Why do we need film songs in school events?
The time when one goes though primary and High school students is a very impressionable one. Any seed that is sown, sprouts immediately. That soft ground does not know whether the seed would grow to yield good fruit or a bad one. Their minds are like soft surfaces that hold the impression of whatever is thrown at them, without any discrimination. It is impossible to undo their memories formed during this time.
Hence the atmosphere at home and school have to be really conducive for children to grow up. They develop taste, aptitude and inclination towards good things at this age. More than annual exams shaping their personality and future, annual day organized by the school shapes their senses even better. Annual events showcase the talent of students, thus making the day extremely special for them. Their joy and happiness knows no bounds on those days. Their true interests are on display on that very special day.
Sports and extracurricular activities are also held on the day. Those who are good at scoring, need not be great sportspersons too. Someone who does not score well, may be a good player who can earn everyone’s respect and admiration on that day by winning prizes! This annual school day often showcases many talents of students such as music, singing, art etc. But a few schools conduct annual days for name sake, creating only scoring students and leaving behind the creative side of students in total darkness. Students in such schools live a creatively dead life almost.
The cultural event in the annual day gets most prominent space. Children’s talent of singing, dancing and other forms of creativity is expressed on this day. But in many schools, the dance and song routine is failing to fulfil its very objective. Teachers believe dance is about tapping foot to recorded film songs. Hence in most schools film songs make for most of the entertainment programme on the annual day.
This does not mean film songs should be dismissed completely. There are many ways in which film songs can reach students today. Children watch them on social media, on television and on phones too. They try to imitate them. But the film songs hardly have any literary significance. Film songs may have counter effect on children since most of them are written with adults in mind. Imitating this would mean children are losing their innocence at very early age.
In the past, school events would have poems and folk songs to which the students either sang together or danced. These songs that could be seen only in text books, used to be children’s favourite after they sing and dance to them at school events. Since they used to listen to them for more than two weeks in order to prepare for the school event, they would be happy listening to them without any pressure of scoring marks at the end of this. Other would join them while they learnt the dance and every one would enjoy humming along.
They would then know about the poets who wrote these songs or the meaning of the folk song. They could imagine a village when they listened to a folk song. They would become familiar with hunting songs, kolata songs, varieties of folk literature etc thus understanding the social context described by the song. Their perception of the society would be shaped through these. Even dramas should be employed to introduce history and folk literature to children. This would lead to their personality development.
Unfortunately, in the recent times school events are reduced to just shaking a leg to cinema songs and enacting scenes from films. Looks like even teachers find it easy to make children imitate cinema since they can follow without any hassles. More than this, the new generation of teachers have no clue about poems and folk songs. Most convents and English schools have this issue since remain distant from the culture of the land. Which is why they make children dance to ready cinema songs. Even parents don’t bother much about this and in fact feel proud about their children perfectly imitating the actors. How does one create a sense of pride about culture in children when this is the fact? If children appreciate double entendre at an age when they can barely understand it, how do they grow as adults?
Media reports suggest the education department has sent a circular stating no film songs should be used in school events, and this is a highly appreciable move. Let the students choose what they want to do in college events. But at a time when they are still innocent, they should not develop a taste for crass. Parents have to stand by the institutes and government in this case, for the sake of their children. They need to understand that our culture has to be safeguarded through our songs that reflect the soil. We also need to protect folk songs and poems from being lost. Else, a day may not be very far when film songs may gain an entry into Kannada text books.
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'Godman' Kharat held in 8th sexual exploitation case; court denies police remand, sends him to jail
Nashik (PTI): Police took custody of self-proclaimed godman-cum-astrologer Ashok Kharat in an eighth case related to sexual exploitation of women and produced him before a Nashik district court which sent him to jail till May 12 after rejecting the plea for his police remand on Thursday.
On April 29, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Nashik police in north Maharashtra filed a request application in the court demanding Kharat's custody in the eighth case.
After the court granted them the necessary permission, the SIT took custody of Kharat, who was in jail in connection with the seventh case of sexual exploitation registered against him.
The 'godman', named in a dozen FIRs related to rape and financial fraud, was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate B N Ichpurani in the eighth case through video conferencing due to security reasons.
The eighth case related to Kharat allegedly sexually exploiting a woman who had approached him in search of solutions to her family problems, according to police.
During the hearing, the prosecution demanded police custody of the accused in the latest case.
However, the defence strongly opposed the demand and argued that the SIT was giving same reasons for police custody every time and there was no strong reason for accepting their plea.
The court accepted the argument put forth by the defence and remanded Kharat to judicial custody till May 12 in the eighth case.
The SIT will produce Kharat in the court on Friday again and seek his police custody in the ninth case. As the self-styled godman has been granted judicial custody in the eighth case, he will be sent to Nashik Road Central Jail and the SIT will take his custody from there.
Meanwhile, Kharat's judicial custody in the fourth case ended on Thursday. On April 18, the accused was remanded to judicial custody till April 30 in the fourth case of sexual exploitation of women.
In a related development, the SIT conducted a search at Kharat's office in the 'Canada Corner' area of Nashik city on Wednesday. A 'panchnama' (record of search and seizure proceedings) was conducted and the office was locked and sealed again.
Kharat, a well-heeled man with political connections, was arrested for the first time on March 18 after a woman alleged he had repeatedly raped her for three years.
He is accused of sexually exploiting several women by claiming to have divine powers and knowledge of black magic, and also committing large-scale financial fraud.
The SIT is conducting a probe into 12 cases of sexual exploitation and financial fraud registered against the astrologer in Nashik and Ahilyanagar districts.
