Greenwood High student Ankith Ratakonda of Grade XII has launched a project, The Teaching Brush along with his classmates to brighten up the 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 wanted to 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 making education exciting for government school children 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 schools colourful and bright. He has set an example for other students to follow.”