Virsa is a cultural education initiative of Routes 2 Roots, which is the first of its kind in the world providing cultural education to students through the digital medium with the aim of making the future generations aware of their heritage thereby strengthening the social and cultural fabric of the country and the world.

Virsa addresses the need to make the young generation aware of their cultural inheritance and therefore is an integral part of education which needs to be passed down from generation to generation. It also aids the holistic development of students making them balanced individuals. Most of the countries have made culture an integral part of education.

The teachers and gurus who form the teaching faculty of Virsa have been selected from the country’s renowned music and art schools and are leading exponents of their respective art forms. Under Virsa children get an opportunity to learn from the celebrated masters of performing arts, which is a distant dream for most children.

Virsa has at its core, an advisory board of highly accomplished and world renowned artistes and legends from various disciplines of performing arts. These include Pandit Birju Maharaj, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Dr L Subramaniam, Pandit Rajan & Sajan Mishra, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Shovana Narayan, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Ehsaan Noorani, Juhi Chawla, Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan, Kiran Segal, Amaan Ali Bangash, Rakesh Chaurasia, Ayaan Ali Bangash, Kaushiki Chakrabarty, Shubhendra Rao, Rajnish and Ritesh Mishra, and Akram Khan.

Live Interactive Classes

The program has daily real-time interactive classes (2-3 classes daily) teaching 15 disciplines of performing arts including Hindustani Classical Vocal, Harmonium, Tabla, Carnatic Classical Vocal, Sitar, Flute, Keyboards, Guitar, Kathak, Bharatnatyam, Theatre, Yoga, Punjabi Literature and Culture, Fun with Maths and Stress Management through NLP. The classes are held as per a pre-decided schedule and a specially designed (by experts) curriculum is followed for all the 15 disciplines.

The project encompasses schools of all income groups and makes the classes available absolutely free of cost to all strata of society. These classes are also archived for revision and reference purposes and made available to enrolled students.

School Workshops

An important aspect of the program is the live workshops conducted by the teachers, who physically visit schools at regular intervals to hold workshops with students, thereby generating and enhancing connectivity between students and teachers in their specific disciplines.

Competitions

Virsa also gives students the opportunity to showcase their talent before the esteemed teachers of the faculty by organizing All India Inter School competitions, which are open to all the students of the program across India and overseas. These competitions, organized twice a year see thousands of students participate each year. Entries are judged by Virsa teachers and winners are awarded to motivate them further, while all participants are given certificates to ensure they cultivate a healthy sense of participation and are inspired to learn and hone their skills.

Virsa is a worldwide endeavour by Routes 2 Roots, which has the two-pronged objective of keeping the cultural heritage alive and empowering the coming generations by enriching their holistic growth and development.