Art for 3200 schoolgirls in Pakistan

Online Art Classes

Our resilient teachers have adapted to the online learning situation brilliantly and ensured that online learning for art classes is possible for our students. It is indicative of the steadfastness and motivation our art teachers have towards ensuring that art remain an integral part of their student’s lives, as well as Zindagi Trust’s commitment towards ensuring growth through artistic methods which have proven to be highly effective in both student self-growth and academic learning.

Since our last update, in June our teachers continued with online learning classes in which they often had to work beyond their usual work hours to accommodate all of the students. Teachers planned interesting art activities for students that they could accomplish with basic resources they could find around their homes. One such activity was creating a color wheel using the colors found in different spices and using them to paint. Other activities included silhouette photography, graffiti art, symmetrical design and experimenting with contrasting warm and cool colors.

Art Competition

Our teachers also facilitated our students in participating in an Art Competition held by NJV (Narayan Jagannath Vaidya School, the first government school established in Sindh). The interschool Art Competition was conducted in June with results announced in August, and was focused on two major themes, ‘Marine Litter’ and ‘Animal and their Habitat’. Students from Grade 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 6th, 7th and 8^th participated with a total of 51 artworks submitted from our school alone. All of the participants in the competition from our school made their art at home, with resources found around their homes with aid and direction from the art teachers.  Aleena, a student from Grade 8, Khatoon e Pakistan Government Girls School managed to secure the 2^nd position from all students and schools that had participated.

Day of Summer

In July our schools were closed for summer break, at this time, the Special Programs department arranged ‘A Day of Summer’, where sessions on environment, photography, music and art were conducted for students. Our Art teachers arranged many interesting activities for the students to celebrate summer and see how art could be a way to have fun while also learning new skills. These activities included quilling, straw crafts, print making and texture art.

As summer break has drawn to a close, our teachers have prepared for the new term by creating distinct learning objectives and goals for the students. With the lead of Anam Shakil, the head of Zindagi Trust’s Art Program, they are planning to introduce interesting new ways to showcase student art work so that it can be displayed and accessed despite the restrictions that the pandemic has presented and are hopeful of providing students a mantle to celebrate their artworks further.