Students turn puppeteers to highlight social issues & science through art, voicing powerful social messages

Kolkata: School students in Kolkata have taken up puppetry, an age-old art form once widely practised in rural Bengal, to voice powerful social messages and explore science in engaging ways. From highlighting the dangers of mobile addiction to addressing sexual assault and environmental destruction, their handcrafted puppets spoke volumes.

The initiative was part of a five-day workshop titled Science and Environmental Education through Puppetry, held at Jadavpur Vidyapith from June 3 to 7. Organised by the Science Communicators’ Forum in collaboration with the Paschim Banga Samagra Shiksha Mission (PBSSM), the workshop saw enthusiastic participation from about 35 students of Classes VII to X. Participants were drawn from Jadavpur Vidyapith and six other schools in the area, including Pareshnatha Balika Vidyalaya and Jodhpur Park Boys’ and Girls’ schools. In just four working days, with June 6 being a holiday, students not only built puppets using materials like thermocol, sponge and paint, but also wrote original scripts and staged short puppet dramas, each under 10 minutes, at the workshop’s concluding event on Saturday. The performances, held in the school auditorium, left officials and educationists visibly impressed.

One play depicted the impact of toxic chemicals from idol immersions on local water bodies, while another tackled gender sensitivity through a dialogue between puppet characters of a father and daughter, who were reacting to a recent sexual assault case at a hospital. “I had never seen a puppet show before this,” shared Bharasha Mondal, a Class X student of Jadavpur Vidyapith. “We learnt how to make puppets and perform with them. It wasn’t just about art; we learnt teamwork, leadership and how to speak confidently in front of others.” Pradip Sarkar of Baruipur Gangaridi Puppet Theatre, who mentored the students, said: “Our concept was to use discarded materials. Traditional puppets are made of wood, which is now both scarce and heavy for children to handle. So, we adapted, using lighter materials like thermocol.” “One goal was to make classroom science more accessible through storytelling,” added Abhijit Bardhan of the Science Communicators’ Forum. “The second was to use puppetry as a medium to raise public awareness about issues that go beyond the syllabus, something students can take back to their communities.” “What the students created in such a short span was nothing short of remarkable,” said Partha Karmakar, deputy secretary of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education. “If we can integrate puppetry into subjects beyond science, and not rely solely on traditional chalk-and-duster methods, we can make learning more engaging and meaningful for students.”