Shalom Sannutha

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA engages eight grade students of the Government High School in Lakshmipuram, Mysore district, with Theatre Music and Kaavyabhinaya – action songs, as pedagogical tools for learning Mathematics, Science, and language. Students will study and understand subjects from their curriculum through approaches from Theatre in Education (TIE) and Science Theatre. Shalom Sannutha will be the Coordinator for this project. 

Shalom Sannutha is a versatile artist and an academician by profession. She has served as a science and mathematics teacher, lecturer in physics, bio-physics and an Asst. professor in pedagogy of teaching physics in various B.Ed colleges in Mysore. Sannutha is a musician, actress, singer, theatre practitioner, and a lead vocalist and composer of art rock band Naavu and an educationist. She plays instruments like the Mandolin, Guitar and Veena and has specialised in classical, western, folk, Sufi, and theatre music and singing. Given her experience, she is best placed to be the Project Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA. 

Government school students often learn science and mathematics with terminologies such as like photosynthesis, denominator, velocity, inertia and so on in both English and Kannada. Despite Kannada being their primary cognitive and communicative language, they find difficulty in remembering and reproducing them. Also students with learning disabilities affecting working memory, phonological processing, or executive functions find it a real challenge to remember, pronounce, and reproduce such terms bilingually. This gap often leads to reduced comprehension, confidence, and engagement. This project aims to address such gaps with a series on theatre music or the Ranga Sangeetha, and song enactment or Kaavyaabhinaya as pedagogical tools. 

The Project focuses on eight grade students of Government High School in Lakshmipuram, Mysore district to help students embody scientific concepts, play bilingual roles, and creatively explore terminology through approaches like Theatre in Education (TIE), and Science theatre. By integrating science content with theatrical performance it seeks to improve understanding and motivation. Alongside this, theatre music and action song-based learning will be explored throughout the project by connecting it to their curriculum. 

The project will demonstrate various learning possibilities through a series of workshops engaging with theatrical integrations. This will include components such as, theatre music with simple melodies incorporating key terms - story narratives of science and mathematics concept and vice versa; short science/maths skits performed in Kannada interspersed with English-Kannada lines; and rehearsals and short performance pieces in the classroom. For instance activities could include - a rhythmic chant/song set to a familiar Kannada folk tune, repeating phrases like “Photosynthesis / dhyuthisamshleshane– sūrya prakāśa + hasirele = Āhāra; Kannada–English bilingual choruses; and personification of denominator and numerator as characters, singing their roles in both languages accompanied by soft drums or rhythm via clapping. The project will also engage students with drawing and painting activities like painting leaves, twigs, sunrays, creating story boards, collage making and so on. These activities will be towards developing a bilingual theatre-music package (Kannada–English) using simple, culturally contextual melodies and gestures tailored for resource-limited classrooms.

Overall, this project will look into the classroom exploration by involving students and teachers to make difficult academic language more accessible, enjoyable, and memorable, by anchoring abstract concepts in embodied, rhythmic, and culturally resonant forms. All the learnings and findings of students and the project coordinator will be presented as a short essay which will be published at the end of the project. 

The outcome of the project will be a series of workshops and a publication. Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will include photographs and video documentation of the entire project and a copy of the publication. 

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 region and engage them in joyful learning. 

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. 

This Foundation Project is made possible in partnership with InterGlobe Foundation.