Amrita Vidyalayam’s Students Win UNESCO’s National level Creative Competition, H2Ooooh for spreading Awareness about Water Conservation
New Delhi: Two school students of Amrita Vidyalayam – Thalassery: Abhiram Shine Nair (class 3) and Nythika Sajith (class 6) were adjudged the winners of UNESCO’s H2Ooooh!, a national-level creative competition that aims at making school children of India ‘waterwise’. The project encourages youngsters (6 to 14 years old) to make creative contributions to spread awareness about – and find solutions for, water scarcity, sustainable use, water conservation, safeguarding water resources, and other water issues.
A drawing by Abhiram Shine Nair and a story by Nythika Sajith made them the winners of the competition phase and competition-cum-training phase of H2Ooooh!, respectively. Their contributions will be used to create animation videos focusing on water protection and its sustainable use in India.
The latest edition of H2Ooooh! was kickstarted by UNESCO on World Water Day 2021, which falls every year on March 22 every year. The project will culminate with the release of three short animation films. UNESCO organises H2Ooooh! in partnership with National Mission for Clean Ganga, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India, United Schools Organisation of India, Toonz Media Group and Water Digest, India’s premiere water magazine.
In his/her comment about the achievements of the students, Samaradhyamrita Chaitanya Principal Amrita Vidyalayam Thalassery said, “Our children were very happy about the whole idea of W2Ooooh! It has helped them learn about the importance of water, which has enormous value for households, food, culture, health, education, economics and the integrity of our natural environment. Our hearty congratulations to the winning students. Their national level achievements were possible because of the dedicated efforts, constant support and encouragement of our teachers and staff of the school.”
More than 17,000 students from 43 schools across India have taken part in the latest edition of H2Ooooh! As part of the first phase, many animation videos, both in English and Hindi, highlighting different water issues, were screened at schools for students of Class I to VIII. The videos were developed by UNESCO – Venice. UNESCO also distributed educational materials, and conducted discussions and quizzes based on them to help students develop a deeper understanding of issues.
During the second phase, in which Amrita Vidyalayam’s Abhiram Shine Nair emerged a winner, a competition was initiated in the schools to pick top ideas and drawing/cartoon submissions. Out of the 2000 students who participated in the qualifier round, a total of 93 students, including eight children with disabilities, were selected to undergo special training by Toonz Media.
Amrita Vidyalayam’s Nythika Sajith was one among the participants of the one-week training by Toonz Media that introduced the students to the basics of cartoon animation including script writing, character sketching and storyboarding. Nythika’s story is selected to create animation videos focusing on water protection and its sustainable use in India.