The State government’s green initiatives in schools will get a fillip through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) this year.
With the rains finally here, the government’s rainwater harvesting programme will be extended to schools under the aegis of the SSA.
On, June 5, World Environment Day, teachers, students, parent-teacher associations, school staff, school management committee, and people’s organisations will come together to dig rainwater harvesting pits in schools that have sufficient land.
Launched against the backdrop of drought conditions and water scarcity, Mazhakoythutsavam aims at harvesting every drop of rainwater so that it percolates into the earth and leads to a gradual increase in the water table.
In the 2017-18 academic year, pits will be dug in 1,000 schools. The activity will be taken up as part of the ₹3.5-crore Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan that aims at popularising science education in schools, SSA State Project Director A.P. Kuttikrishnan said.
The SSA has prepared guidelines for the programme that explain in detail the importance of rainwater harvesting pits, the requirements for digging the pits, the land suitable for it, factors determining the number of pits to be dug, their construction, and preparations and precautions to be taken.
Venal Pacha
The SSA is also pitching in with funds for setting up of biodiversity parks in schools. Work for setting up the parks too will get under way on World Environment Day.
The parks are intended as a microcosm of nature that will help students get to know first-hand what happens in the natural world. To help students and teachers get an idea of what these parks are, what has to be done in them and when, a workbook called Venal Pacha for students of classes 1 to 8 has been brought out by the SSA.
In the first phase, workbooks for class 1 to 4 will be released on the day, besides a handbook for teachers.
