KOCHI: Usually, students, after sharpening their pencils, discard the shavings. However, students of Gandhi Memorial Lower Primary School, Ashtamichira at Mala in Thrissur, decided to do something different with it.
They collected the pencil shavings and made a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi with it. The feat got the students and the school featured in the India Book of Records.“The portrait, measuring 6.6x5 feet, is deemed as the biggest in the country that is made out of pencil shavings,” said Suresh Kumar, headmaster of the school.
Suresh said the school, having 68 students studying in Classes I to IV, decided to come up with something different for the Gandhi Jayanti celebrations.“The idea was to create something out of things that people usually discard. It was then we thought about pencil shavings, which the students generate a lot every day. So, we decided to ask the students to collect the shavings and hand them over to teachers,” he said.
The students started collecting them in July. “Though we did not weigh it, we collected shavings of around 200 pencils. It took four days to complete the work. With the combined effort of 68 students, five teachers, and PTA members, the portrait was ready by September 30,” the headmaster said.
The original plan was to unveil the portrait on Gandhi Jayanti. “However, we never thought the outcome would be so good. We had not planned to send the details of the feat to the India Book of Records (IBR). But, as part of motivating the children, we decided to approach the IBR office, and they awarded us the certificate after examining the work,” said Suresh.