise of students, almost all coaching institutes distributed crayons and colour paper when classes started on Saturday morning, asking them to paint whatever came to their mind.
The results were amazing.
Sulgna Sinha, a student from Faridkot in Punjab, drew a painting depicting her farm land with a bumper mustard crop, enveloped in morning fog, and her father walking past the crops towards a gurdwara. “It's been four months since I am here. I painted what I was missing the most at my native place. For two hours (while painting) I lived with my family and played on my farm land,“ said an elated Sinha, a medical aspirant.
Two students from Kashmir, Nadia Riyaz and Rifat Bhatt, drew paintings showing chirping birds on chinars and children playing with snow, with an iced stream and a snow-capped mountain in the backdrop. “This is a time when our family spends days together as we hardly have anything to do in winters,“ Riyaz, aresident of Verinag in Anantnag, said. Those who were not good at painting came up with motivational slogans.
Many students took the opportunity to showcase folk songs of their native states. Deba Asem of Manipur, who left the jam-packed classroom spellbound, said after her performance, “It was an ice-breaking moment with my batchmates as they asked a lot of questions about my culture, dress, food etc. I was surprised most of them were not aware I am from a northeastern state.“
In a marked departure, some institutes changed their strategy of showcasing their bright students. In hoardings put up by one institute at sev eral prominent places in the city, pictures of toppers have been replaced with the tagline `happiness' with faces of kids.
Source: Times of India, 29-12-2015
