Art education is the way for holistic development

In schools it is often find that students skip art class, many treat it is a hobby period and need not to take it as mandatory subject. The entrenched belief is that it is period that draws well, but in reality art is about observation, cognition, concentration and much more. Often, the teachers take art period to teach for academic subjects, without giving much importance to art class. Art is a language that ignites passion in children and adults.

The main purpose of Art Education is to develop creativity, individuality and expression through art activities. Art Education fosters cultural awareness and promotes cultural practices, and is the means by which knowledge and appreciation of the arts and culture are transmitted from one generation to the next. It is therefore mandatory for impressionable minds to get the right exposure to arts in their formative years.

Art education has immense potential it allows the students to develop creative and vibrant learning and diverse ways of understanding the reality, it allows the students to think out of the box, question, and experiment, introspect and do all this through play and fun. But, the Indian schools are killing this by lack of vision.

In the era of digital technology, animation and live action stories are exploding the visual literacy and make meaning from visual information, so real art is taking back seat.

Unfortunately, India is still on the back foot, there is a huge gap in the way art education policies, curriculum guidelines, and teaching strategies are framed and implemented. Art education has already been downgraded to a marginal position in India whereas it should be occupying a significant position in contemporary curriculum.

By doing it we are denying any opportunity to encourage imagination, innovation, creativity, develops curiosity, criticality and experimentation in the child. The curriculum and policies should reflect the necessities of present times and also anticipate the educational and existential requirements of the future.

The Government of India has brought out The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act as a landmark for the educational provision in India in 2009 and it is in action from April 2010. It has set the stage for providing free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years. It has made provision in its Norms and Standards for teaching art education to classes 6 to 8, by providing separate teacher for teaching arts. Schools need to provide a separate teacher for teaching art education to all those children who are studying in classes VI to VIII. This creates a huge demand of creating teachers for teaching different art forms at this level of education. The NCERT discuss the following things to be incorporated in art education.

Integration of Art

In the present digital age, students must think and learn new ways and we have to think linking of subjects like mathematics and science with art while teacher discusses the parts of robots, uses and students learn before drawing the pictures of them. Even in biology, students draw insects with explaining each part of insects making them to remember long time than usual reading. While it teaches students symmetry, which is art, teaching them the insect parts, like the head, thorax, abdomen, antennae and segmented legs, which is science."

In-depth knowledge

A picture is more worth than thousand words, art education make the students to learn about the elements like line, shape, colour, space, texture and form children must also learn art history.

India has rich tradition of art than West, which is everywhere. Outside of school, parents teach kids through the patterns they see around them, from kolams to folk, and narratives in art- Mughal miniatures, forts and buildings or Rajasthan's fabric painting- that tell such beautiful stories.

Get Verbal skills

The growing use of visuals is expanding. Art teachers must encourage the children to explain the thought process behind their artwork that not only builds creativity confidence but also enables children to chart their process of exploration, reasoning, critical thinking, out of the box thinking and increasers verbal skills.

Design thinking

Earlier for construction a house, school, hospital or stadium, architecture and design plays an important role and it helps to develop visual and spatial skills. It encourages the children to get interact with the environment. When children are exposed to concepts like designing an 'experience', for example, like walking through an airport or using an ATM, they are no longer living life passively; they are thinking and innovating outside class.

The children start thinking about designs, structure, foundation and why corrugation increases strength etc,. Hence, introduce Art Education is the need of the hour at school level with the focus is on visual arts.