My Home, My Family and the Environment
Schools finally reopened in Uttar Pradesh after more than a year in September 2021. We also resumed Let's Start Art sessions in the Government Primary Schools of Varanasi, this time with 20 schools and approximately 710 students of the city. Since the students have experienced a learning loss due to the pandemic and lack of resources to attend online classes, we have integrated different topics from the textbooks of primary classes with the themes of our art sessions.
The first set of Let's Start Art session were conducted on the theme "My home, My family". The theme is a consolidation of two different chapters from children's syllabus book- My family, and types of houses.
"I am there playing football with my friend, and my father is watching the game from the window on the first floor of my house. Mummy is watching us from the window downstairs. And Chachu(uncle) is going to the market on his bike", said Rohit, a student of class- 4th, Government Primary School, Sunderpur1, Varanasi. Rohit wants to become a doctor when he grows up.
"There's a park near my house, the name of the park is also Saloni. I enjoy going there with my family", said Saloni, a student of class 5th at Government Primary School, Chhittupur 2, when art instructor Neelam Gupta asked her to explain her drawing.
The second set of Let's Start Art sessions were conducted on the theme "Ped, Paudhe, aur Pakshi bhi humare dost", covering topics like types of plants, animals, and interactions of humans with these natural resources.
"I've made a drawing of my brother playing with a parrot, and I am sitting next to him feeding a crow and a duck. There are plants, trees, and flowers around", said Sonali, a student of class 5th at Government Primary School, Sunderpur2, Varanasi. Sonali told our art instructor Ajay Prakash that she wants to become a doctor when she grows up.
"There's a giant tree in my neighborhood where all the ghosts live. My parents don't let us play there, but whenever my friends and I play around it, it never hurts us. I've made drawing of the same tree.", told Roshan Patel, a student of class 4th at Government Primary School, Aditya Nagar.
The sessions were conducted by Ajay Prakash, Harshita Gupta, Kavita Kumari, Moni Gupta, and Neelam Gupta. We conducted 40 sessions in 20 Government Primary Schools at Bhadaini, Nagwa, Orderly bazaar, Naria, Sonarpura, Sunderpur 1, Sunderpur 2, Nayi Sadak, Durgakund 1, Durgakund 2, Lolark Kund, Kodai Chowki, Gurudham, Beniya bag, Chittupur 1, Chittupur 2, Lahartara, Kabirnagar, Aditya Nagar, and Bhikharipur.