DHANGMARI, Bangladesh — In late May, elementary school children rushed up and down the worn footpaths between their homes in Dhangmari, giggling and showing off small clay sculptures. One girl held out a ceramic bird, her arms outstretched like wings. A boy crouched in the door frame of his house, slowly rolling flattened clay petals to fashion a rose. It was the final examination day in art class at the Gora Dhangmari Forest Primary School, a small schoolhouse on the Pashur River about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Khulna. It was hot, nearly 38° Celsius (100° Fahrenheit). A month earlier, schools nationwide had been closed due to unprecedented heat. Bithka Ray, who teaches Bangla and math, and Anima Bachar, who teaches English and science, switch off teaching art with the other two teachers at the school. The students are free to make any sculpture they like, though the figurines lining the desks have one thing in common: nature. Katha Mondol, a girl in class five, cradled a clay coconut in her hands. Her neighbor has a coconut tree, she said, and she likes to drink from the coconuts. Her teachers said that Mondol’s own home has a coconut tree, but after prolonged exposure to saline water, the tree no longer produces coconuts. Increasingly saline water and soil is an issue that has plagued Bangladesh for years. “We enjoy teaching art, and our satisfaction comes from [the students’] happiness,” Bachar said. With its lattice of rivers and tropical coastline, Bangladesh…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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