We have always about the grandmother and their love for telling their grandchildren stories. Taking the same emotion into consideration, Grandmothers of students will be invited to the government schools in Rajasthan once every month to tell traditional stories.

The department of secondary education in Rajasthan recently published the orders. These sessions will be held in the classroom of students studying in class 1 to 5. “Directions for the same were sent to schools across the state last week,” said Arun Kumar Sharma, deputy director, secondary education. 

“The idea behind the initiative is to increase community involvement by roping in family elders, and through their involvement, ensure the strengthening of our family values and flow of human wisdom to children,” added Sharma.

The traditional stories which are usually told in the family has some moral which will surely help to mould the character of the student. 

The interaction with grandparents will not only give children a break from electronic means of entertainment, but also engage the senior citizens, most of whom feel left out, he said.

“We chose grandmothers because they are known to be good storytellers; it also gives a push to our gender empowerment efforts. Plus most of the grandmothers usually go to only temples and are available for the most part of the day,” said the deputy director.

Named as ‘Bal Sabhas with Grandmothers’ the session will not involve any financial implications for the department. In case no grandmother shows the interest, then the most senior teacher in the school will conduct the story-telling session. 

“The department will also provide some sample stories to the schools,” Sharma said.“The initiative would offset the disruptions in oral tradition caused by technological infiltrations in the lives of people,” he said.

Oral tradition implies transmission of knowledge, ideas and cultural understanding from one generation to the other through word of mouth. This has always been a tradition of our Indian culture, and the folk and mythological stories are passed on to generation to generation. This initiative will also help students to revive the Indian culture and also get to know Indian culture in it purest form.