Blackboards, slates, chalks, pencil cases, sketch pens, lunch boxes and water bottles. No, you are not in a classroom, but a Durga Puja pandal.

The Purvanchal Durga Puja Committee on D Road in Jamshedpur's Telco is celebrating the Rashtriya Saksharta Mission or National Literacy Mission this year, its 70-feet pandal done up with various study materials promising to be a cut above the rest.

"Our pandal is different, being made up of myriad study materials right from slates to sketch pens, and pencil boxes to lunch boxes. Varun Decorators of Contai in Bengal's East Midnapore district has been roped in for giving a shape to the structure. The artisans are painstakingly working on the unique pandal for more than a month. But inside, the idols retain their traditional touch," said Ashok Upadhyay, general secretary of the Puja committee.

A message about literacy could not have been communicated better than this Puja, the biggest crowd-puller among the 15-odd pandals in Telco.

Blackboards and slates featuring chalk sketches of great personalities from various fields like Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh and Raja Ram Mohan Roy besides Hindi alphabets don the exterior. The décor also has intricate motifs and figures created with sketch pens, pencil and tiffin boxes.

Colourful water bottles also find a place, dangling from a protruding structure.

The top of the pandal also boasts intricate artwork spreading the message about Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, another Union government scheme that aims to generate awareness and improve the efficiency of welfare services meant for women.

Over 25 artisans are working day and night to give shape to the pandal, which will be equipped with five CCTV cameras. "Around 25kg of chalks and over 3,000 new pieces of pencil cases and lunch boxes have been used in the pandal. The study materials are adorning both the exteriors and interiors," said artisan Bishnu Kumar.

The budget of the pandal, which will be inaugurated on October 7, is around Rs 5 lakh.

The grounds will also host a small fair boasting merry-go-round, stalls selling lip-smacking snacks and colourful balloons.

Last year too, the Purvanchal Durga Puja had grabbed eyeballs with a pandal and idols made of aluminum sheets. Puja organisers said that for the past two years, they had been registering a footfall of over 60,000 daily during the five festive days.