Burst of colour at Work Experience Fair

State School Science Festival

Dismantling of a homoeopathy hospital near Sana Nasreen’s house at Mannarkad, Palakkad, was the inspiration behind her idea of using some of the waste material from the facility for making something productive. As a lot of glass was used in the hospital, she managed to get some glass sheets and plastic bottles that had been used to dispense homoeo medicines.

A Class 10 student of DB Higher Secondary School, Thachampara, Sana used the waste material retrieved from the hospital for her ‘Taj Mahal’ at the Work Experience Fair as part of the State School Science Festival at St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Pattom.

Students had come up with some colourful projects in this event. Some of the exhibits were a bird cage built using old drum, net, and coconut frond; flower vase made of old chips containers; Periodic Table made with old flex sheet, door piece, and bottle caps; ‘Qutub Minar’ made using sewing machine thread rolls and cardboard; and ‘Nettipattam’ made using jute sack, soda bottle caps, ice-cream lids, and coir thread.

In the coconut shell carving contest, contestants were given the picture of a coconut shell jug and asked to carve it out of a coconut shell. A blade for craft, wood varnish, glue, and sandpaper are used to carve coconut shells. Designs are made on the shell using a marker. These are then cut and glued together.

Dhanvi Shetty of Sree Sharadamba Higher Secondary School, Sheni, Kasaragod had always been interested in crafts, and has participated at the district level of the school science festival. This time, she decided to try her hand at something new and went for coconut shell carving, learning the craft through YouTube videos. Her decision paid dividends for it brought her to the State level event for the firs time.

Competitions were also held in electronics; wood carving; products made using screw pine leaves; stuffed toys; umbrella making; and products made using leather, canvas, and rexin.