Glaciers are melting. The threat is rising. The students of Farakka, Murshidabad of West Bengal living on the banks of the Ganges are experiencing the heat of this crisis. Their drawings and presentations on World Water Day 2025 vividly showed this issue.
World Water Day, held on 22 March every year since 1993, is an annual United Nations Observance. UN-Water, the UN’s inter-agency coordination mechanism on water and sanitation, sets the theme and coordinates a Task Force which creates a global campaign. This year the theme of World Water Day is: ‘Glacier Preservation’. Glaciers are critical to life – their meltwater is essential for drinking water, agriculture, industry, clean energy production and healthy ecosystems. ( https://www.un.org/)
To mark World Water Day on 22 March, IMAGIN held a sit-and-draw and presentation contest at Holy Family School in Farakka. The drawing contest themes were water conservation and glacier conservation. In all, there were 28 students from four schools in the competition. During this time, three teams also participated in a presentation contest titled “Save the Glaciers, Save Our Future.”
Through their paintings and dialogues, the children identified the growing water crisis as well as the frightening problem of glacier melting. Student Anwesha Pal of Pranabananda Vidyapith in Farakka voiced her worry: “If glaciers melt, rivers will no longer flow. There will be a drinking water crisis. We should not allow this.”
Likewise, Ryan Masood Hossein, a Holy Family School student, stressed:”Just talking about the problem is not sufficient. All of us need to take initiative to ensure our future.” Sister Akhila, Holy Family School Principal, appreciated the initiative, pointing out its effectiveness in creating environmental consciousness among the students.
Soma Maity, IMAGIN Chairperson, presented the vote of thanks to the students and schools who participated. She reaffirmed IMAGIN’s continued efforts to educate students and youth on climate change action.
