Volunteers breathe life into Gurgaon school’s grey walls

Residents from across Gurgaon came together at an unassuming government

school

in Kadarpur near Sector 63 several times over the course of October – not with the agenda of studying, but to breathe life into the concrete walls. The initiative to paint the walls of the Government Primary School in Kadarpur was led by city-based NGO, Udaan – Ek Meetha Sapna. The residents painted the interiors of the school with graffiti to beautify the walls and rooms, and give the

students

a happier learning environment.
Udaan started the initiative of beautifying schools earlier this year, and have since worked on several government schools in the city. The organisation’s founder, Shikha Agarwal, tells us, “We started working on this school in early October, and first painted the verandah to resemble a train. After that, we painted the walls of the classrooms with fun themes like space, and even added some learning-themed graffiti, like the multiplication table.” The fund-raising and purchase of raw materials for this project has been helmed completely by citizen volunteers, with support from local corporate houses like Nagarro and CQ. The project this time was designed by

volunteers

from city-based SOIL School of Management, who conceptualised the artwork and planned the work there. Shikha explains, “Although we initiated the programme in other schools earlier, this time, we were happy to take a back seat and let the community take over. It’s a community project – not led or dominated by just one group or organization.”

A volunteer adds the finishing touches to a train-inspired

mural

Volunteers visit the school on the weekends so that their work does not disturb the students’ routine. They put in 10-12 hours a day to finish the work as quickly as possible, and while the volunteers hope to finish beautifying the school by mid-November, they are facing roadblocks in the form of fund shortage. “Some of the rooms in the school have seepage and damp areas that require cementing and repair, causing the cost per room to shoot up to about `30,000. We are trying to raise this amount so that the work can be completed on time.”

Students of the Government Primary School in Kadarpur pose in front of their solar system-inspired graffiti

A volunteer paints the Eiffel Tower in one of the classrooms