Members of Deepalaya Youth Club Perform a Street Play in Sanjay Colony

New Delhi, June 29, 2018: Theatre has been always regarded as a powerful instrument of social change. With a cross-sectional approach between performing arts and relevant socio-cultural aspects, street theatre or plays have the potential to effectively sensitize communities.

In view of the above, a group of 12 enthusiastic boys and girls from Deepalaya Youth Club in Sanjay Colony recently performed a street play (nukkad natak) inside the community, underscoring the “importance of education in the lives of children and adults”. The 8-minute-long skit was performed today in three nearby locations of Sanjay Colony—Harkesh Nagar Crossing (near metro station), Z Block Park, and S-Block.

The Youth Club at Deepalaya Learning Centre, Sanjay Colony is merely one and half months old; it consists of ex-students of the learning centre or Deepalaya VTC at Sanjay Colony.

Mr. Mayank, a student of Hamdard University, who has been recently doing internship at Deepalaya Sanjay Colony, single-handedly mentored the members of the club to produce the street play; he also wrote and directed the play. The tireless efforts of Mayank and Youth Club members (ignoring the scorching heat of summers) bore fruit, as the play was successfully showcased and garnered a lot of appreciation from community residents.

The theme of the play revolved around “the importance of education”; it showed the reasons why students (especially girls) drop out of schools or education systems, and how even grown-ups can complete their education, given they have the wish and will to do so. The larger idea was to visually portray how education can empower and change lives. After the play was over, the students also interacted with the audience; some people from the community up with their problems and/or understanding about the subject.

Established as a formal school in 1992, and converted into a learning centre after the enforcement of The Right to Education Act, Deepalaya Learning Centre Sanjay Colony provides non-formal education and remedial education to underprivileged children from surrounding slum areas in the industrial hub of Sanjay Colony in Delhi. The centre is an adobe of hope for humanity, which also runs a community health clinic, and has in the past taken various initiatives for the upliftment and welfare of the community.