After the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) directed schools affiliated to it to sensitize students to environmental concerns earlier this month, schools are adopting rainwater harvesting, energy-saving and other eco-friendly measures.
Many schools have appointed students as ambassadors of their programmes. Mansoor Ali Khan, member, board of management, DPS Group of Schools, said that they have installed rainwater harvesting and solar plants in many schools. “We have asked our students to conduct audits to see how much water and energy the schools are saving,” he said.
Anitha Bijesh, vice-principal, DPS Bengaluru South, said that soon after the Dasara break, the school hopes to ask students to conduct a daily audit of the water they consume at school and home. “Once this is done, we want to suggest simple measures that students can adopt that will help them save several litres of water per day,” she said.
Alumni are chipping in to help too.
Garvita Gulhati, an Ashoka young change-maker who is an alumni of National Public School, Koramangala, said she had proposed to the school to install a rainwater harvesting unit on campus. The school authorities are planning to approach the management in this regard.
Last month, CBSE, in a circular to schools, stated that ‘schools must strive to promote conservation of environment on campus through rainwater harvesting, segregation at source, recycling of organic waste, proper disposal of waste including electronic waste, use of energy saving and energy-efficient electrical equipment, greening of campus, use of solar energy, education and awareness amongst children about conservation and cleanliness, etc.”
They have also stated that the annual report of the school must document efforts made in this regard.
