Crafts are an intrinsic part of Indian culture and play an important role in developing both cognitive and social skills. The importance of this becomes more pronounced in the case of young children, who are often unaware of the wealth of handicrafts available to us. In this regard, the Commissioner of School Education, Govt of Andhra Pradesh, Sandhya Rani, (IPoS) allotted Rs 10 lakhs to Craft Council of Andhra Pradesh last year. Of this, Rs. 5 lakhs has been allotted to the Visakhapatnam zone. Under the Krishna Kamalam Praveenya Vikasam initiative, crafts workshops will thus be conducted for children from September 17, 2019.
Five Zilla Parishad schools have been identified to impart the knowledge on crafts by Crafts Council of Andhra Pradesh. A two-pronged approach will be adopted for the purpose. First, demos will be given to 2500 students over a period of six months on Etikoppaka toy making, basket weaving, Cheriyal masks, dyeing, charkha and soap making. Secondly, of the five schools, two schools have been identified to conduct weekly workshops on clay moulding. The workshop will be handled by Janaki, an artist from Andhra University. The clay moulding workshop will train 150 students, and at the end of the workshop, a few students will be handpicked to ensure that they will be trained further to take the craft forward.
The crafts workshops are being conducted at the Zilla Parishad Girls High School in Gopalapatnam, Chandrampalem, Vadapalem, and Ramalayam road. They will also be held at the Thota Garuvu Zilla Parishad High School, Arilova, Visakhapatnam.
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