Protecting the environment: School children to go green from summer to spring

Students from Pakistani schools will be custodians of valuable natural resources in the country.

KARACHI: Students from Pakistani schools will be custodians of the valuable natural resources in the country as they become active members of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and contribute to international environmental and ecological conservation.

WWF-Pakistan launched its Green School Certification programme on Tuesday to mark its 40 years of environmental awareness and education in the country. The project is one of the environmental education and school outreach programmes of the WWF-Pakistan aimed at enhancing awareness by directly engaging the youth in environmental education.

The programme for both public and private schools is aiming, in its first year, at taking on board ten schools. Seven schools have already registered.

Participating schools, after completing the full green year, will be awarded WWF-Pakistan’s accreditation of a ‘Green School’, said Marriyum Aurangzeb, WWF-P’s head of corporate relations.

WWF-P will give registered Green Schools a right to use the deodar tree (Pakistan’s national tree) logo with the school’s logo along with a byline of WWF-Pakistan Green School.

Wide-ranging activities have been designed for schools including a nation-wide spellathon — designed to take a student on a developmental voyage of scientific discovery —and a travelling nature carnival which entails tours to four of the country’s major cities.

Students in each school can become members by paying an annual fee of Rs1,020, Aurangzeb informed. “These students will enjoy benefits such as free access to WWF’s environmental library and video centre. They will also get weekly environmental updates, discounts on panda products, free passes to WWF annual events and a free subscription to its magazine E-Natura.”

The registered schools will be given an annual WWF individual membership and those schools will also participate in the Green Schools and WWF’s Eco Internship Programme. The programme consists of six sessions aimed at informing students about challenges to the ecosystem, eco-dynamics and sustainable solutions. The participating students will get hands-on experience with conservation activities and exposure visits, according to WWF-P officials.

They will also organise annual thematic campaigns in which at least three selected activities, including ‘say no to plastic bags’, ‘plant trees’, and ‘water conservation’ will be carried across schools. A separate Annual Environment Show Time day will also be organised in which an interactive documentary-screening session will be held.

Children of Green Schools can click away during wildlife photography workshops.

As part of the programme, Environment Day will be observed every year featuring thematic plays, quiz competitions and environment fashion shows.

WWF-P also plans to hold Intra-Green School Competitions comprising speech, art and essay competitions.

The Green Schools will dedicate one corner in their schools as free zones — Green Speakers Corner — to express green views and discuss upcoming events and campaigns.

The green corner can also feature a wall where the breaking news or an important fact can be put up for other students’ information.

The Green School Certification Programme also aims not only to develop an environmentally conscious generation but will also provide an opportunity to young students to understand their responsibility, Marriyum Aurangzeb said.

“This will give them the opportunity to become official ambassadors of WWF-Pakistan, develop a sense of responsibility for reducing our ecological footprint and inculcate civic responsibility in them.”

Current Green Schools:

American School of International Academics (Lahore)

Beaconhouse Gardentown (Lahore)

Dawood Public School (Karachi)

Frobels International School (Islamabad)

Roots School System (Islamabad)

Sheikh Zayed (Islamabad)

The International School (Karachi)

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2010.