BT Budding Artists kids keep performing and painting online

Singapore

THE adjustment has not been easy. For dance instructor Muhammad Ridhwan, teaching virtually means squinting at a computer screen filled with sometimes blurry images of 10 or more kids practising their moves in the cramped corners of their bedrooms.

For the love of dance, however, Mr Ridhwan and the kids are pushing on with their home-based learning (HBL) classes during this circuit breaker period - as are approximately 500 other kids and trainers in various arts courses run by not-for-profit organisation The RICE Company Limited.

Nearly all the kids in the programme are supported by The Business Times through its charity The Business Times Budding Artists Fund, which was set up in 2005 and managed by The RICE Company. Over the years, the fund has helped thousands of talented kids from low-income households pursue their favourite art forms, such as painting, acting and singing.

This week, however, 36 primary and secondary schools across Singapore have embraced the BT-backed online arts classes to help their own students through the crisis.

Under the new #Engage initiative, The RICE Company uploads as many as 26 new arts classes self-shot by its home-based instructors every Wednesday. These are followed by live lessons conducted by the same instructors via video conferencing with the kids on weekends.

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The service has now been made available to approximately 300 students from Ministry of Education schools - some of whom are considered vulnerable because they require regular face-to-face support or do not have the necessary digital resources at home to carry out home-based learning, unlike other students.

As part of their homework, the kids have to use mobile phones to make video recordings of their artworks and performances to have them assessed. The best works are then shared on the company's Facebook page for all to see.

At the end of the circuit breaker period, The RICE Company hopes to send all the kids "surprise packs" comprising vouchers, daily essentials and motivational notes.

Though the learning process is cumbersome, the children themselves see the classes as a welcome respite from the monotony of staying at home.

Dance student Krystal Yap says the videos and live sessions are the highlights of her week which otherwise entails minimal physical activity.

The Secondary 3 student says: "Staying at home makes me bored, lazy and claustrophobic."

The online dance lessons, which she does in her living room in front of her parents, also help her "reconnect with my dance friends and chase away my quarantine blues."

Though Internet connections are under strain with data traffic surging by as much as 60 per cent, "it's still better than no class at all", says Krystal.

Aminah Hussien, The RICE Company's Head of Arts & Community, says: "It's important to bring these classrooms into homes now, to help create a sense of normalcy for kids as they go through this public health crisis. We have always sought to provide a safe space for kids from low-income homes or vulnerable situations, and we intend to keep doing so throughout this pandemic."

Since The Business Times started the fund in 2005, some 18,000 children from low-income homes have undergone various forms of arts training provided by The RICE Company.

Their talents have been showcased in ChildAid, the annual charity concert organised by The Business Times and The Straits Times, which has raised more S$22 million for underprivileged children in 15 years.