Panthalloor Higher Secondary School near Manjeri is on a mission to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.
The school has made a giant pen using more than 5,000 throwaway plastic pens collected by students.
Taking inspiration from the hugely popular Big Ben bell of the clock at London’s Elizabeth Tower, the school has named their art piece Big Pen. It is seven-metres-long and weighs 68 kg. Curious people are pouring on to the campus to take a look at the Big Pen, which has 30 cm diameter.
A team of officials from the Universal Records Forum (URF) are to visit the school to certify the Big Pen on Thursday. Teachers, students, and parents of Panthalloor are ecstatic about their Big Pen.
The school’s art teacher, Sopanam Praveen Kumar, is the architect of the giant pen. But Mr. Kumar said that the Big Pen had a nobler objective than merely winning a world record for the largest pen made of discarded pens.
“The nobler objective is to wean away students from plastic throwaway pens and to encourage them to use fountain pens that can last for a long period,” he said.
The Big Pen is a fountain pen with ink-filling facility. “We are making use of this unique pen to spread awareness against the dangers of plastic and other related materials,” said Mr. Kumar.
The students at the school had responded warmly to a proposal made by Mr. Kumar to collect discarded pens. It took about six months for the children to fill a box kept at the school with discarded plastic pens of various hues and shapes.
But for Mr. Kumar, it took only two weeks to make the Big Pen. “I could make it because I had the wholehearted support of all my colleagues, students and their parents,” he said.
URF officials are expected to certify the Big Pen at a function to be held on the campus on Thursday. P. Ubaidullah, MLA of Malappuram, will be the chief guest at the function.
