Digital classrooms to impart performing arts education

New Delhi: Art lessons will no longer be a monotonous interaction between teachers and students in classrooms, thanks to the exclusive online platform "Virsa", which was launched recently with an aim to give free digital learning on Indian culture and music to children across India.

Delhi-based NGO Routes2Roots in association with the Ministry of Culture launched India's largest interactive digital learning platform "Virsa" to promote and preserve India's rich cultural heritage and legacy of Performing Arts here on Saturday.

"Virsa will operate through live videos recorded by renowned teachers at our studio in Delhi. That way, kids will have a chance to attend live sessions in various parts of the country. We through 'Virsa' will help them identify their talent by organising workshops," Tina Vachani, Co-founder of Routes2Roots told IANS.

"During our visit to various schools, we found that many schools did not cater to any musical classes at all. We felt that this dying culture of Indian performing arts must reach children in schools across India," she said.

"Now children will be exposed to the cultural legacy in addition to academics thereby completing their outlook as a balanced individual," she added.

Workshops and lectures in different genres will be delivered by renowned artists like Pandit Birju Maharaj, L. Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shovna Narayan, Shafquat Amanat Ali, Juhi Chawla, Ehsaan Noorani and Surinder Lal Malik.

"There will be a huge responsibility to explain everything nicely to the kids. We hope to connect with children in remote areas," Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj said during the launch. 

A total of 21 schools from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat have got their classrooms equipped with monitors, cameras and wifi connectivity.