UNESCO has teamed up with USO India and Toonz Media Group for a creative water conservation awareness programme for students.
The animation videos created by students will be unveiled on March 22, the World Water Day as part of the H2Ooooh! – Waterwise Program for school students conducted in partnership with National Mission for Clean Ganga, United Schools Organization India (USO India), Water Digest magazine and Toonz Media Group.
The nation-wide water conservation awareness programme was aimed at school students between the age of 6-14 years, who submitted story ideas for animation short films to create awareness about water crisis in India.
As many as 93 shortlisted students, including eight children with disabilities, underwent training by Toonz Animation mentors as part of the programme. The students were shortlisted after multiple screenings from a total of 17,000 participants from 43 schools across the country. The one-week training by Toonz Animation introduced the students to the basics of 2D animation including script writing, character sketching and storyboarding.
“We thank all our partners for this unique initiative, through which we hope children learned about the importance of water, which has enormous value for households, food, culture, health, education, economics and the integrity of our natural environment”, said Eric Falt, UNESCO New Delhi Director.
“It is an immense privilege for Toonz to partner with UNESCO and USO for this highly creative initiative. We are happy to interact with the young talents and help them learn the basic nuances of animation. We hope to create excitement among them for water conservation through this beautiful medium,” said Toonz Media Group CEO, P. Jayakumar.
“USO is extremely pleased to be part of this unique program for school students. H2Ooooh! is a creative and innovative way to learn about a subject that is of paramount importance to all of us . And, experiencing it through the lens of the students, was truly an eye-opening one for us,” said Nina Jain, Secretary General – USO India.