Zilla Panchayat Higher Primary School in Bantwal taluk does not buy vegetables and coconut for the midday meal scheme and has fruit bearing tree sapling in each of the 138 students’ name.
The school in Keddalike in Kavalamudur village has rightly bagged the Parisara Mitra (environment friendly) award from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) this year in Dakshina Kannada district.
Moreover, the school boasts of a headmaster who has received accolades at the National level, Ramesh Nayak Rayee, who is the recipient of National level teachers award last September.
Mr. Nayak, who received the ‘Parisara Mitra’ award along with a few students from his school at a ceremony here on Tuesday, told presspersons that he carried forward his tryst with the environment started in Rayee village, Bantwal taluk, ever since he was transferred to Keddalike school.
While 138 students are in his school, 150 fruit-bearing tree saplings are planted in the campus, each one named after one student. This is to ensure belongingness among the students. Besides, over 100 parents of these children are bringing up five each tree saplings of different varieties in their houses, he said.
The two-acre school campus is also dotted with 45 coconut trees, whose yields are also used for midday meal preparation. During holidays, vegetables and coconut are sold fetching some income to the school even as teachers and students continue to water the plants on rotation, Mr. Nayak said.
The school has also received awards for cleanliness at the taluk and district levels.
