Painting a socially inclusive future for Kannagi Nagar kids

Art has often been used to break barriers – and in this case, the common perception of children from Kannagi Nagar being hyperactive or violent because of their difficult backgrounds has been shattered through rainbow-hued palettes of acrylic paints. Every Sunday, children from Kannagi Nagar, accompanied by their parents, visit the HLC International School for a few hours of art sessions, peppered with games, storytelling and spoken English, along with their friends from the private school.

Kaustav Sengupta, an arts educator whose InkLink Trust which designed this programme, has been working with the children of Kannagi Nagar for the past few years. “While working in tenements like Kannagi Nagar and Semmencherry, I realised that these children often don’t have an opportunity to interact with kids from other schools. We wanted to create an inclusive art project, where they can interact with other students through gamified learning techniques using art and storytelling. While working together in art projects, the children learn about each other and social barriers are broken,” said Kaustav, adding that an exhibition featuring the artworks will soon be held in the city.  Raaji Naveen, learning enabler at HLC International, said that art’s levelling factor helped enhance the bonds between the children. “During the initial sessions, there was some aloofness, because the children came from different backgrounds. But the arts brought the children together,” she said. HLC students raised all the funds themselves for this initiative. 

This year, 52 students from Kannagi Nagar are participating in this program, where they play and paint together with the students and have lunch together, supervised by Kaustav and his wife Shaswati, and parents. For Raaji, the turning point was when she literally witnessed the breaking down of social barriers, as the students gained this important insight.

“When we told our students that they will be working with children from Kannagi Nagar, a few of them told us that owing to their violent backgrounds, they thought that the children too will be violent or hyperactive. ‘But they are just like us,’ said the students.  “We have achieved what we wanted,” she says.