PPG Completes COLORFUL COMMUNITIES Project at Primary School in Baluganj Agra, India

PPG announced the completion of a COLORFUL COMMUNITIES project in Baluganj Agra, India, that helped revitalize a government primary school. The project brought together nearly 200 PPG volunteers, who spent almost four hours beautifying the school by painting the walls and creating vivid drawings of nature and slogans to inspire the young students.

PPG provided more than $8,500 (595,000 INR) in paint products to support the project, which is the first step in a major renovation. PPG will continue transforming the school by repairing the walls and roof, replacing windows, setting up a library and completing other essential work, such as providing safe drinking water. PPG Asian Paints will fund the entire $43,500 (3,045,000 INR) project.

Approximately 50 students currently attend the school. The hope is enrollment will increase to 150 students once the renovation is completed and the two classrooms are operational.

The Colorful Communities program provides PPG volunteers and paint products along with financial contributions to bring color and vitality to communities where the company operates around the world, such as in Baluganj Agra, where PPG has a sales office and distribution facility.

“In a community where the school absentee rate is high, revitalizing the school is the first step to making education more accessible,” said Sonu Rani, head teacher at the school. “The teachers and children were excited to see the changes.”

The volunteers painted the walls using a color palette of reds, blues, greens and yellows to create a colorful and vibrant space.

“This project brought together PPG Asian Paints volunteers from across India and business leaders from Asia Pacific, making it really unique and special,” said Kumar Padmanabhan, PPG chief executive, PPG Asian Paints. “It was a great feeling, as this initiative will improve the educational environment for the students and their teachers.”

“This Colorful Communities project was very special, as it allowed the entire PPG automotive refinish team in India to come together and participate,” said Ajay Anand, PPG GM, India and Southeast Asia. “The transformation of the school’s appearance in less than four hours showed us what impact we can make when we work together.”

The Colorful Communities program, PPG’s signature initiative for supporting communities, aims to protect and beautify the neighborhoods where PPG operates around the world. Through the Colorful Communities program, PPG’s committed volunteers contribute their time and PPG paint products to help transform community assets – from painting classrooms, to bringing color to a maternity ward and redesigning a playground. Since 2015, PPG has completed more than 200 Colorful Communities projects, impacting more than 5.2 million people in 30 countries.