Games bring out the child in us. We jump and play like an eight-year-old even when we have a grandchild of that age. The playfield by itself takes away our troubles and allows us to play. And that’s the idea of the Traditional Game Festival organized for Government School teachers at Government Technical School, Lawspet.
What’s So Good About These Traditional Games?
Teachers get to rekindle their age-old memories of playing games like pambaram (பம்பரம்), gilli (கோட்டி புல்), pallanguli (பல்லாங்குழி), sillu (சில்லு), goli gundu (கோலி), etc. Be it in the ground, street corners, veranda (திண்ணை) or in a living area, we must have experienced playing these games someway or other in our life.
The most significant reason being, these games are gender-neutral. Many of us must have seen both boys and girls heartily playing together near their homes. Some will be actively jumping and crossing neatly drawn boxes on the ground all the while holding a small flat stone carefully on their hands, legs and sometimes even on their foreheads (சில்லு). Some will be calculating their boxes before rolling the steel stone for getting the right numbers (தாயம்). Some will be busy rolling and breaking the tops placed inside the circle (பம்பரம்). And a few adults will be seen cracking their heads before making their next move (ஆடுபுலிஆட்டம்). Everywhere you can find both male and female; young ones and adults. And it is a common sight even now across many streets of Puducherry.
Why Don’t We Play Them In Schools?
Traditional games are not properly acknowledged when it comes to school activities. “It is always fun to play these games but taking these to our schools is an issue,” exclaimed a teacher while discussing how to take them to schools.
She was very particular about the game Goli Gundu, as it is associated with gambling. Players bet money while playing. And with money comes aggression and addiction. But this game by itself has a lot to offer – focus, observation, analysis, and thinking which are lost now. “Even I have punished a few students for having played this game in the classroom,” another teacher added anxiously. She seized all the materials from the students and made them stand outside the class for the whole period it seems.
On the contrary, there is a game called Petanque (locally known as Boule Gundu) that is widely popular in the world. Originated from Europe, it also made its way to Puducherry as you can find some people playing this game on a few open grounds. Except for the size of the ball, nothing else is different from our Goli Gundu. It is also interesting to note that people chose petanque over our own game. Such points must be taken for debate with children and their parents as it strengthens our understanding of how society perceives our traditional games.
Generally, traditional games are intimidated by so-called mainstream sports like cricket, football, basketball, etc. Everybody knew the importance of our traditional games, yet they support or value mainstream sport because it is widely accepted and popular. “Games that are recognized for future educational and professional opportunities are accepted and popular among the public,” said a teacher while pointing on the losing significance of traditional games in schools. Hence, efforts must be taken to popularize these games for its values like developing concentration, improving psychomotor skills, etc.
How Do We Take Them To Schools?
One way is by including traditional games (less controversial possibly) in the school level competitions. “We added Pallanguli (பல்லாங்குழி) and Gilli (கோட்டி புல்) in this years’ school-level sports meet,” said one teacher from one of the government high schools in Puducherry. She continued with a smile, “To start is where we struggle a lot but once it is initiated rest becomes easy.”
Another possibility is to connect with the subject we teach at the primary level. There are lessons related to games in the Environmental Studies textbook (NCERT) and Tamil. It focuses more on traditional games and hence, can be used as a possible reason for organizing such events within the school.
Games are not generally seen as one of the most effective learning experiences but accepted just as physical activity. This is where such textbook examples can help us bridge the gap persisting among the people that games and education go together with each other. They are not two separate things as perceived now among many people.
“Education and sports are interrelated. But we do not perceive as one, instead we see sports as a separate entity,” said Mr. Sivakumar, Physical Education Teacher working in a Government school. He, along with Mr. Athikesavan, conceived this idea of organizing such a festival for government primary school teachers. “If a child comes back after playing, we never discuss the game, but we ask him/her to take the textbook and study instead,” he added. There is a dire need to bring in the discussion where the children get some space to share about what or how they have played.
The last possibility is to use the parents-teachers meeting as effective as possible. Because people are playing these games even now yet there is an issue when it comes to acceptance. These meetings can help us to come into parallel understanding. This way we move a step forward towards integrating traditional games in classroom teaching and sports activities in schools. Because the bottom-up approach always works, and it is sustainable as well.