That the youngsters of India are concerned about the environment and its degradation was amply demonstrated in the three animation films — based on the stories submitted by school students –released on the occasion of World Water Day on Tuesday.

The films were released under the initiative “H2Ooooh! – Waterwise program for the Children of India”, launched last year in July by UNESCO jointly with the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and others.

The programme after its launch saw active participation by 31000 students from 53 schools in 18 States along with the support of more than 400 teachers.

The three stories selected for the animation films were written by Pranita B from Tamil Nadu’s RMK Senior Secondary School, Aditi Mitra from Kerala’s Chinmaya Vidyalaya, and Sai Darshini from Karnataka’s Harvest International School.The films present protection of the river and conservation from the perspective of the children.

The entire initiative spread over three phases, aimed to spur creativity and raise the awareness in the students between six and 14 years on water conservation and its sustainable use, by training and encouraging them to submit paintings and story ideas for short animated films.

In the beginning 27 UNESCO films on diverse water issues were screened in the participating schools. This was followed by online training in script writing, character sketching and animation to 200 students. It was then tjat stories were invited for the films.

The Director General of NMCG, G. Asok Kumar, praised the beautiful paintings and pictures drawn by children at the event while he appreciated the dissemination of the message of water conservation through creative instincts.

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