The day at Chettinad Harishree Vidyalayam in R.A. Puram begins with lessons on sustainability, and a dash of creativity.
On Wednesday morning, when I walked into the school, a group of ninth graders were busy shuffling dry waste into a compost tumbler in the garden. Another group was layering the waste in a plastic drum.
“We have tried and tested five methods of composting with the help of our acharyas (the teachers are addressed as acharyas here) — the roller bin, kambha, perforated plastic drum, a wooden crate and the pit. We are exploring different methods to see which one would work best for our school for it to become a zero-waste institution,” says Dinesh, a class IX student.
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“We punctured holes in the plastic drum for anaerobic respiration for bacteria. We use the remix powder to maintain the carbon and nitrogen ratio. Every Wednesday, we spend one hour adding the kitchen waste and layering it with the remix powder. The roller bin needs to be spun every few weeks. Once the compost turns into manure, we use it in the vegetable garden,” he adds.
The sustainability projects are part of the school’s ‘Global Citizenship Programme, which was initiated by its director Geetha Muthaiah. As part of the programme students from classes VI to XII spend an hour every week working on projects of the choice, chosen from themes related to the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations, says Yoshida Menon, the programme coordinator.
The young champions of sustainability have taken their zero-waste efforts beyond the campus and into the community. Recently, they led an awareness campaign in a neighbouring apartment demonstrating best solid waste management practices and urged the residents to segregate at source. Next, they are planning to work with local resident associations and even the Greater Chennai Corporation to address waste management issues in the neighbourhood, she adds.
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The ninth graders will be moving to class X in a few months and with preparations for board exams demanding most of their time, they may not be able to spend a lot of time in waste-management activities. But they are not going to let their project slow down. So, they are training all the support staff in the school to segregate dry and wet waste and compost them. They are also teaching their juniors.
“The older students who are on the global citizenship programme teach and guide the primary graders at the school assembly and classroom campaigns about sustainability,” says Yoshida.
In one of the halls, I noticed a switch board with different symbols marked on it. “That’s the work of our energy conservation group,” exclaims Yoshida. The group worked on a switch board mapping project in the common areas of the school to minimise energy wastage. “They just numbered the fans and the corresponding switches so we will only flick the ones that are necessary,” she adds.
At the art room, a group of students are stitching cloth pads. The school partners with Eco Femme, an Auroville-based collective that produces eco-friendly and sustainable menstruation products and sources cloth pad-making kits. The students are planning to distribute the pads to the girl students in a school nearby and also teach them to make their own cloth pads.
Another group is busy making pen stands with old trophy boxes and left over uniform cloth. “They have also learnt to make dhonnai from badam and mandaram leaves. The coconut shell waste from the kitchen is turned into wind chimes and incense holders. The children also make hand-made paper from all the paper waste generated in the school. The ‘food and agriculture’ group grows spinach and other vegetables in the kitchen garden and have put up a vertical garden with plastic bottles,” says Yoshida.
The school principal Gowri Sivashankar says that it is important to integrate sustainability into the curriculum as it empowers students to face the challenges in society. “We need to teach the children the knowledge and values that will help them address and solve social, economic and environmental challenges now and in the future. In fact, the school’s vision is to educate individuals to become compassionate, responsible global citizens and contribute towards sustainable development,” she says.