Children paint city with colour in fight against black practices

BARIPADA: Part of the compound wall of Chhau Field in Baripada town got a fresh look recently, thanks to a group of about 50 students of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV). They took part in ‘Paint My City’ initiative to colour the wall with messages related to environment protection, sanitation and sorcery-related incidents.  Sources said Mayurbhanj district administration, in association with Sarva Shiksha Abhijan (SSA), has launched the wall painting initiative which aims at  spreading awareness among the people on vital issues.

In the first phase, the boundary walls of Chhau Field has been covered and later, major public walls across the district will be painted. The student artists of KGBV are also using tribal arts and culture to paint the walls with messages related to protection of forest and wildlife, conservation of water resources and soil, sanitation and combating witch hunt and superstition-related atrocities, said Manas Kumar Swain, Girls Education Coordinator of SSA. 

“The initiative not only creates awareness on social issues but provides a good platform for the students to exhibit their talent on art. The aim is to create awareness among the public on several issues through wall paintings. They work on weekends or Sunday. They will take up the work only on compound walls of Government and public buildings and get financial support from SSA,” said District Project Coordinator (DPC) of SSA Vivekananda Sahu.

He said apart from KGBV students, other artists will also be roped in to intensify the drive. In order to encourage them, the district administration will felicitate selected students and artists with cash award on January 26 for their innovate work, the DPC added.A student, who was drawing a painting condemning the evils of child marriage, said participating in this initiative gave her more happiness than the usual competitions. “Each art is designed with a composition comprising a juxtaposition of different aspects of social issues,” said Sumitra Behera, an inmate of KGBV.