This Kerala student’s message on water conservation gets an animation avatar

Now, the message of a Kannur student will be seen by children across the country as an animation film on water conservation. Shreya K. of Amrita Vidyalaya, Thalassery. These are among the top three students in the country whose storyboards were selected for production as animated campaign videos on water conservation and for school students’ H2Ooooh! It was used permanently as part of the ‘Waterwise Program’. .

The animation works will be unveiled by UNESCO on World Water Day on Monday. UNESCO had teamed up with animation firm Toonz Media Group, National Mission for Clean Ganga, United Schools Organization India and ‘Water Digest’ magazine in connection with the water conservation awareness program.

Class 5 student Shreya, whose family is a resident of Bijapur in Karnataka, says she was given three options for her story idea – sustainable water, water cycle and water pollution. Seeing the environment being polluted, he chose water pollution and came up with the story of two brothers who chose different means of livelihood. While the activities of one brother contribute to pollution, the other is in harmony with nature. Eventually, the former is helped by the other to investigate water pollution through various measures. The siblings who have learned their lesson promise to curb pollution, save water and recycle it.

Green thumb

Shreya says that her family also tries to be environmentally friendly. Both her parents are Ayurveda physicians. “We have a farm back home in Bijapur, which I am interested in. During lockdown, we grew our own vegetables instead of buying from outside. “

Shreya, also a dancer and swimmer, says that she is happy that she got a chance to send a message about water conservation to everyone through her story. A total of 17,000 students from 43 schools across the country submitted story ideas for the initiative. After several screenings, 2,000 students participated in the qualifier rounds.

Of those, 93 students, including eight different abled students, were shortlisted for a week-long training by Tonz Animation, where mentors introduced them to the basics of 2D animation, including script-writing , Character sketching and storyboarding, described as Shreya. “Best.”

Students undergoing training presented storyboards on the water conservation they had created. The three selected videos will be available on the UNESCO India website and partner websites after being released on Monday.