New Delhi: The National Council for Educational and Research Training (NCERT) had last year introduced Creative Writing and Translation as an optional subject in class XI, but very few schools have included the subject as part of their curricula.

Nine students from Modern School, Barakhamba had joined for this subject in the last academic session and the number has increased this year, according to the officials at CBSE.

Ram Janma Sharma, head, department of languages, NCERT, informed that it is interesting to see how different languages can co-exist and be shared and this has been proved by this bi-lingual text that has four units- creativity and writing, literary writing, media and translation that seem to be ideally and creatively linked to each other.

Sharma said, “This is an independent subject like any other subject and can be easily clubbed with any stream - be it humanities, science or commerce. The course is a window to the world of print and electronic media, print media, publication, animation, mass communication, public relations, films, radio jockey, interpreting and translation.”

Firoz Bakht Ahmed, an English teacher at Modern School, added, “There is not only lack of awareness among schools and parents about the subject, but also a stepmotherly attitude as it is different from one of those ‘conventional’ subjects. In fact, the beauty of the subject is that it can be clubbed with any of the streams as it is a language subject. The course aims at a departure from the parameters of four walls of the school believing that children’s life in school must also be linked to life outside school.”

Kirti Kapur, one of the co-ordinators of the book said that the idea is essentially to “develop sensibilities towards languages”. About the contents of the book, she said, “Nevertheless, the inherent challenge before teachers in teaching the discipline lies in the fact that all students do not have the same level of creativity and understanding. But, teachers need to guide students according to their interest and creativity. Thus, their role in a learner-centered environment becomes more of a facilitator.”

Sharma further informed, “We are holding workshops for teachers from CBSE schools, Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas to train them in the subject.”