Co-curricular activity: Play staged on women empowerment

Summer camp graduation ceremony also featured public speaking event where participants mimicked politicians

LAHORE:

Women’s empowerment and effects of drug abuse were highlighted through theatre plays performed by students at the graduation ceremony of a summer camp on Saturday. 

Students from Ghauri Wisdom School performed a play that showed the economic hardships of a family after its only breadwinner becomes addicted to drugs. A group from Sanjan Nagar School showed the struggle of a woman who starts driving a tonga to earn a living for herself and her children after her husband’s death.

The four-week long summer camp held by Rabtt, a non-government organisation, was attended by students from three public and four private schools.

The ceremony also featured a public speaking event where participants were required to mimic a particular politician. They were given 35 seconds to speak on a topic and were judged on their ability to present the point of view and copy the style of speech of the politician they were mimicking.

Speaking at the ceremony, Rabtt co-founder Imran Sarwar said the organisation had started its summer camps with a mission to promote critical thinking among students. He said the summer camp this year was special because some of the instructors were camp’s graduates from earlier years.

He said besides critical thinking, the camp had focused on promotion of empathy, creativity and self-confidence among students. He said this year they had also held classes on theatre, world history and public speaking.

The camp was held this year with support of Ilm Ideas, an education advocacy project funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DIFD). Talking to The Express Tribune, Aban Haq, Innovation Fund manager at Ilm Ideas, said financial support was extended to Rabtt because of its unique idea of focusing on co-curricular activities for promotion of creativity and critical thinking among children.

She said other project ideas had focused on improvement of learning outcomes and increase in enrolment rates.

Certificates were distributed among students at the end of ceremony.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2015.