BENGALURU: Children from 200 private and government schools in the city have sent in their entries highlighting various civic, environmental and social issues faced in their neighbourhood, as a part of the ‘I change my city challenge’.
The aim of the challenge is to inspire youngsters to become active citizens by attempting to solve societal woes. K Sunitha, manager of Civic Learning project of Janaagraha, said, “8,000 school children in Bengaluru have sent in their entires and 2,000 more have participated from cities such as Chennai, Kochi, Nagpur, Trivandrum, Dehradun, Pune, Jamshedpur and Ahmedabad. The competition involves groups of five kids who can identify local issues, understand the causes and look for solutions.”
Students attempt to solve these issues by approaching local officials such as ward corporators, relevant agencies or try to find innovative solutions on their own. Based on the work they do, the jury will pick the top ten teams. “Most of the entries are about garbage, plastic use in shops, lack of garbage segregation, water wastage, potholes and broken footpath,” he added.
There will also be a popular choice award and another award to the school with maximum number of participating teams. Mahalakshmi B, associate manager of digital marketing, Janaagraha, said, “The criteria for evaluation include understanding of the issue and how the tactics they have applied to solve it. It is not necessary the issue must be resolved, it is more about their attempt to do so. If the schools encourage and help students, there will be more participation.”Entries will be accepted till December 31 online or through hard copies. For details, visit ichangemycity.com.