The students are the “ambassadors of cleanliness,” said Dindigul Corporation Commissioner N. Ravichandran here on Friday.
Speaking at an inter-school painting competition prize distribution function organised by The Hindu and Dindigul Corporation at SSM Institute of Engineering and Technology, he appealed to them to keep their school campuses clean and green.
In her address, Mayor Illamathi Jothiprakash said that by keeping the city clean, Dindigul citizens can be proud to be residents of a pollution-free city and be healthy. To achieve this goal, she said it was in the hands of the youngsters and hoped the students were prepared for the challenges.
There were 625 students from 45 schools, who participated in the finals.
There were three categories - super senior (11 and 12), senior (9 and 10) and junior (6th to 8th standard).
The panel of judges selected top three winners in each category and also chose seven others, who were presented with consolation prizes, including cash awards.
The toppers in the super senior category were: A. Sarath Milton of St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School (first), Sneha Biswas of Prassidhi Vidyalaya (second) and R. Sivarajan of Arul Jothi Vallalar Higher Secondary School bagged third prize.
In the senior category: I. Arun Harshith of St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School (First), M. Mohamed Nufreay of Achyuta Public School (second) and M. Dharun of MSP Solai Nadar Memorial Higher Secondary School bagged third prize.
In thejunior category: S. Avinesh of Santhai Road Corporation Middle School bagged first prize, M. Durkesh of Equitas Gurukul Matric Higher Secondary School and M. Jananika of Gandhiji Memorial Middle School bagged third prize.
The topics given to the different category of participants ranged from save water and live green, stop plastic pollution, garbage collection in my street, say no to water pollution, compost from kitchen waste, My dream: clean and green Dindigul.
The students were given two hours to showcase their talents by using water colours, pencil, oil paint and crayons of their choice. The winners were presented with ₹ 5000, ₹ 3000 and ₹ 2000 cash prize and ₹ 1000 for consolation prize winners in every category along with a certificate of merit.
The organisers had a special mention to S. Avinesh from the Corporation School for bagging the first prize in the junior category.
The Hindu Branch Manager S. Narayanan thanked SSM Institute of Engineering and Technology for providing space for the conduct of the competition and the staff and volunteers for extending support in the successful conduct of the event.
