Editors Note : Fostering Education through Arts

Arts have the potential to play a distinct and unique role in bringing the ideals of quality education into practice. As a creative medium, arts cultivate cognitive thinking which leads to other supplemental skills such as problem-solving which ultimately can benefit students across disciplines. Incorporating arts into curriculum is about developing kids that are well rounded, that are exposed to things other than simply the CORE subjects. Think about our innovators. They have elements about them that are diversified.

In this special issue themed on Fostering Education through Arts, we invited authors to explore the links between learning, creativity and education and advantages of bringing arts into educational systems.

Art Integrated Learning is a strong experimental learning because it helps children with the development of motor skills, languages, social skills, decision making and risk-taking factors. Articles from Dr Mamatha G Hegde, Asst. Prof & Head, Department of Fashion Design, Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Bangalore (Article Link), Ms Hina Desai, Principal, Birla Open Minds International School (Article Link) and Ms Sneha Kopparad, Trademark Associate at PatnTech (Article Link) discuss the fact behind such claims.

Ms Reemi Thakuria and Mr Pratheek Achar T P, Assistant professors, Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Bangalore in their article (Article Link) investigate the untapped potential of aesthetics in transforming India.

Ms Surabhi Goel, CEO, Aditya Birla World Academy, Aditya Birla Education Academy and The Aditya Birla Integrated School shares her insight (Interview Link) on the role and function of creativity and innovation in the educational domain and how it may be promoted through formal teaching in a conversation with Education Today.

Does our curriculum which depends on memory and recall as a predominant method of learning, stunts creative learning process? examines Dr. Mona Lisa Bal, Chairperson, KiiT International School (Article Link). She opines that our education system and the parents must support children grow into creativity not out of it.

Mr. Praveen Tyagi, Founder of STEPapp, in an exclusive interaction (Interview Link) with ET, speaks about the concept of Gamification in Education and how it stimulates creativity among students and improves learning and performance, accelerating Innovation processes.

The article by Mr Shwetank Upadhyaya, CEO, Birla Brainiacs (Article Link) focuses on how introducing coding to mainstream education will pave the way to kick start a more advanced and applied mode of learning.

Ms Piya Marker, Director – Head of School, (Article Link) and Ms. Khushnavaz Bhathena, Teaching Faculty – Junior School, The Aditya Birla Integrated School, (Article Link) in their articles, highlight the need for educational institutes and teachers to be able to identify students who face learning disabilities, and work with them to help them excel in their careers.

This issue also contains video interview (Youtube Link) with few prominent personalities from different verticals of art to consider how arts and creative practices are being used as tools of education and lifelong learning and the role of arts in the social, gender and ecological change/justice context. We hope that this special issue is a valuable resource not only to educators and academicians, but also to philosophers, art critics and ARTrepreneur. Last, but certainly not least, we sincerely appreciate all authors and interviewees for their contribution to this issue