Vinesh Viswanath didn’t anticipate his directorial debut, Sthanarthi Sreekuttan, to provoke a revolution. The climax of the heart-warming, coming-of-age Malayalam film about an higher major faculty in Thiruvananthapuram, exhibits how a category does away with the standard row-based seating arrangement in favour of a semi-circle arrangement with the instructor in the centre. And this has been adopted by a number of colleges in Kerala, after the film launched on the OTT platform, Saina Play, final month.
“At least six schools have already introduced it and we came to know of it when they tagged our Instagram handle,” says Vinesh.
The thought is mooted by film’s titular character, an unassuming backbencher who’s perpetually late for sophistication. The idea underlines the necessity to eliminate the follow the place the studious youngsters are the frontbenchers and the usually disruptive rebels, the backbenchers.
A major stage classroom at RVV HSS, Valakom, in Kollam. Photo: Special Arrangement
The idea will not be new because the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) launched by the Central Government in 1994 in six states, together with Kerala, had prompt versatile seating preparations that some colleges had tried. However, most academic establishments have been inclined in direction of the normal row system.
Vinesh, who wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay with Anand Manmadhan, Murali Krishnan and Kailash S Bhavan, says that he used to sit down like that in his major courses at Government LPS, Pedikulam, in Thiruvananathapuram. “But when we placed that as the climax, we never expected it to reach so many schools,” he says.
A nonetheless from Sthanarthi Sreekuttan. Photo: Special Arrangement
The film, starring Aju Varghese, Johny Antony, and a bunch of kid actors had a number of elements stacked towards it from the beginning. It was launched after a delay of virtually a yr and, regardless of the glowing opinions, it had a fairly brief theatre run. The OTT launch got here after seven months, thought-about an extended hole in the enterprise.
The first faculty that launched the new seating arrangement was RVV HSS, Valakom, in Kollam district, managed by KB Ganesh Kumar, Minister of Transport, Government of Kerala, who can be a longtime actor in Malayalam cinema. “We had shown it to him several months before the film reached theatres and he liked it a lot. We were unaware that he had introduced the system in his school until one of his relatives told us. However, we could not publicise it when the film released because that was the climax of the movie. We made the reveal only after it started streaming on OTT,” says Vinesh.
Director’s take
Vinesh Viswanath, who has directed a number of brief movies and a documentary, was an assistant in Anveshanam (2020), directed by Prasobh Vijayan. The pandemic that adopted disadvantaged him of possibilities to work with more administrators. “Sthanarthi Sreekuttan has many characters whose traits are taken from the people I know. Some of the incidents have happened to me during my school days,” he says.
Vinesh has directed the documentary, Ee Bhoomeente Peru, which captures the journey of Thiruvananthapuram-based theatre troupe, Kanal Samskarika Vedi, after they travelled to Dibrugarh in Assam for Bharat Rang Mahotsav.
According to Sunil P Sekhar, headmaster of RVV HSS, the new arrangement was launched final yr in courses one to 4. “We are continuing with it. It is not possible to have the semi-circular layout in all classes because the dimensions of the classrooms and number of students in each division varies. We have classes where there are 35 to 40 students. In such cases, we have changed the shape a bit without compromising on the idea of the teacher giving equal attention to all,” Sunil says.
Students of RCC LPS, East Mangad, Wadakkanchery, Thrissur. Photo: Special Arrangement
Other colleges which have adopted this thus far embody Pappinisseri West LP School in Kannur, Andoor ALP School in Kannur, RCC LPS East Mangad in Thrissur, GHSS at Tholanur in Palakkad, and NSV VHSS, Valacode in Kollam. In most of those colleges the category energy is beneath 20.
Bindu MV, head of Pappinisseri West LP School, says that the varsity was completely happy to strive the format, which was prompt by considered one of their lecturers, Amal C. “We have implemented it in classes one and three. Since we have only a few students, we found it feasible,” she says. Amal provides, “The children and teachers have liked it. The classroom looks more spacious now.”
A classroom at Pappinissery West LP School, Pappinissery, Kannur. Photo: Special Arrangement
Sajesh PC, headmaster of Andoor ALPS, says that he was receptive to the suggestion put ahead by one of many lecturers, Athul MT. “We have different clubs in school, and he was the one who started the film club. We were open to breaking conventions when he put forward this idea,” says Sajesh. Athul says that every one courses besides the kindergarten have this new seating system. “We also screened the film for the students since all of them had not watched it,” he provides.
Class V college students of Andoor ALP School, Thaliyil, Kannur. Photo: Special Arrangement
According to Aalbert Christin, a instructor at RCC LPS, East Mangad, the identical thought had been mentioned earlier at varied coaching packages organised by the Department of Education. “Our teachers have done it before. It is the best way to communicate with students. The movie has inspired us to make it permanent and now it is in place in all primary classes, except in those classrooms that are not big enough. This arrangement does away with disparity between the academically good and weak students,” he provides.
Filmmaker Vinesh Viswanath
| Photo Credit:
Ashik Babu
The blackboard is organized in such a means that every one college students can see it correctly, Sunil provides.
However, it have to be added that not everyone seems to be pleased with the new arrangement. Aalbert says, “The ones who enjoyed being the backbenchers now cannot escape the eyes of their teachers!”
The film is streaming on Saina Play