Cinema: an Entertaining Way to Teach Life Lessons

In India, the education system is adept in equipping the scholastic development of children. However, there is an immediate need to strengthen co-scholastic areas to equip students to face real life challenges. Films can make a significant contribution to a value based learning curriculum. Thus, co-scholastic skills can be effectively nurtured by a medium that is entertaining and impactful. The purpose of this study was to analyse the impact of a film based learning module – *School Cinema on students and to compare the levels of self-esteem, conformity, emotional stability and general well-being between students who were undergoing School Cinema and those who were not. The sample included 1200 students between 11–14 years studying in the 6th and 7th grade across 5 cities of India. Employing a purposive sampling technique and a pre-test post-test design, the sample was divided into a control group (students who were not a part of School Cinema) and an experimental group (students who were a part of School Cinema). The difference indicated in the pre-test post-test scores of both the groups was phenomenal. The results showed that cinema is a powerful medium that can be used to bring about positive change in the thinking and behavioural patterns of students. The results also imply that School Cinema is an important tool to address different issues that adolescents face as it helps build emotional stability, self-esteem and develop students holistically through experiential learning.

*School Cinema -School Cinema is a researched film-based learning curriculum supported by an interactive workbook, designed to introduce and reaffirm life skills, values and attitudes to children, parents and educators.