Children and Muppets come together to talk about social causes

10 Schools | 800+ Students | 10 Plays | 2 themes | 50 Stories | 50 Posters | 30 Workshops

Dastak- a clarion call by young minds, a CSR initiative of ELNA will be concluding its first  edition on 7^th and 8^th November, 2014 at Epicenter. This is the first edition of Dastak wherein 10 prestigious schools of Gurgaon are participating this year with over 800 students being a part of these workshops. This year’s themes are Perils of Junk food and Conserve Environment.

Dastak has been launched with objective of giving school children a means to express their ideas and solutions to the society through theatre. Dastak helps students connect with their social environment and use the knowledge learnt in class to finding solutions to the problems existing in the society. Dastak is a learning process which involves, creation and exploration of knowledge unlocked by participants through 3 x 1hr interactive sessions organized at each of the participating schools. These workshops included children writing stories which were further turned in to scripts and then plays.

 In this final stage of the first edition of Dastak with these children performing their idea which has taken form and appear before public at Epicentre in the form of a ‘nukkad natak’ (Street Play).  The story written by students was converted into the script for Nukkad natak, which included each and every slogan and jingle that emerged during the workshop.

 This is an all children show, where every aspect is being created by children starting from stories writing to scripting to acting. Teachers are merely facilitators and sometimes spectators enjoying their children do what they have been doing for them all these years. They plan to make you hear the unforgettable, see the memorable and make you experience their innovative ideas taking form.

 On November 7, 2014, these 10 plays will be performed in front of panel of judges and would be scored on Characterization, Plot, Theme, Setting atmosphere, Grammar, Writing Quality and Passion. Dastak judges include:

1.       Madhavi Karunakaram Guha- AVP, Marketing & Communications, Sesame Workshop Initiatives India Pvt Ltd
2.       Shruti Jauhari- Technical Expert, Asian Development Bank
3.       Nilanjana Das- Founder  ACT

Post their performances best 5 schools will be selected who will further perform these plays to public on November 8, 2014.  There are three surprise prizes as well on the lines of parameters advocated by CCE in judging the non-cognitive skills of the child. These categories are :

1.                     For Uniqueness
2.                   For Team Work & Coordination
3.                 For Best Story

Also, we will see The Muppets from Galli Galli Sim Sim (Indian version of The Sesame Street) interacting with students as well on November 7. The Dastak Coffee Table Book will also be unveiled on the same day which is a compilation of all stories and posters designed by children participating in the program.

The participating schools are:
1.            Amity International School 43,
2.            Amity International School 46,
3.            American Public School,
4.            Ajanta Public School,
5.            KR Mangalam World School,
6.            Pathways  World School Aravali,
7.            Scottish High International School,
8.            Shalom Hills International School,
9.            The Banyan Tree World School,
10.          The Maurya School.
 
This event is a free event and being funded entirely by ELNA and like-minded people who believe in the importance of effective education through the crowd-funding platform, Bitgiving.

 About Dastak:

Dastak – A clarion Call by young minds is a CSR initiative of ELNA. It is an innovative approach of educating students from schools, with intensive, innovative and interactive workshops resulting in stories and drawings culminating in street plays, and help us take a step forward towards our vision of bringing education live. Dastak is a step towards bridging this gap created by modern day education. It brings children face to face with social issues confronting the society and gives them a hands-on experience on finding solutions, through the medium of visual and performing art. 

About ELNA

ELNA – Experiential Learning via Nature-based Activity) is a social enterprise which aims in transforming children from a passive learner into an achiever. ELNA has been involved in holding workshop for teachers, value based school programs which helps the student connect their social environment with their academics.Dastak is one such step forward in creating value based education in an informal way. (www.elna.co.in )