Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): Picture this, a hall full of students, stroking careful lines on a white sheet of paper with pencil in one hand and raising the other from time to time to ask questions on how to make their comic better. Such was the scene at Ravindra Bhavan Convention centre where, a three day workshop called ‘Comic for Change’ is being held under the joint aegis of culture department and UNICEF.
Sharing his experiences, Navdeep, a participant from Government Arts and Commerce Naveen College said, “ I used to think that being an artist and making sketches is a tough job but this workshop gave me confidence that I can also do it.” The workshop on ‘Socio-Cultural Change through Comic Art’ had its second day on Friday.
Shuchita, another participant from Sarojini Naidu College said, “ I am enjoying this workshop a lot. It helped me learn many things. Out of all the social topics discussed here I liked the one about exclusive breastfeeding, as I think people have many misconceptions regarding it, which this workshop helped in clearing.”
Participants of the workshop have to make a comic on one of the five topics which include, Covid Appropriate Behaviour, ODF Plus Village, Back to School, Water Management and Exclusive Breastfeeding.
Shivani Raghuvanshi, a student of Nutan College said, “ This workshop helped me gain knowledge about such topics that people are not even ready to discuss. The lecture on exclusive breastfeeding by Pushpa ma’am was very informative.”
Talking about the workshop and the enthusiasm of participants, UNICEF state consultant Sabir Iqbal told Free Press, “This is our first program which connects comics with social change. You can measure the interest of participants through the fact that almost 200 students attended this workshop on the first day and we have the same strength even today.”
He further added that the comics by the participants will be displayed in the gallery on the last day of the workshop.
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