For a wink and a smileRemember Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories? Some time back, I was at a storytelling competition organised by a city school at Santa Cruz, and the story just came rushing into my mind. The fresh, lush and imaginative story that Rushdie said he used to narrate to his son has been one of my all-time favourites. And this imagination or the lack of it in the stories narrated by the students at Santa Cruz bothered me a lot. Is learning antithetical to creativity?Consider this. The students were given a choice of three themes: the story of a mouse; the child in 2000; and so I love my grandfather. Guess what? Most of the entries were for ``So I love my grandfather''. Before anyone is overwhelmed by the emotional subtext in the choice, let me enlighten them. It had more to do with convenience. Of the three themes, one's grandfather is someone one does not have to rack one's brains over.And yet, look at the compositions. The narration was plain mugging. Worse, the sentences we-re staid and staccato. Everybody spoke of their love for their grandfather. He is so kind, generous, brave, and so on. I was expecting examples rich with imagination, but they were hard to come by. Mind you, at places, the students had been smart in the usage of words. But words, not imagination. And there wasn't much humour either. And these were children coming mainly from well-off families and elitist schools.Notwithstanding the blossoming of laughter clubs in the city and the generous media coverage they receive, humour is conspicuous by its absence. Forty-two children narrated stories. And one had to literally strain to look for humour. Sad, isn't it? But then that is our education system.The only solution can be hosting storytelling sessions as often as possible in schools, and between schools. Like what happens at GHK, a secondary school at Santa Cruz. Here, within the school curriculum, there are storytelling sessions. And there it is not just the teachers who are doing the talking. Even students are asked to narrate stories. Both teachers and parents have to be sensitive to imagination and humour that is, if one does not want 21st century children to be like unthinking robots who only mug things up, says its principal.However, this does not mean that Mumbai is lacking in organisations or institutions working on alternative education systems where creativity is the focus. The question is, how many teachers are willing to participate? Specially, when one looks at the crowded classrooms in most of the private schools. I do not mention government schools for obvious reasons.Anyway, at the DAV Centre for Creative Education in Navi Mumbai, efforts are on to ensure that what its name stands for does take place. It is also one of the few centres that comes out with several publications delving into trends and tendencies in the education scenario. The interesting aspect here is the involvement of teachers. Just walk into one of these schools in rented premises in Nerul, and it's a delight. The walls are painted in bright hues. Paintings of some of the great sons of India adorn the walls.All of them had been done by the teachers. One Saturday I visited their school. It was past six o'clock. Some of the teachers were still around, giving last minute finishing touches to a science exhibition to be launched the next day.Recently the centre held a seminar on learning and technology. A lot of heat and dust was generated in the process. Of course not on the moot point of how and to what extent learning can be technology-friendly. The outcry came in the wake of a debate over technology replacing the teacher.But why should anyone talk about replacing the teacher? Isn't it high time the teachers did some introspection? For that matter, the parents too?
