Press Release

CSE’s Green School Programme (GSP) releases 2 new publications on climate change & best environmental practices in schools across India; felicitates 12 greenest schools across the country

Over 1600 schools vie for the awards; 42 per cent increase over last year

• ‘Paving the Path’, a selection of best environmental practices in schools across India and a Quiz book on climate change for children released on the occasion Andhra Pradesh with the highest number of Green School registrations and submissions emerges as the state winner yet again this year
• Over 109 schools given green rating for their performance in resource efficiency

New Delhi, February 6, 2019: “Indian schools, we find, are increasingly becoming conscious of their natural environments and resources, and the criticality of managing them sustainably. This is becoming evident from the growing numbers of schools which are joining our Green Schools Programme audit exercises and working seriously to make a difference,” said Sunita Narain, Director General, Centre for Science and Environment, while inaugurating the Annual Green Schools Programme (GSP) award ceremony today.

Narain along with the GSP team released two books on the occasion.
Titled ‘Paving the Path’, the first book recognizes those schools across India which have displayed remarkable intelligence and resourcefulness in making a positive impact on the environment. This book will be immensely useful to school administrators, teachers and students by providing them with positive examples and a compact toolkit to initiate similar activities at their own schools.

The second one is a quiz book on climate change which talks about the history of climate change, explains the science behind it and discusses its sociological implications.

GSP AWARDS 2018-19

Elaborating on GSP, Ranjita Menon, Programme Director, Environment Education, CSE, said, “Schools have shown dramatic change and improvement over the past few years. To bolster environmental education through the GSP Audit, ‘Paving the Path’ has been published. It will give direction to schools to complement the existing practices and help teachers come up with cost-effective & innovative solutions that will reduce the burden on the environment.”

This year, 5360 schools registered for the GSP Audit from all across the country. Of these, 1689 schools submitted their completed audit reports to CSE. This points to an 85 per cent jump in registrations and 42 per cent jump in audit report submissions.

The awards have been given on the basis of a detailed assessment for the following practices — rainwater harvesting, energy efficiency, mobility, proportion of green cover in school, waste management, water management, sanitation standards and availability of healthy food among other things.

Twelve schools out of the 35 shortlisted were presented awards in different categories. Among the top winners of the 2018-19 awards are 2 schools from Tamil Nadu and one each from Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra (see below for details).

TOP RANKING SCHOOLS:

Change Makers of the Year: The schools that have participated again and have brought about measurable change in the management of resources within the school premises while sensitizing the school community.

DAV International, Amritsar, Punjab:

Air: Ventilation increased from 27 percent to 32 per cent

Energy: 50 per cent reduction in energy consumption.

Food: Stopped distributing packaged food. All children get home-cooked food. Fruit break made mandatory

Land: From 20 per cent in 2017 to 40 per cent green area- plantation in parking area, new plantation in vacant land, botanical garden developed with 40 new plant species

Water: reduced per capita per day consumption from 26 L to 15 L, new recharge pits introduced, ground water levels increased

Waste: 156 new 2 bin and 3 bin systems were added.

SBOA Public School, Kochi, Kerala:

Air: Decrease in diesel consumption from 1912 L to 1497 L by cutting down additional school trips, rerouting and adding efficient buses

Food: Only traditional foods like steamed rice balls, Vada served; Stopped maida based/junk foods

Land: Better green cover owing better soil health (started rain water harvesting)

Water: Started rain water harvesting this year with 50 underground recharge pits; increase in ground water observed along with lowering of soil salinity

Waste: Composting started in 2018 –100 kgs per month

Bal Bharati Public School, Noida:

Air: Use of sustainable motorized vehicles rose to 88 per cent from 52 per cent. All buses (combination of school-owned and operator-owned) are CNG; increase in car pooling

Energy: Conventional lights replaced by CFL or LED; installed Solar

Food: Stopped distributing packaged food, instead tied up with a bakery for healthy food

Land: Vertical gardening on the walls – 450 plants

Water: Started conserving leftover drinking water

Waste: Total collection points – 82 from 38; Composting: 5-6 kg in one and half month

CMS LP Ennoramvayal, Kerala:

Energy: Phasing out conventional tube lights: LEDs introduced – 12 CFLs, 6 LEDs, 2 tube lights from 0 LEDs, 5 Tube lights and 20 CFLS in 2017

Land: Green area increased to 50 per cent – purchased nearby plot of land and maintains an organic farm

Water: Storage tank capacity and number increased to three each of 5000 litres

Waste: Stopped horticulture waste burning (composting started)

New Entrant School: Kairali Vidyabhavan Senior Secondary School from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala participated for the first time and has shown considerable potential in managing its natural resources.

Awards in Individual Categories: These awards recognize best practices in individual categories of the GSP Audit 2018. The winners are:
Category School Name District Stater

The event witnessed participation from more than 250 children and teachers apart from media, state partners from environment and education departments, academicians and civil society members.

For interviews and more, please contact Parul Tewari of The CSE Media Resource Centre, [email protected] / 9891838367