Across India, too many classrooms are built for memorization, not imagination. Children learn best when they feel safe and seen — because emotion and thinking move together. Yet most schools still treat social and emotional learning as secondary. At the same time, arts — one of the most natural ways for children to build and express these skills — are sidelined, with an average art teacher–student ratio of 1:1400. That leaves children with less than 20 hours of arts learning a year, stripping classrooms of the very tools that nurture voice, imagination, and agency.
1. The Jijivisha Fellowship (TJF)
Our innovation lab places artist–educators and child psychologists in classrooms across Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, and Bengaluru, turning art periods into spaces for curiosity, imagination, and emotional awareness, while also creating platforms for children’s voices through showcases, festivals, and community art projects. In 2024–25, 19 fellows supported 4,200+ children with 332+ hours of professional development. Assessments showed measurable SEL gains: 36.6% of students grew ≥25% in curiosity, 27% in imagination, and 32.5% in emotional awareness. Since 2023, ~60 fellows have each worked in 6 classrooms each, fostering visible confidence that extends into homes and communities.
2. Arts for All (AFA)
Our systemic intervention integrates arts-based SEL into the weekly arts period of public schools through partnerships with state governments. In 2024–25, AFA reached 210,000+ students and trained over 1,600+ teachers across Punjab, Maharashtra, and Bihar. Key milestones include:
Punjab: 1,400+ art teachers and 61 mentors supported across all 23 districts; SEL integrated into new state art textbooks, Bagless Saturdays, and career awareness programs.
Maharashtra: Reached 200+ Ashram Schools with 10,000+ students; 60% of program costs proposed to be covered by the Tribal Development Department for 2025–26.
SOL primarily works with children aged 9–16 from underserved communities through its programs. We use poetry, theatre, storytelling, music, and visual arts to build creative confidence and socio-emotional skills—through teacher-led weekly routines that improve classroom climate and student SEL outcomes. Our Jijivisha Fellowship brings artist-educators and child psychologists into classrooms and communities, while Arts for All embeds arts-SEL into state systems in Punjab and Maharashtra. Across these programs, children showcase their voices on stage, in storybooks, films, murals, and performances, while teachers report calmer classrooms, higher participation, and more confident, empathetic learners.
In 2024–25, we deepened systemic integration — our programs will be embedded in department-level budgets through the Tribal Development Department in Maharashtra, and we secured partnership to redefine the state arts curriculum in Punjab, with integration into official teacher professional development and incentive structures. We strengthened contextualization, with TJF educators adapting 270+ lessons to specific classrooms and Arts for All incorporating regional forms like Warli and Boliyaan to root practice in local culture — and localized content in additional Indian languages.
Our open source curriculum is accessible on our website. Additionally you can write to contact@slamoutloud.org to discuss collaborations or possibilities of executing arts based SEL in your own context.
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