St John's English School and Junior College with their project on Potactic! (100 per cent eco-friendly biodegradable plastic made from starch of rotting potatoes) won the first prize in Junior Category in the ‘Enviro' competitions organised by the Industrial Waste Management Association (IWMA).
Two second prizes were awarded to Chinmaya Vidyalaya Higher Secondary School and Sindhi Model Senior Secondary Schools for their projects on Green Architecture — New Age Mud Walls and Weather Power Convertor in Seniors Category. No first prize was declared in this category.
IWMA is a non-profit association promoted by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to facilitate secure disposal of industrial waste in the State with a membership of around 1,000 industries.
With the belief that the school children are the key to enabling a sustainable environment, the Science Olympiad Foundation (SOF) of IWMA is conducting ‘Enviro' competitions which include debates, drawing, oratorical contests, poster and model making for school children on environmental issues to increase their awareness on pollution. Out of nearly 50 teams, 10 each in Junior and Senior categories were selected to exhibit their projects and make a presentation on February 11 to a panel of judges from which the winners were selected.
Chief guest for the function, Prof R. Nagarajan of Chemical Engineering Department, IIT Madras, said environment ws a huge area where the world needs important projects to be identified and passionately taken up. Physics professor T.S,Natarajan demonstrated interesting Science experiments to children.
Mr Ajit Narayanan, young entrepreneur ,winner of MIT Innovator of Year Award for development of his product Avaz (that provides a ‘voice' to a non-verbal child with Cerebral Palsy) addressed the young children and teachers. IWMA with help of IIT Madras plans to work towards mentoring the child under suitable Professors and provide access to laboratories and other such facilities.
