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Towards a Green School Campaign By Govt Girls High School, Cuttack |
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by Dharmendra Kapri | 28-09-2013 01:32
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School is not a transit camp to provide a degree for a job, instead plays the role of an incubator for ?transformation? of an individual to become more ?humane? in their human existence. Govt. Girls? High School situated in Kazibazar in the silver city of Cuttack was established in 1919 with classes I to VII. Later in 1985 it was upgraded to a high school having classes I to X. It?s uniqueness lies in having the primary and secondary wing together thus providing a broad spectrum of learning experiences to learners of different levels at improving students? performance and leadership skills. Within the parameter of Govt. School set up catering to a mixed community of students of various economic backgrounds a great amount of effort backed by a strong sense of determination has made it possible to create an environment and ethos that enables pupils grow, develop and mature into responsible members of a global community. Active participation of the staff, students and community members has helped in developing the school into a centre of excellence in all fields. In the present situation of rampant environmental degradation where the current generation leads a life as if it has no relationship with nature in the quest of name, fame and material gain, the students of the school decided to launch their campaign ?towards a green school? with an aim to reawaken the love of nature among the people which can be taken as an effort showcasing stewardship of mother nature in its miniature form but with greater impact. During the process of ?building a green school?, there was an empowerment of various abilities like decision making, problem solving, motor skills and work efficiency in groups of the students in addition to the enrichment of learning experiences of them. The whole team of students metamorphosed as if into miniature adults of great sensibility and responsibility doing their work. First they formed a ?green team? that took the lead in organizing & directing eco activities in the school. They adopted an environmental policy bearing statement of beliefs and intents they strived to achieve and placed it before the students and other stakeholders for recognition and approval. They conducted a resource mapping and periodical school environmental impact assessment or audit exercise by the use of simple calculations and certain ingenuity and prepared an inventory of it to be referred to later while doing review works. From the survey report they identified the priorities of key areas where improvements were necessary and chalked out their action plan accordingly. The first task was the intensification of the greenery of the school environment. As the soil report revealed, there was a necessity of enriching the soil factor of the school campus. Students prepared a low cost bio- fertilizer cum pesticide to be applied on the ground. A small school garden was set up in the beginning which has now expanded into two well kept lawns, 200 potted plants, a medicinal plant bed, and a school backyard with 150 varieties of plants. Waste disposal system was strengthened with every classroom being provided with segregating bins for biodegradable and non-degradable wastes. A compost pit and a vermi-compost pit were set up for the management of organic wastes generated from various points of the school environment. Personal waste generation level was minimized by adopting eco-friendly practices like use of reusable tiffin box, cotton bag, water-bottle etc. in the school premises. Papers, glass metallic wastes were regularly sent for recycling purpose. Switching over to carpooling, cycling, walking as non-polluting commutation practices were adopted as a general norm. Constant motivation & mobilization through elocution, painting competition, demonstration project etc increased the energy consciousness of the students to adopt energy conservation practices like turning off the electrical equipments when not in use. Use of CFLs in the classrooms, use of solar panels for street lighting of the school campus brought about a great reduction in the electricity consumption with per capita level coming down to 0 .089-MJ/DAY. From the survey report the water team decided to utilize the run off potential of the school building for setting up a rain water harvesting structure in the schoolyard. The grey water was also not allowed to go waste and it was recycled to be used in the garden and rest to be recharged to the ground. Regularly checking the buildings for inefficiencies such as leaking taps, overflowing tanks, unattended running taps has worked wonder in reducing the water footprint of the school. With periodical monitoring & evaluation of progress, the work got bettered off with days passing by for which the school was recently conferred the ?Green School Award? by Center of Science and Environment, New Delhi, India. Arriving at this position was not a one day or one year activity. It was a continuous and comprehensive process still in progress since it?s inception. Garnering funds for the purpose was a great difficulty initially, which was partially met by the sincere effort of the students through their green ideas like selling of saplings from the school garden, selling of compost, selling of recyclable wastes, selling of tickets to the community for their eco dramas, etc. The rest of the amount was born from various govt. and non-govt sources like annual eco club grants for the school and help from Rotract club youth members, Lions club members and many good Samaritans of the society. |
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11 Comments
good share
Posted 28-12-2013 00:38
Wow you are on the newspaper? I feel so proud of you, you guys did a great work!! :D
Thumbs up!
Posted 30-09-2013 16:24
Thanks @Sia...! =D
Posted 29-09-2013 21:24
Thanks a lot @Simran..!
Posted 29-09-2013 21:23
Thanks a lot @Simran..!
Posted 29-09-2013 21:23
Thanks a lot @Raunak..!
Posted 29-09-2013 21:22
Thanks @Neha..!
Posted 29-09-2013 21:19
Thanks for sharing
Posted 28-09-2013 21:38
Elaborate details Nice Report
Posted 28-09-2013 14:15
Wow, Dharmendra, well reported. Proud efforts by Govt Girls High School, Cuttack, India.
Posted 28-09-2013 13:14
Great efforts, thank you
Posted 28-09-2013 02:30