Bringing colour to the lives of underprivileged children

Early childhood education should allow students to spread their wings and fly


Our Correspondent August 22, 2016
Early childhood education should allow students to spread their wings and fly. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: With the aim to enable underprivileged children to access art, an education project Art Khatola was launched on Sunday evening.

The project is a mobile art programme that seeks to bring art education to children who are studying in private and government schools in shanty towns in the city, especially those schools with no arts programmes, said project director Afshan Razzak while speaking at the project launch held at Manzar Akber Hall of the Arts Council of Pakistan.

The project seeks to strengthen the partnership within the regional community to allow easy access to arts and support school-going as well as out-of-school children, she said.

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According to the team, Art Khatola would visit different schools in Manghopir, Bilal Colony, Awami Colony, Chakra Goth, Hundred Quarters, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Model Colony.

The project, which has already started in the schools in Manghopir and Bilal Colony, initiated its activities on Monday and would end in December.

Around 1,050 students and out-of-school children in eight different localities will be divided in such a way that the groups are able to interact with each other and share the same facilities, shared Razzak.

“The arts and creative opportunities provided by the ARMEN [Abdur Rehman Media and Education Group] under Art Khatola will help transform the way children learn and explore the world around them,” she added.

“This platform is for the children who wish to fly,” said former bureaucrat Shafiqur Rehman during the event.

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Every child is born an artist but with time the artist vanishes, he said, adding that early childhood education should allow students to spread their wings and fly.

The creativity in children tells us about what and how the children think about themselves and the world around them, he said. No one should force children regarding what to paint or draw, they should be allowed to produce art on their own, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23rd, 2016.

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