Special needs students at Manovikas Kendra raise tiger conservation awareness through art
Telegraph | 30 March 2026
A 10ft by 7ft wall at a rehabilitation centre had turned into a canvas for budding artists.
For weeks, a group of children with disabilities had been painting, folding bits of paper and putting them on the wall.
They created an art piece, showcasing a tiger that was shot in the wilderness. This image was placed alongside another image depicting a teacher discussing the tiger’s story in a classroom.
It was not just a work of art but an exercise that taught them an important lesson: Save the Tiger.
Students of Manovikas Kendra from age six to young adults in their 20s presented an art exhibition called Voices in Colour on March 24 and 25. Their work of art was an expression of creativity, a therapeutic exercise and an awareness of their surroundings.
When a visitor asked them what the wall represents, a child with autism responded: “A tiger is being killed with a gun.” The wall echoed their voices.
Not all children can be taught through text. This approach allows us to educate them about their environment. Art serves as the main medium, said Amita Prasad, director, Manovikas Kendra.
The exhibition was visited by artists, school principals and teachers of mainstream schools.
Joydip Kundu, the general secretary of SHER (Society for Heritage and Ecological Research), which works for wildlife in the state, and especially tiger conservation, said the students of Manovikas Kendra brought out the spirit of tiger conservation in a way that many mainstream schools would fail to do.
“The way they presented the tiger with the guns pointing at the animal and the vanishing habitat showed that they had understood the core issue of tiger conservation,” said Kundu.
The centre engaged the majority of its students, each with diverse and varying special needs, in the exhibition. This included students with Down syndrome, autism, and intellectual disabilities.
A teacher remarked that even those with the most severe conditions participated.
A corridor was redesigned as a forest where children with severe disabilities used stencils to colour the sari fall, creating a visual representation of tiger stripes.
A section of the exhibition was on Sumi-e, a Japanese art form using black ink, water and brush on paper. Some of the paintingswere on sale, and they found buyers, too. A mother was in disbelief because a visitor bought her teenage daughter’s painting.
For the parents who struggle at various levels, such an acknowledgement and appreciation made them proud of their children’s achievements, said Prasad.