Children come together to talk about social causes through the medium of Street Plays

7 Schools, 600+ Students | 7 Plays | 2 themes | 21 Stories | 30 Posters | 21 Workshops

Dastak- a clarion call by young minds, a CSR initiative of ELNA will be concluding its second edition tomorrow at Epicenter. This is the second edition of Dastak wherein 7 prestigious schools of Gurgaon are participating this year with over 600 students being a part of these workshops. This year’s themes are Swachh Bharat and Drug Prevention.

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 second edition of Dastak these children presenting their ideas and solutions to the social problems before public at Epicentre in the form of a ‘nukkadnatak’ (Street Play) based on the stories written & scripted by them.

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 October 28, 2015, these 7 plays will be performed in front of panel of judges and would be scored on Characterization, Plot, Theme, Setting atmosphere, Satire in dialouges, Writing Quality and Passion. Dastak judges include:

1. Viraj Singh, CMO, Kidzania

2. Rajesh Khar- Senior Editor, Pratham Books

3. Gaurav Raturi, Publicity & Promotions, Oxford University Press

There are two categories of prizes to be decided on the lines of parameters advocated by CCE in judging the non-cognitive & cognitive skills of the child. These categories are:

i. For Best Story

ii. For Best Play

Also, an interactive session with Kidzania’s team is planned. The Dastak Story 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. Shalom Hills International,

6. Shiv Nadar School,

7. The Maurya School

Dastak this year travelled to Lucknow as well, wherein 8 schools are participating with more than 1500 students. This year ELNA also experimented with Dastak and brought rural school also in its gambit, with developing Rural Dastak which happened in Bandhwadi Village in Gurgoan District and culminated in August 2015. More than 100 students were a part of the Rural Dastak workshops.