Mumbai: Drawing competition marks Children’s Day celebrations

Schoolchildren participate in the drawing competition. Pic/Prasun Choudhari

On the occasion of Children's Day, Turning Opportunities for Upliftment and Child Help (TOUCH) Foundation successfully organised its 13th annual drawing competition in Borivli. The event provided a platform for children from government, private and shelter schools to showcase their creativity. The event, held at Swatantra Veer Savarkar Udyan, saw the participation of 413 enthusiastic children, with the goal of fostering creativity and expression among the younger generation.

The drawing competition also served a larger purpose. The prize-winning drawings from the competition will be featured on calendars, book covers, and mugs, which will be made available for sale. The funds generated through the sale of these items will be utilised to support the welfare and education of underprivileged street children who face barriers to formal education.

Dr Dakshayani Menon from Touch Foundation said, "The drawings of winners from this competition will be printed on the merchandise which then will be sold. There are many children living on the streets of Mumbai who really want to get a formal education. We run School on Wheels for these children which we call bridge schools. We try to recognise the talents of these children and then make sure they get a proper education by sending them to our shelter school in Vihigaon Balgram which is an extension of bridge schools. Another objective of organising this competition was that kids could make new friends by meeting children from other schools."

A Std VIII participant said, "It was fun to meet new children. Winning and losing is part of life but what makes this competition great is the experience. "Another participant said, "It was a great experience and when I came to know that the paintings we made would be used for such a good cause, I was thrilled and very happy."

Touch's reach

>> Touch runs Bridge schools (School on Wheels) for underprivileged and street children.
>> Children who are seen excelling in Bridge schools are sent to Balgram at Vihigaon in Shahpur, Thane.
>> Touch runs Aasha Sadan, a shelter school for children who want to pursue higher education.
>> Textbook banks are run which provide books for higher university education.