A school can remember its alumni in more ways than one. The staff and students of Government Ganapat Model Girls Higher Secondary School at Chalappuram in the city did it by building a ‘smart theatre’ on the school premises where the technological possibilities of theatre and movies will be utilised for a novel learning experience.
It all began when parents of Jyothi Ramachandran, who belonged to the 2012 Plus Two batch, approached the school authorities with a request to do something in memory of their late daughter. A bright student who came out with flying colours in Class 10 and Plus Two, Jyothi had insisted on studying in a government school despite getting admission offers from top private schools in the city. Unfortunately, she died in a road accident. She was pursuing a degree course at Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat).
Her parents, Ramachandran and Shanthi, had donated ₹1 lakh to the school authorities, who went beyond the popular ‘smart classroom’ concept.
E.P. Sajith, one of the brains behind the project, told The Hindu on Monday that the thought of setting up a smart theatre arose as they believed that the organic dynamism of students could be efficiently utilised through theatre. “In smart classrooms, you use computers, projectors, and screens to put across a point to students. But in smart theatre, we can go beyond that and use students’ skills using theatre tools and the latest technology,” he said.
Students these days are often asked to do theatrical adaptations of short stories, and a normal classroom has its limitations. The smart theatre concept will be helpful here as there is a stage, lighting arrangements, sound systems, and a screen to stage plays. There is a small recording studio and a bank of natural sounds too. The construction took around five months. The Kerala School Teachers’ Association unit at the school too chipped in with ₹25,000.
When writer Subhash Chandran inaugurated the theatre on Monday morning, there was an amount of drama involved. The name he suggested for the theatre was ‘Jyothi’, and it too had meanings more than one.
