Bright strokes to pink health!

A recently held poster-making competition organized by HOPE Initiative (www.hope.org.in) on 22^nd September in which 170 artistically-inclined school students representing 36 schools took part, once again drove home the point that perceptions and emotions, rather than dry bits of medical information, often shape our attitudes towards health and its hazards.

Pix 1: Students pouring imagination and colours on to their posters.

The Governor of UP Shri BL Joshi, who graced the ceremony in Lalit Kala academy as chief guest, expressed appreciation and intrigue at the imaginative and creative ways in which students from class 6 to 12 had depicted topics ranging from “Life Style Diseases” to “Road Traffic Accidents”.

Pix 2 : Shri BL Joshi surveying the posters

“Health” can be as boring a topic, if students are lectured on the virtue of eating apples, to an as amazingly exciting one if they are encouraged to research and present issues as they see through their own eyes. Sample this poster on “Life Style Diseases” by Arindam Aggarwal of Jaipuria School, which was unanimously judged the best.

Pix 3: Poster on Life Style Diseases

One of the reasons behind HOPE Initiative’s success to transform the topic of “health” that sounds remote to students to one that engages them, has been its innovative methods through which it has touched the lives of around 500,000 students and their families through 2500 programmes in 1200 schools of UP over 7 years.

Pix 4. : Award winning poster on hepatitis

What added icing to the cake were the glittering ceremony and the rare honour of receiving the prize from as important a person as the Governor, and getting their pictures with him clicked and saved for posterity. “Health” got the boost among students it deserves. Cheers!

Pix 5 and 6: Awardees with Shri BL Joshi

As published in HT City( Hindustan Times) dated 9 October, 2011.

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