Dear Jeyamohan,
I have long heard about the philosophy and arts workshops conducted under the aegis of your Muzhumai Arivu initiative. It brings me great joy to see that you are now organizing programs specifically for children—activities such as birdwatching, plant observation, and painting. In the current climate, it is absolutely essential to take children out into nature and teach them something through which they can engage in hands-on, experiential learning. The only way to ensure that children do not lose themselves in the digital world of the internet is to foster a deep connection between them and nature.
In my opinion, you could conduct classes like birdwatching on a regular, monthly basis. There is no need to restrict them solely to school vacation periods; you could aim to hold such workshops at least once a month whenever possible. Children could even participate by taking a single day off from school. Instead of a three-day format, if you were to conduct them over two days—specifically on Saturdays and Sundays—it would make it much easier for children to attend. Alternatively, these events could be scheduled to coincide with national holidays.
Educators worldwide have observed and documented that through these types of workshops, children’s attention is significantly diverted away from modern internet and computer games, leading instead to a remarkable enhancement of their imagination and powers of observation. When such events are organized on a massive scale—involving very large numbers of children—the experience often becomes tedious for the participants. Furthermore, taking such large crowds of children out into nature for training is simply not a practical undertaking. Therefore, these smaller-scale events are precisely the ones that hold the greatest significance. I earnestly request that you continue to conduct these programs on an ongoing basis.
S. Isaacraj
