USE OF DRAMA THERAPY IN CLASSROOM SETUP FOR ENHANCING SOCIAL SKILLS OF PREADOLESCENTS

Today's classroom setup is demanding, challenging, and overburdening for the teachers. Drama Therapy is a potent tool to make teaching-learning more effective in today's classroom setup. This paper explores the wide scope of Drama Therapy activities that can be used to enhance the social skills of preadolescents, especially of those who are deprived of a conducive social environment and reference groups. With the humongous amount of data influx and the strong influence of social media on today's preadolescents, it is essential to enrich the traditional teaching method by using innovative pedagogies for holistic development during this impressionable period. Drama Therapy is a transdisciplinary approach that employs various techniques of theatre in order to bring about significant changes in one's personality and behaviour. In socially disturbed communities like that of Jammu & Kashmir or that of extreme geographical terrains like high altitudes, it can actually bring in a sense of stability and sound understanding of the social scenario. Drama Therapy is a type of Expressive Arts Therapy that focuses on social intelligence that is a blend of a thorough understanding of one's own self, clarity of thought, power of decision making in relationship management, and social awareness and interactions.