So, in connection with the International Day for Conservation of Mangrove Ecosystems, PlanatEarth had organized this painting competition for the students of Rajagiri Public School, Kalamassery. We thought that only students who were interested in this needed to participate but the Principal of the school felt that it was imperative that all students from classes 5 to 8 needed to participate and hence it became a huge program, It was heartening indeed to see so many young minds putting their heart and soul into painting mangroves and the best part was that the teachers of veery class had taken pains to show the children pictures of mangroves and give them some idea about the important role that mangroves play in protecting our coasts. The reward for us came when children who had completed their masterpieces walked up to us and asked in the innocent voices that only children have, “why did we choose mangroves as the theme and not something else like cars or festivals?” It was clear that many of them were not super thrilled to paint just trees with branched roots standing on coastlines. But by doing so, we feel that somewhere the interest has been piqued in a few young minds at least that these mundane trees have a very important role in keeping the planet clean, green and pristine.
Behold the masterpieces below.
