What’s the future of earth? These kids paint the answers

CHENNAI:An otherwise loud group of 30 students, were quietly engrossed in their drawings of the earth, at the ballroom of Hilton Hotel on Tuesday. At the end of an hour, their drawings had a lot to say about their fears for the environment, the plight of our planet, and ways to recycle consciously. As part of Hilton Hotel’s Earth Week celebrations, students from classes 3 and 4 of National Matriculation School, Guindy, participated in a drawing competition titled ‘Save the Earth’. And these were no ordinary depictions of the planet.

From imagining the earth as a melting scoop of ice-cream on a cone, to a growling earth on fire, — their creativity was a stark reminder of the planet we’re leaving for them. Harini K, a class 4 student, said, “We learnt about pollution in school, but I didn’t know how to draw about it. My brother helped me with this idea. I learnt about recycling and importance of planting trees.” The school’s management readily agreed to participate in this initiative, and their teacher, Kokila N, explained that this was an add-on to their existing curriculum. “Even if we don’t see the students changing any habit immediately, we know in the long run, this will get them thinking.

For instance, in my four years as a teacher, I see that students are more concerned about the environment,” she said Awareness sessions were also conducted for students of classes 6, 7, and 8 in the school, the previous day. Vinay Nair, general manager, Hilton Hotel, shared that they felt a drawing competition would be a better way to engage with younger students. “We wanted to come up with something impactful and fun at the same time. And this has been quite a learning for us as well,” he said.