Abstract: Social change is the order of the world and it is inevitable for survival of human societies. There can be innumerable agents of social change in a given society. Dance and education constitute two such agents of social change. Dance has historically been used for the purpose of story-telling, spreading awareness and changing mindsets and it has immense capacity to bring about social change. Schools constitute a social setting which again has a great impact on the mindset, attitude and holistic development of the students. Through these years, there has been an emphasis on incorporating performing arts in the schools for educational, recreational and other beneficial purposes. Schools these days have dance as a part of their curriculum. Through this paper the researcher attempts to highlight the existing practice of performing arts in schools today. It has been observed that Schools use these arts just for the sake of annual days and competitions or festivals. Although major educational policies recommend the utilisation of these art forms for creating citizens and fostering social change in schools, the purpose is somewhere lost. Interviews were conducted with 20 teachers to understand how schools today use performing arts and how teachers view the utility of performing arts in schools. The researcher puts forth suggestions for various stakeholders in education and throws light on the need to redirect and rethink the role of performing arts in schools for the purpose of developing future citizens and fostering social change.
Keywords: Social change, mindsets, entertainment, redirection, performing arts.
Title: Redirecting the Role of Performing Arts in Schools for Developing Future Citizens and Fostering Social Change
Author: Rajvi Trivedi
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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