The Government Higher Primary School, Moodambail, Bantwal taluk and St. Joseph High School, Bajpe, Mangaluru taluk, are among the 40 schools in the country selected for Wipro Earthian Sustainability Development Programme this year.
As a part of the programme, the Wipro Foundation will be involved with these 40 institutions for a period of three years and hold activities to strengthen sustainability pedagogy practices across various disciplines/subjects in these institutions. In addition, the first 20 schools, which include Government school, are awarded prize money of ₹50,000.
The two schools from DK were among several institutions that took part in the selection process that involved submission of project report on sustainable practices. The two institutions worked on the project related to waste management.
Government School headmaster Aravind Kudla said it is the restrictions for movement because of COVID-19 and scope for creative work that made the school choose waste management. The 25 students from Classes VI to VIII, who are all members of the schools’s eco-club, were involved in the project.
Among the activities that these students did include recycling news and other used papers to come up with plain grey papers. These grey papers were used by students for making posters for waste segregation awareness campaign held in the village. These grey papers were also used for drawings, poems and essays of students on waste management.
The students also came out with eco bricks formed by inserting covers of toffee, chips and other eatables into empty water and soft drinks bottles. “We have planned to use these bricks in our kitchen garden,” Mr. Kudla said.
The children made floormats and bags by using old clothes. Students made pen stands using discarded single-use ballpoint pens.
Mr. Kudla said all these activities were conducted between September and October last year. A project report, which reflected on how students have adopted waste management in their lifestyle, was submitted in November. The Chennai-based C.P. Ramaswamy Centre for Environmental Education guided the school, which also received good support from Deputy Director of Public Instruction and Bantwal Block Education Officer, he said.
“This project helped us to involve students in the learning activity when the school was closed because of COVID-19,” Mr. Kudla added.