‘Arts, sports should be made mandatory in school curriculum’
| Date :12-Jun-2019 |
Prof Vishwanath D Sabale
By Vikas Vaidya:
Prof Vishwanath D Sabale, Dean of J J School of Arts, Mumbai, did his Master of Fine Arts in Painting and pursuing PhD Prof Sabale is known for creating the world’s huge Charkha at Sewagram along with his team of J J. The Hitavada spoke to Prof Sabale on several issues regarding Fine Arts.
Here are the excerpts:
Q: What is the position of admissions in fine arts courses?
A: We have 365 seats and for those many seats we received over 3,500 applications.This shows how much response we are getting. A lot of students are approaching us for the admissions.
Q: As far as response from students is concerned, do you find any difference in it with regards to boys and girls?
A: Not exactly. Boys as well as girls are almost similar in number with difference of one or two candidates.
Q: Whether all students choose purely Fine Arts or since they don’t get admission to other courses, they shift to this branch?
A: In the past, it used to happen. But, now things have changed. A lot of awareness, job opportunity in this field are on rise which is attracting students. Those who focus on drawing at school-level are only eligible to get admission to Fine Arts. Obviously, the inclination of the students can be noticed at school level only. Any student passing Class XII from any faculty with 50% and above is eligible to appear in Common Entrance Test (CET). CET has three practicals and one theory. Three practicals include Design, Memory drawing, Object Drawing. There is on-line paper of General Knowledge. There are 12 colleges that run the courses of Arts in Maharashtra with four are of Government and eight colleges are run by private organisations. Apart from J J School of Arts, J J School of Applied Arts, both at Mumbai the other two Government colleges are at Nagpur and Aurangabad.
Q: Out of seven disciplines in Fine Arts which are preferred most?
A: There are seven specialities in Fine Arts. Painting, Applied Arts, Sculpture, Interior Design, Textile Design, Metal and Ceramic. Most of the students prefer Applied Arts and Painting. But, now-a-days students have started opting other specialities due to international recognition to whole of the Fine Arts.
Q: Can you tell about scope for Fine Arts as far as pursuing career is concerned?
A: There is a huge scope to Fine Arts. We see the response the artists get to their painting exhibitions, in abroad also, several exhibitions are held where people buy the paintings that earn good money for the artists. Even those who opt sculpture speciality have very good future as statue-making industry is growing.
Q: What according to you should be done for the promotion of Fine Arts?
A: Fine Arts is neglected in so many ways. Awareness is there among students but it is not generalised. In schools, everybody focuses on Mathematics, Science and other subjects. In most of the schools Art teacher is appointed just for the sake. We have failed to imbibe the interest of arts in students. In higher education also in some branches other than Fine Arts, Government has made it mandatory for the colleges to appoint teacher of Arts. Still it lacks seriousness. I feel Sports and Arts should be made mandatory subjects at school level. They should be included in regular curriculum. Now we are organising awareness programme, conducting seminars to bring awareness about this branch.
Q: What are the avenues available for higher learning in Fine Arts?
A: There are lot many things in higher learning including Ph.D. Facility has not started at Mumbai University. In other universities students are doing Ph.Ds. Then there are Masters courses being run by Fine Arts colleges. Earlier Masters courses were available only in Painting and Applied Arts. Now all other specialties have the Masters degree. There is one more interesting course is run in 150 arts colleges in Maharashtra. This is Diploma course and students wish to become school art teacher can take admission to the course. Students after passing Class 12 appear in CET, and passing which can get admission to the course.