Calcutta International School asks parents to collaborate with children for theatre
Telegraph | 24 February 2025
A school asked parents to collaborate with their children for a theatre project — a break from their routine life of going to a mall or a multiplex.
Calcutta International School invited parents of Classes I to V on Thursday and Friday and formed heterogeneous groups of adults and children who conceptualised a play, wrote the script and enacted it.
The theatre project was titled Echoes of Expression.
The plot ideas, given by the school, addressed issues of daily life, in school and outside.
One such plot was resolving a conflict. Two friends had an altercation yet they needed to solve the problem by listening to each other.
“The whole purpose of collaboration is the need to work and think together, respect each other’s opinions and come to a consensus,” said Pratima Nayar, principal, junior school, Calcutta International School.
The idea was not lost on children.
A group showed how a Class I child, a new student in the school, felt excluded.
One day his peers notice him gardening — he is not just digging the soil and taking care of the plants but talking to them.
His friends realise that he is different and decide to include him in their group.
“Discrimination often happens because of preconceived ideas. Those thoughts must be shed. Adults, both parents and teachers, play an important role in making children more inclusive in their approach,” said Nayar.
Each group in the theatre collaboration project needed to include English, Hindi, Bengali and foreign languages like French and Spanish that the students learn in school in their presentations.
“Most of the parents did not know the foreign languages but the young students guided them, said Sushmita Ray, the language coordinator.
“We are also trying to explain the importance of languages. Often at home, it is the academic subjects that are given importance and not the languages,” said Ray.
For the parents, it was a time to “bond” with their children, something that their routine life does not give a scope for.
“This was a different way of spending time together with our children. Usually, we would go to a mall and buy the child something. But this is about sharing ideas and working together,” said Pratik Lakhotia, father of one of the students.
Tamanna Bhutoria, who works with a bank, said that parents these days are always in a “hurry” and barely have time.
“Parenting is not just about delivering responsibilities but about spending time together, bonding with each other. We need to be a part of the growing years of our children,” she said.