Bol Jamoore : Cry’s street theater for Child Rights

Kolkata: Creativity and children’s expressions reigned supreme at Lady Ranu Chhaya Manch in front of Academy of Fine Arts, as children shared their thoughts and views on child rights in India through street theatre. As part of Bol Jamoore – a national street – theatre festival organised by CRY – Child Rights and You, the participants showed their support for child rights, and in particular – every child’s right to free and good quality education, regardless of their background and economic status. The theatre festival aimed to motivate the citizens of Kolkata to take action and bring about a lasting change in the lives of underprivileged children.

13 children’s theatre groups from Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal shared their thoughts about the trials and triumphs of childhood at the Bol Jamoore theatre festival.

Speaking about the theatre festival, Atindranath Das, Regional Director, CRY East said, “Theatre is a wonderful and effective way to engage and involve children. It is a very powerful interactive medium to create consciousness about the everyday realities faced by the underprivileged children. For thousands of children, a happy and healthy childhood is still a distant dream. Bol Jamoore explores those realities and attempts to bring to the fore the importance of every child’s right to live, learn, grow and play.”

The children participating in Bol Jamoore were trained by experts in various aspects of street theatre including scripting, directing and acting. This year, 13 children’s groups from West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand participated in the festival. The participating groups were from various schools and project areas of CRY across the three states.

From Bol Jamoore, CRY says that it aims at taking forward the theme of Celebrating Childhood with creative sessions in the field of art, craft and writing so as to help children express their definition of a Happy and Meaningful Childhood.