Balanagamma Dasar

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA will engage fifth grade students of the Government Higher Primary School, in Koppal, Koppal district in a project titled Urdu Mattu Kannada Bhaashaa Kalikeyondige Kalaa Samyojita Chatuvatikegalu (Art Integrated Activities in Learning Urdu and Kannada Languages). Students will engage in a set of multidisciplinary activities, connecting their curriculum of history, language and social science over a period of one year. Balanagamma Dasar is the Coordinator for this project. 

Balanagamma Dasar, a Headmistress at Government Higher Primary School, Shrishaila Nagara, Koppal, has 26 years of teaching experience. Her school is located in a slum that has large enrollment of children representing minority communities. The project hopes to encourage learning of Kannada and Urdu languages through arts-integrated learning by connecting local history and community artistic skills. Given her experience she is best placed to be the Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.  

Balanagamma plans a series of workshops translating Shishu Geethegalu or children's poetry from Kannada into Urdu and vice-versa. She believes that this process of engagement with translation will stimulate students to study the depths and meanings of poems as well as enable them to appreciate the visual metaphors and nuances of language. Balanagamma will invite lyricists, playwrights, and theatre performers to conduct workshops on conversing, reading and translating children's poetry. During this process students will also learn to write their own poetry. 

Another key objective of this project is to engage students in exploring the local history and recording the rich traditions associated with various artisans living around the school. A platform will also be provided for complementary learning of history, language and social science curricula. A combination of interviews taken by students, and visits to monuments led by experts are also planned. 

Balanagamma also draws attention to the story of Mundaragi Bhimaraya and his role in the freedom struggle. Bhimaraya has a special status in local histories, with local folk singers in Koppal singing ballads about him. But one rarely finds details about him in the framework of the National Curriculum. To correct that shortcoming and introduce this history, Balanagamma will conduct a ballad writing workshop for students.

Balanagamma recognises the many challenges in the project including working in a context that is opposed to education for girls, and a need to shift these mindsets encouraging more attendance from girls. The outcomes of the project will be performances, and a publication. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the publication and photographs and video documentation of the entire project including the performance.

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Education programme in the manner in which it attempts to connect students and schools to the cultural knowledge of the local communities they live in. 

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.