Dear Friends,

For last 2 weeks I as Secretary of our school Eco Committee and other Core members of Eco Committee and our Environment co-ordinator have been tirelessly working day and night , preparing all the documentation needed for Green Flag , maintaining and upgrading the green infrastructure in our school , educating all the students about environment values , about Green Flag , it's objective , requirements and importance .

Our school's Green Flag journey started in 2011 when our school registered as 30^th school for Eco-schools programme which provides methology for implementing sustainable development in education. Ever since we started working on the 3 themes-Energy , Water , Waste(including litter). 16^th April was fixed for a thorough assessment of our school by panel of 6-7 judges from Emirates Wildlife Society –WWF and  from bank HSBC (who provide loans for microprojects to schools).

Eco-Schools is an international programme of environmental and sustainable developmental education for schools. An international programme of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), Eco-Schools aims to empower students to be the change our sustainable world needs by engaging them in fun, action-orientated learning. It is based on ISO14001. In 2003 - Eco-Schools was identified by UNEP as a model initiative for Education for Sustainable Development.

Eco school programme engages children and young people in key issues including the environment, sustainability, global citizenship and the value of a low carbon future.

Eco school follows a seven step change process  and empowers their young people to lead processes and actions wherever they can.  Our school has been working to curb it's carbon emission by following the below mentioned 7 step methodology :

1.       Eco-Committee

2.       Environmental Review

3.       Action Plan

4.       Monitoring & Evaluation

5.       Curriculum Linking

6.       Inform & Involve

7.       Eco Code

 

Over time and through commitment to the above  seven step process, improvements are seen in both the learning outcomes, attitude and behavior of students and the local community and ultimately the local environment . Evidence of success in these areas eventually lead to a school being awarded "The Green Flag".

 

 

 

School can apply for an Eco-Schools UAE award once it has implemented the seven steps of the Eco-Schools process. There are three levels of award:

Bronze award

Silver award

The Green Flag Award

The top level of award is the Eco-Schools Green Flag.

As per Green Flag , each & every person associated with school should be eco friendly ,  should be involved in school's journey towards GREEN FLAG –including the helpers or blue boys of school , teachers , even the parents. Our school has formed a Parents Eco Committee which has many parents as members . My mother is one the members of this Parents Eco Committee.

Our school's Eco vision is "LITTER FREE SCHOOL" and the objective/title of our school microproject is "ZERO WASTE TO LANDFILL".

We were supposed to maintain all the required documents in all the 7 files ( as per the 7 steps mentioned above).

On 16^th April , the panel arrived our school and sat with Core Eco Committe (members , parent members and teachers) and started asking us various questions . Only students or parents were expected to answer as Eco school programme intends to involve children more and more. Few questions which I remember are :

What is the environment mission of the school? Is it known to all students , teachers , workers ?

Are the roles and responsibilities of Eco Committee post holders documented?

How often Eco Committee conducts meetings? Are the agenda fixed?

What kind of issues are discussed in Eco Committee meeting? How are the decisions taken in Eco Committee meeting(by voting, if yes , how much % vote results in a decision  )?

How are the decisions taken in meeting shared with primary school students as they are in different complex –far away from sewcondary block?

Has the Eco-Committee  completed an Environmental Review covering the Eco-School themes adopted by the school using the checklist provided and results recorded? Have the results of the review  been discussed by the Eco-Committee and communicated with the whole school, with special emphasis on waste?

Did the Eco-Committee make " Action Plans" resulting from the review?

Does the action plan include specific targets with a time-frame for completion and who is responsible?

Show your school?s electricity, water consumption and waste generation efficiency.

How often Parents Eco Committee members meet , what all they discuss ? Are parents informed about environment progress or issues of the school?

How are environmental events like Earth Day , Earth Hour , World Environment Day celebrated in school?

How was school Eco code decided?

Does the whole school engage in a number of Eco-Schools activities such as paper recycling or saving water / energy campaign?

Whether school?s environment achievements are celebrated?.

Are prizes or incentives given to those who achieve or excel in environment areas.?

For nearly 3 hours they asked us many many questions , checked our knowledge on environment progress of school , asked parents ,checked the documents in each of the 7 files followed by the physical tour of the school.

They seem to be impressed with our school green infrastructure which includes :

1.      STP  : We have Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) behind our school book shop. This STP helps in water conservation. The water from the wash basins(grey water) is recycled at the STP in a tanker. This recycled water then waters our school lawns. While the black water(containing fecal deposits) goes to a separate tanker. This water is then used in flush , thus saving approximately 2 gallons of water.

2.      Green House : constructed in 2013 in our school. Crops like potatoes , chillies , mint, cauliflowers and carrots are planted using plant litter compost produced in the school. Vegetables grown here are given to our school ancillary staff fulfilling our school's social and environmental responsibility.

3.      Bokashi Bins :It produces compost (to be used as manure) from excess/leftover food from canteen , vegetable peels or other organic waste brought by students , parents , teachers from home. This is decomposed and used along with plant tonic to provide nutritious mixture to the plants.

4.      Vegetable garden in the girls block : produces large variety of vegetation. Plant tonic made from dried tea bags and plant litter , supplements it's growth.

5.      Solar Panels : The first off-grid solar panel was installed in the school campus on 14^th April 2013  , as a part of Eco schools Microproject. Electricity generated from this solar panel powers the security room for 12 hours.

6.      Eco Park : Variety of used material like shoe boxes , used bags , mugs , used/discarded musical instruments are used as plant pots , fountain etc and they also enhance the aesthetic appeal of Eco Park in very eco friendly manner.

7.      Eco Corner inside every class: to display environmental poster , charts , models..

We all are praying that our hard work , sincere efforts ,and passion towards environment would pay off and we would be awarded "Green Flag award". Results would be announced after 2 weeks.

 

 

 

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