Foreign movies draw cheers in govt schools

Coimbatore: The school education department has started screening children’s movies in government schools to provide a short break for the students from books.
Last week, the district’s middle, high and higher secondary schools screened the French fantasy feature ‘The Red Balloon’, released in 1956, for the students.
A movie will be screened on the second week of every month. “The school education department has uploaded the movies on Google Drive to ensure the students watch them ad-free,” said K Sakthivel, a teacher at the Corporation Middle School at Masakalipalayam. “Our students enjoyed the movie time.”
The initiative will develop students' critical thinking skills, said R Gunasekaran, headmaster of the Corporation Higher Secondary School at Okkiliyar Colony.
A teacher in each school has been assigned the task of coordinating with the students during the movie time. The teachers are responsible for seating the students at the facility and projecting the movie.
From next month, the students will be asked to write movie reviews and suggest if the films deserve a sequel.
The department had screened the Oscar-nominated Iranian movie ‘Children of Heaven’ in September, an official said.