Making schoolkids eco conscious

Cricketers head campaigns on power, water, waste and hygiene

Eco-awareness might be a fashionable green slogan. But its transition to action mode has been slow in the City.

To accelerate this process among students in the City’s estimated 8,200 educational institutions, GIZ, a German bilateral cooperation agency, has come up with a workable idea: Let the students learn from and replicate in their schools the ‘Green Wicket’ project launched recently at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here.

In a nutshell, the project seeks to conserve 35.5 million litres of rain water every year through rain water harvesting infrastructure already installed in the stadium, generate power using 400 KW Solar PV, promote reusable cups in place of the tonnes of plastic ones that go waste after each cricket match. While this project -- designed to promote eco-friendly practices among fans and the public -- is to be eventually extended to many other stadia across the country, GIZ is keen to make the schools here the immediate beneficiaries.

Over the next year, the campaign will reach out to schools through cricketers, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Rahul Dravid and Robin Uthappa as “resource ambassadors.” The four would be spearheading campaigns linked to energy, water, waste and hygiene.

To start with, the campaign will facilitate installation of rain water harvesting (RWH) systems in the schools. Students could then take up projects to monitor the yearly consumption and conservation measures adopted in their schools.

Or schools could install Solar PV systems. An average school could save up to 5,000 units per annum by using Solar PV. As a GIZ official explained to Deccan Herald, this way, students could start thinking in terms of environmental evaluation.

The big idea is this: Getting students into the mould of environmental action, moving beyond mere awareness.

“For instance, a student of this year could do an audit of the energy saved and compare it with a senior student’s project report for the previous year. Even if five per cent of the City’s 8,200 educational institutions start doing this, it will make a difference,” the official said.

Since the Green Wicket project is on a partnership mode with the State government and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), the outreach programme for schools too will follow the same pattern.

“This initiative will make sure that it will not duplicate the efforts made by other like minded institutions. The campaign will network with other agencies already working in the educational institutions and augment the efforts.”

A complementing effort

This approach will complement the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB)’s Green Nurturing programme, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB)’s awareness programmes, and the Ministry of Urban Development’s school sanitation programme.

GIZ is already in partnership with WASH United, a non-profit organisation that works to end the global sanitation and hygiene crisis by making toilets and good hygiene “cool” and “attractive”.