Promote disappearing art forms

Presenting your creative art and talent before others involves some sort of a compromise. But, we at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), don’t want that,” said Prof V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai.

He was speaking at the three-day ‘Orientation Programme of the Gurus’, jointly organised by the Centre for Traditional Knowledge Systems, Educational Development of North East Region Unit (EDNERU) and the School of Performing and Visual Arts (SOPVA), from January 17-19.

Various Gurus from Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh were felicitated during the function, organised under the ‘Guru-Shishya Parampara Scheme’ of the North East Zonal Cultural Centre (NEZCC), Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India. They also demonstrated their respective traditional art forms at the event. While addressing the Gurus, Prof Pillai highlighted the Certificate Programme in Indigenous Art Practices (CIAP), a certification under the Guru-Shishya Parampara Scheme, which aims to establish support mechanism for the art forms that are fast disappearing, and provide livelihood options for the certified Shishyas.

“We pay respect to each and every art form of this country and believe that universities should promote such art forms. The well-known art forms have advocated for themselves but it’s necessary to promote them in the prevalent areas. There may be several universities offering such a programme but IGNOU is different in its approach,” Prof Pillai added.