SHILLONG: Altogether 21 students of Kiddies Corner School recently bagged the gold and silver medals for the Folklore Championship and Teenagers’ Choir Championship respectively at the 8th Bali International Choir Festival, 2019 from July 23-27.
On Saturday the KC Lights as the Choir is known were felicitated at the school auditorium by the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU), the Federation of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) amongst others. It was a moment of pride for the parents of the young choir members.
In a gesture rarely seen in any other school, parents of the KC Lights Choir sang out their joy and pride at the achievements of their children.
Sheila Wallang, Principal KC School, said the parents have always been equal partners with the school in educating the children. “The traditional Khasi clothes complete with accessories were all provided by parents,” Wallang said.
The KC Lights delighted the audience with the songs they had sung at the competition which included the famous Khasi lamentation, “U Sier Lapalang,” a Khasi , Garo and Jaintia medley and the famous John Lennon number, “Imagine,” amongst others. They ended with the solemn, “Amazing Grace.” Altogether 99 schools from as distant as South Africa had participated in the Bali Festival.
Addressing the audience, Brian Wallang, Headmaster Kiddies Corner, who has also been the choir master of the school, said that for the students the trip to Bali was an overwhelming experience. It taught them Geography, History and Economics all in one, especially, when they had to exchange money and negotiate their way through immigration and customs.
“I am so happy to have given the students this exposure beginning with Sri Lanka, Thailand and now Bali. The children and youth of North East India have a natural singing talent but most schools here don’t have a choir. Schools in the West and even in South East Asian countries give a lot of importance to music and every school has a choir.
The children can read music and can sing and play musical instruments. I wish music was part of our school curriculum and that students could earn their grades through music too,” Brain Wallang said, adding that the judges at the Choir festival were very impressed especially by the Khasi songs.
The only problem with KC Lights is that they had only 21 singers whereas other schools had over a hundred singers or sixty at the least so their voices filled the auditorium.
Wallang lamented that students had to fit into a rigid curriculum that does not allow them any flexibility to follow their passion. He said that recently the Education Department introduced six vocational subjects but those were allowed only in Government run schools and not in privately run institutions.
“Not every child can excel at Mathematics and Science. They can excel in other areas too and education is about the holistic growth of the child. I wish we in India realise this and allow children to excel in subjects they are passionate about.”
Indeed if the Education Minister really desires that the students of Meghalaya remain happy then the Happiness Curriculum here should include music as a subject for it can provide kids with the peace and serenity that songs and music bring into their lives. Who knows they might even perform better in their other subjects too.
