Aiming to sensitise children towards the cause of environment protection, the school has come up with interesting ways to save water, power, fuel and paper  –  JIGNESH BAROT

While there has been a lot of debate in the academic circles about the educating students on the importance of going green and getting them to mitigate the impacts of climate change, very few schools are actually walking the talk.

One of these is Udgam School for Children. The school has prepared a five-year plan to become the finest environment-friendly school in the city. By making some simple changes in the infrastructure, they plan to not only save the environment, but also reduce costs.

The wait is over. After a month-long competition, the Ahmedabad Mirror has zeroed in on the sabse cleanest office, school and street in the city. And, the winners are Udgam school in Thaltej, Wagh Bakri office in Ambawadi and AMC Staff Colony at Ellisbridge. The runners-up are St Xavier’s Loyola Hall in Navrangpura, ICECD office in Bopal and New Suryanarayan Nagar in Ghatlodia.

WHAT AN IDEA

THE EXECUTIVE director of the institute, Manan Chowksi feels that the ‘green’ building principles are not new. For years, they’ve been called sustainable or energy-efficient. Now, the popular term is ‘green,’ and dozens of green-building programmes have sprung up in the past decade.

We were aware of this concept but in 2007 we were inspired by Al Gore’s movie, An inconvenient Truth. And decided that we should switch to green standards and save the nature,” he said.

SAVING ELECTRICITY

WITH LONG-TERM energy costs rising, “green technology” is the future, feels experts.

Udgam School has replaced electric appliances with powersaving tubelights and light bulbs. They are minimising on the usage of power by allowing the classrooms to be sufficiently sunlit. For this, the authorities have installed sun-control films on window panes. Also, outdated and powerconsuming devices have been replaced with new ones.

In our day-to-day operations we are striving towards saving power and water. We have introduced power-efficient LCD monitors instead of the conventional ones,” said Chowksi.

COLLECTING RAINWATER

ANOTHER HALLMARK of green building is the water-filtration system. “With the underground water level depleting day-by-day, we have constructed a bore and installed a filtration system in such a way that 70 per cent of the rainwater will be re-used. This system cost us Rs 2 lakhs. Autoshot flush tanks and taps are also being installed in toilets, to save water,” he added.

PAPERLESS OFFICE

THE SCHOOL is using state-of art-technologies to implement some innovative ideas to protect the environment. To minimize the use of paper, school has refrained from publishing any brochures or leaflets. Most of the internal communication is done via e-mails. Their newsletter has gone online in order to cut down on paper and ink. The parents are also encouraged to use the internet. Notices, circulars and photographs are flashed on the LCD monitor installed on the notice board.

This year the entire admission process was done online,” Mr.Manan Choksi said.

This news can be read online at : Times of India

MIRROR TELLS YOU WHO' S THE CLEANEST OF THEM ALL

Udgam School, Wagh Bakri building and AMC Staff Colony at Ellisbridge adjudged the best

TEAM AM

The wait is over. After a month-long competition, the Ahmedabad Mirror has zeroed in on the sabse cleanest office, school and street in the city. And, the winners are Udgam school in Thaltej, Wagh Bakri office in Ambawadi and AMC Staff Colony at Ellisbridge. The runners-up are St Xavier’s Loyola Hall in Navrangpura, ICECD office in Bopal and New Suryanarayan Nagar in Ghatlodia.

The winners will be felicitated at a functioned to be announced soon.

Four streets, five offices and 14 schools took part in the Sabse Cleanest Kaun contest that began on February 1. Kosha Thaker, manager (documentation and communication) at WASMO and Madhu Menon, director of Anala Outdoors, were the jury members. The marks given were out of 100.

TAKING TO STREETS

THE JUDGES started off by visiting the AMC Staff Colony, New Suryanarayan Nagar, Kadva Pol and Keshav Baug — all contesting for the title of sabse cleanest street. The AMC Saff Colony at Ellisbridge won with 55 points, followed by New Suryanarayan Nagar which bagged 45 points. “The AMC staff quarters had a percolating well for rainwater harvesting. They had a green area and residents were very enthusiastic about maintaining the standards of cleanliness here,” said Menon. New Suryanarayan Nagar had carpeted their street from wall to wall to keep the area clean and dust-free, said Kosha. She said, “The awareness level of residents regarding cleanliness is very low. There usually is a group of people dedicated to the cause.”

LESSON IN CLEANLINESS

NEXT, THE judges visited 14 schools across the city. With 60 points, Udgam school was adjudged the cleanest, followed by St Xavier’s Loyola Hall with 51 points. Judging schools was the toughest of all. “There were small buildings and large ones. Some had just primary sections. So the level of awareness among kids were not similar,” said Kosha According to the judges, Lotus School deserves a special mention for its students — mostly from middle/lower middle-class families — showed tremendous interest in the cleanliness drive. “The enthusiasm of students amazed us,” said Menon.

IN GOOD OFFICE

THERE WERE six contestants for the ‘sabse cleanest office’ title. This included corporates like Wagh Bakri and Claris, government offices, an NGO and a small set-up like Dwiti Travels, too. Wagh Bakri won the title with 73 points. ICECD followed with 65 points. “Wagh Bakri had exploited sunlight — the natural source of light — beautifully. The construction material and design of the building ensured that it stayed cool during the day without the help of external devices. Most of the offices, however, need to focus on increasing their green area.”

CRITERIA

Some of the parameters used to judge contestants were:

Green zone

Litter-free area

Participation of students, residents, officemates

Reduce, re-use and re-cycle principles

Level of eco-friendliness practiced SABSE CLEANEST OFFICE: WAGH BAKRI

Construction material used in the Wagh Bakri building helps it keep the temperature under control

The garden surrounding the building is a balm for sore eyes

The building design ensures that sunlight, the natural form of light, is exploited to the fullest

SABSE CLEANEST SCHOOL: UDGAM

Enthusiasm of students ensured that Udgam School scored 60 points, making it the contest winner

  SABSE CLEANEST STREET:AMC STAFF QTRS

A percolating well to collect rainwater at Ellisbridge AMC staff quarters speaks volumes of eco-friendliness practised here