The Teaching Brush: An initiative to enliven the walls of government schools with murals that the kids can learn from

In keeping with the tradition of Greenwood High to contribute to society, its student AnkithRatakonda of Grade XII has launched a project, “The Teaching Brush” along with his classmates to brighten up the barren, rundown walls of government schools with murals of educational content. The students have already made the Government Sindhi Model Primary School, Immadihalli Government School and Gunjur Government High School colourful.The murals are in the central high-traffic areas of the school, where the children will be able to see them multiple times every day and learn from them.

The vision behind this initiative is to make government schools colourful, to introduce art to their students, and make education enjoyable. The students also involved the government school children in the painting process. They were overjoyed by learning art and brightening the school’s façade.

Speaking on the project, Ankith Ratakonda explained how and why he came up with the project: “I love art and wantedto use it to make a difference.I have taught in government schools for underprivileged kids. It was a very gratifying experience, but I remembered how rundown the schools were. Putting the two together was easy and that’s how “the Teaching Brush” initiative came into being.I created a group of like-minded people who were equally determined to fulfill our goal of makingeducation exciting for government schoolchildren and to expose them to the arts.”

Commenting on this initiative, Ms. Niru Agarwal, Trustee, Greenwood High International School said: “It is very important for students to have a social outlook and a conviction to contribute to society to make it a better place to live. I deeply appreciate this initiative of Ankith and his gesture of making government schoolscolourful and bright. He has set an example for other students to follow.”

“To set the course of the project required three crucial necessities: materials, sponsors and volunteers. Two of which, with the aid of Rotary Interact, were found with ease. To find volunteers was like finding a pin in a haystack. People were not willing to devote their time to this idea. Therefore, I requested the aid of my classmates. In the next few days, I had about twenty volunteers. We were finally ready to commence the project. With the help of Rotary Interact, we finally embarked on our journey to transform three schools of Bangalore. My dream now is to cover all the government schools across the city with groups of volunteers to brighten their walls with colorful and vibrant educational murals. I hope the project continues with its momentum to one day, finally paint the walls of all government schools in the country. Children in India are seldom exposed to the arts, which negates the innate creativity of many.Our goal is to create a colorful environment and, at the same time, educate the children simultaneously.” added Ankith.