Green graduation with saplings on cards

Soon, college students across the state will have to  plant a sapling each as part of the ‘Green Graduation’ initiative of the Higher Education Department.

Higher Education Minister Basvaraj Rayareddi made the announcement at a press conference here on Sunday. Students in undergraduate or postgraduate courses will be required to plant a sapling during the period of their courses and once they graduate, they may even get a graduation certificate with a picture of their plant on it. Thus the concept of Green Graduation.

The initiative has already been tried by the medical students of the Sri Siddhartha University, Tumakuru. The students even offered to adopt the plants after they completed their courses, said an agenda copy of the Green Graduation provided by the Karnataka State Higher Education Council.

The drive will be inaugurated on October 22. “Government colleges and universities have been asked to give a specific date when they can engage in the activity,” said Rayareddi. Considering the number of students in 25 state universities and 412 government colleges and other government institutions, the minister gave an estimate of 20 lakh saplings to be planted. They can plant the saplings either within the campuses or an adjacent highways.

The one-student-one-tree concept was developed as part of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) by the World Health Organisation. It was also discussed at the Consortium of Universities for Global Health in Boston, 2015.