Silambattam among the bookshelves

It was a classroom full of confused yet happy young faces, rejoicing at the idea of a week without books and regular lessons. The Cuckoo Movement in Tamil Nadu, an organisation of volunteers from all walks of life, was conducting a workshop at this government school in Oothukuli. The children, aged eight to 15, at first struggled to understand what was going on. The eight volunteers had divided them into groups and taught them painting, drawing, silambattam (a martial art form rooted in Tamil Nadu) and even theatre, all focusing on the theme of nature and environment.

Slowly, however, they began to enjoy themselves, in part enthused by the many new things they were learning. All the children took turns to learn all the art forms.

“This way they could see for themselves what they were capable of and what interested them most,” says Sivaraj (name changed), one of the volunteers.

So, to get the children to understand the ill-effects of fertilisers, for instance, the groups were asked to stage a drama based on it. All that the volunteers did was use a picture-book to describe the harmful effects of fertilisers on the soil and other living beings. It was left to the children’s imagination to explain it through drama. The young minds worked enthusiastically and it got their creative juices flowing. One of the groups, for instance, symbolically portrayed what new buds feel when fertilisers are sprayed. Towards the end of the workshop, the students were left craving to learn more.

Youngsters glued to television and smartphones rarely experience the outdoors. The Cuckoo Movement attempts to draw such children out and encourage them to engage more with the outside world and with each other, says Alageswari, a volunteer.

It all began with a single library at a school in Keeranur in Dharapuram district in 2004. Filled with unconventional books and with room for fun and games, the library proved a big draw for the schoolchildren.

“Each child is born with an innate talent, which school education may not necessarily bring out. For example, a boy living in the wild can identify a bird just by listening to its call, or a girl can venture into and out of the forest without any assistance. Such skills are assets, but the regular curriculum fails to recognise them,” says another volunteer and cofounder of the Cuckoo movement.

Rural and tribal children, especially, discovered that the workshops not only helped them overcome their inferiority complex but also gave them a goal to work towards. Tasting success with the first library, the network of 500 volunteers went on to establish seven more across Tamil Nadu.

At each of these libraries, children learn the folk and martial arts endemic to that region. “In Oothukuli, we have many students learning Silambattam. Starting off as a local team, the children went on to participate in an international competition last year and came out victorious,” Alageswari says, her voice swelling with pride.

The movement has gone one step ahead to establish The Cuckoo Forest School at Puliyanur town in Tiruvannamalai district. “The school aims to provide an alternative education, through art forms rather than books, teaching children how to live using the limited resources nature can offer,” says Alageswari. The six-acre property at the foot of Javadi Hills, an extension of the Eastern Ghats, has four buildings made of adobes and thatched roofing. The rooms are marked by huge windows overlooking the gargantuan mountain, bare walls, sparse furnishing and displays of wood sculptures.

The buildings are surrounded by overgrown millet fields and ripened vegetables ready for harvest.

The residential school is expected to function from 2017 and accommodate 100 children, primarily from rural and tribal communities. The idea is to provide an ecosystem where children can explore and learn on their own, with just a little prodding. Volunteers will help the students channel their creativity into art forms.

Artist Pazz Shan drives down from Bengaluru twice every month to teach children art for a week at the under-construction school in Puliyanur. “The whole idea of alternative education, one that does not emphasise grading, fascinates me,” she says.

Volunteer Aarthi Kumar observes that in such an atmosphere children gain their understanding from self-learning, and are able to lead sustainable lives. The results are already showing. “We have success stories like that of Ramesh, who attended our workshops and took up art as his profession. He can make sculptures out of scrap and is financially stable. His work was recently displayed at an art exhibition,” says Alageswari.

To quote Albert Einstein: ‘Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better’. Hopefully, the Cuckoo movement will hatch a future generation of creative and independent thinkers.

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