The museum, its value in the context of education

By Amal Hewavissenti

The international museum day fell on May 18 this year. Contextually it is important to examine the clear evidence about the role of the museum in broadening new horizons in education.

In all respects, the museum is a mirror that presents a panorama of a country's cultural heritage and preserves it for future generations.

Thus, it assumes the role of a storehouse that appropriately collects the remnants of the legacy of the past and reshapes public attitude to culture and the nation as a whole.

In whatever way, the museum ranks high on the public opinion as far as education is concerned and its popularity has been mounting up by leaps and bounds since 1960s. The artefacts and items which a museum houses, illustrate the varied phases in the anthropological evolution and they do a lot to assess man's life styles, patterns of thinking and aesthetic trends in the past.

Earlier, the museum was viewed as the sole place to safeguard specimens related to man's cultural heritage and natural heritage. Currently it has broadened its capacity as a unique institution that inevitably promotes society and its development.

Museum

The English word 'museum' is of old Greek derivation meaning "Mouseion" the temple of the Goddess 'Museus' who was believed to fuel inspiration for art, music and poetry. Accordingly, the museum is literally a non-profit making institution which is solely meant for the welfare of society and is constantly open for public education and entertainment.

Currently museum has become immensely popular owing to the massive development of tourism, fresh alterations in school education and the wide publicity offered by electronic media such as the television.

A survey carried out in 1970 reveals that 25 million people in England alone had attended museums for educational and entertainment purposes.

Apart from that a research conducted by the Tourist Board of England in 1981, showed that 24 percent of the adults in England had watched museums in the same year excluding the huge number of students of schools.

The most basic function of the museum involves bringing together the enormous range of collectable objects and items related to the heritage of the past and present.

It is important that these items are collected and arranged under different themes and subjects strictly in keeping with the prime objectives of the museum.

This is meant for the convenience for research in the offing.

The museum is primarily responsible for the perfect safety of the items which may be plundered by curio-hunters or damaged by natural destructive factors.

Moreover, the museum's curatorial team is responsible for conserving and maintaining the items by means of scientific and technological methods. This is also a very important function in the museum.

It is invariably a treasure trove of information. The curatorial team and intellectuals deeply study the artefacts and items uncovered in archaeological research and record the data in special publications kept mainly in display in the publications department.

It thus keeps artefacts and items in display for the public, for enthusiastic researchers and for the school children in a way that creates an atmosphere of education, entertainment and curiosity in an unknown world.

The heart of a museum is the priceless collection of artefacts and items which it keeps and almost all functions centre on them. This collection of works of art and historical items unconditionally represent the building as an educationally valuable centre of information. All functions such as registering, conservation, protection, exhibition for research purposes are carried out to facilitate education.

Any student could fall back on the records, items and works of art displayed by the museum in his exclusive study of any subject.

Curios

For instance, a student interested in studying the history and evolution of bronze statues in Sri Lanka may be confronted with the challenge of travelling to various places in search of locations of bronze statues.

Yet he can conveniently complete his study by using all sources of information, statues, photographs under one roof if he visits a museum.

Unless all these had been safeguarded in a museum, the student would have been compelled to travel to various places in the country and to take up several years to complete his study project.

The network of museums in Sri Lanka possesses curios, works of art and historical items that speak volumes for a proud heritage going back to 2,500 years or more. The prehistoric human and animal remains, stone tools, stone carvings, bronze statues, wood carvings, valuable ola leaf books, coins, which can be seen nowhere else, are on display in the museum.

However, projects are under way to launch public awareness programs in remote areas and stage mobile exhibitions of educational and cultural interest. The whole network of museums in Sri Lanka is a multi-educational service. It appears fair to say that the museum stays ready to provide academic and social education for all representing institutions from kindergarten to university level.

The museum's role in education has been shaped by the current educational methodology in practice in Sri Lanka. Some museums (Ratnapura) launch educational program both for teachers and students in order to make the museum as familiar a place of education as the school itself.

The curatorial team adopts measures to organise the educational programs to the taste and intelligence level of the visitors. It is opportune for museum education to be included in national educational stream because museums abound in valuable data indispensable for different levels and branches of study.