Students of Art courses demand job opportunities.

The Hindu,Bhubaneswar.

Students of eight colleges in the State demands for reintroduction of art teachers

Nearly 1,000 students from eight colleges of art and crafts of the State have formed a forum – Orissa Kala Sikshya Chhatra Parishad – to demand the Government to create job opportunities for them.With the the newly founded Orissa Art Education Foundation chairperson Asit Mukherjee in chair, representatives of these colleges – the Government College of Art and Crafts in Khallikote, BK College of Art and Craft in Bhubaneswar, Dhauli Collage of Art and Craft in Bhubaneswar, Baleswar Art College, Bhadrak Art College, Jeypore Art College, Sundargarh Art College and Sri Aurobindo Art College of Keonjhar – organised a meeting at the Orissa Modern Art Gallery here this week to form the forum and fix up its objectives.A 16-member Coordination Committee was formed with two representatives of each college. It includes Rajanikanta Sahoo (president), Debi Prasad Das (secretary), Chintamani Padhi, Harekrushna Bisoi, Sudarsan Jayasingh, Gadadhar Sutar, Digbijay Ray, Pritiranjan Moharana, Rajendra Meher, Sandipan Sarangi, Ramakrushna Mohanty, Soumendra Boitei, Padma Charan Choudhury, Satya Ranjan Sahoo and Sukamati.

The first meeting of the Parishad was also attended by the Foundation’s working president and former Orissa Sahitya Akademi secretary Indu Bhusan Kar, Baleswar Art College principal Nikunj Behari Das, Dhauli Art College principal Panchanan Samal, Bhadrak Art College principal Manoj Bhattacharya, Sundargarh Art College principal Seetal Mohapatra and Keonjhar Art College principal Durga Prasad Patnaik – all members of the Foundation.The Parishad would demand for reintroduction of the posts of art teachers in schools that was abolished 25 years ago, informed the students’ representatives.Art students of each Assembly constituency would meet their respective MLAs to convince them about the need for creating job opportunities for art students and the apathy of the State Government towards the issues concerning promotion of art education in the State.