It’s the latest in the series of excellence indicators that schools would like to flaunt.
Apart from the faculty, facilities and curriculum do not be surprised if educational institutions proudly display their ‘green school’ tag.
An initiative of the Hyderabad-headquartered Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) set up by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the ‘green school’ programme was launched in September 2014 with an aim to encourage schools to turn more environment-friendly.
Till date, eleven schools from across the country have been certified and many from the city have also registered for the programme. There are two aspects of this initiative: ‘Green Features’ and ‘Green Education’. While ‘Green Features’ requires the school to adhere to construction and planning related norms, ‘Green Education’ will see lessons in environmental theory being imparted and tests held in addition to the usual examinations.
“There is immense potential in this programme as we want to nurture young minds and make them understand that green is a way of life. This has a national benefit too,” says CII executive director S. Raghupathy. “By converting a regular structure to a green building, the student’s productivity will also go up.”
Registered schools might have to spend anywhere between Rs.2 lakh to Rs.5 lakh on its way to be certified ‘green’, Mr. Raghupathy says. While the role of the IGBC is limited to advising schools on the changes, they are also trying to rope in corporates to adopt the schools and bear costs.
Some of the recommended changes include window and door sizes for maximum ventilation, standards of hygiene, good quality water, sewage disposal and its treatment. The IGBC also suggests that 50 per cent of the open space in the school should have green cover in the form of shrubs, trees and plants. The use of solar energy is also promoted to decrease electricity consumption.
Each school is rated on a scale of 100 points. Scoring 50 points and above will earn them a ‘green school’ certification and schools that have fared better in complying with the norms are further appreciated in the form of platinum, gold and silver ratings. “We intend to cover 50 private and government schools by the end of this year. Our target is 1,000 green schools by the end of 2017,” said Mr. Raghupathy.
After certification, the school’s performance is monitored every six months and recertification done every two years. Schools that want to register for the programme can visit www.greenbuildingcongress.com
