One might wonder what young minds can do in the future to save our earth.Some students in the city have realised the importance of taking an action right away.These students from two different schools have taken an initiative to prevent being a drain on the environment by adopting different measures.Having taken up such an initiative at such a young level, they are hoping to make a difference in the society.Recently, Grade 10 students from Canadian International School, Ramita Kondepudi and Jaewon Saw started an environmental organisation called ‘The Green Idea’.As one of their first projects, they have set up a biogas plant in the school under the guidance of IB Coordinator, Regis Caudrillier.The students had a vision of a green school which in process for over six months and their dreams have now finally come true.They not only use paper for recycling, but they now have seen waste products as a source of energy.They now utilise the waste from the cafeteria and in turn provide energy from the bio-gas plant to heat up water for making food.There are more number of students in the club who have volunteered to educate others in adopting similar measures and giving back to the earth what it deserves.By providing class tours they are now passing on the message to junior classes and motivating them to join the same.Hareesh K Manjunath, facilities manager said, “We help students decide and elect the plant.We are also going to start training.It is absolutely necessary for high school students to start taking a step forward.They learn the process, the science and the technicalities in school and should now learn to impliment them in life at an early stage.” The main aim of the environmental club is to spread awareness among students and staff about various global green issues and find ways to implement simple solutions at school.The Green Idea has done multiple initiatives in addition to the bio-gas, like implementing the first successful recycling programme at school, sending out monthly e-newsletters that focus on the green activities around school, organising the first High School green conference in 2011 where schools around Bangalore discussed environmental issues and solutions, setting up a fundraiser Christmas snack sale by which the money earned was used for ‘adopting’ an endangered Snow Leopard.These students also organised a Flea Market to raise funds for celebrations in CIS, emphasising the importance of reusing and recycling items and also establishing a sparrow box initiative around the school campus.Yet another school is Vagdevi Vilas Institution with its branches in Marathahalli and Varthur.The management has set up soak pits in many areas on their premises to promote rain water harvesting.It was initiated by Harish, chairmperson of the school, in 2005.They believe in involving students in sustaining a beautiful environment.Every drop of water is precious and this is exactly what is being put forward and taught to the students as a part of holistic development.Concerns about the environment, humanity, developing culture are the requirements of an experimental education.Children as far from Gulbarga come to learn ‘water lesson’ at Vagdevi Vilas Institution.In this programme, every student is advised on how to preserve, conserve, use and recycle water through many simple methods one can follow at home.They experiment and come up with ideas on how to battle problems related to water, be it issues regarding weather, pollution or lack of availability.Preserving ground water and collecting rain water are the two important factors.Sreedhar, vice-principal, commented, “Every year we have a ‘kala utsav’ and a ‘vigyan utsav’ conducted in our school.Students from other schools come over to participate and in turn go home with the added knowledge of our rain-water harvesting systems.They come up with further such initiatives.Parents are also motivated, that they have started following similar practices at home.We have three branches and are hoping to implement such ideas in all three branches.” Children of this school can write poems on the subject.They draw pictures and even stage plays.Demonstrations are conducted during environment week, summer, and the rainy season.They also wish to conduct various workshops for learning mathematics, science, space, language, personality development, vocational education and environmental education.The students from these two schools have evolved themselves into responsible individuals.
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