Schoolteachers attend the environment seminar. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, Sept. 1: City schools are all set to become a part of a national level chain initiated by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), one of the leading public interest research and advocacy organizations in the country.

After the chain of 18 Delhi Public Schools in Delhi and some leading schools in Maharastra, steel city schools would be part of the environment friendly “Green Schools Programme” whereby a team of students get to learn various issues related to environment by doing an audit on the resources employed by the school.

“We are here to spread awareness about the gradual depletion of resources, the biggest threat looming large in the country today,” put in Sumita Dasgupta, CSE course coordinator who led teachers from 23 city schools to get together for the inaugural session of the two-day long workshop at Kerala Public school, Kadma today. In his address, Dasgupta revealed facts about the state which need immediate attention.

“Out of the average annual rainfall of 1400 mm in the state, as much as 95% is wasted. Whereas as many as 19 districts of the state was hit by drought in 2002,” said Dasgupta adding that the only solution is to start awareness programmes right at the school level.

The environment awareness programme would be the preparation of a report card by students about the environmental practices adopted by the school based on facts divided into five elementary parameters of water usage, air, land energy and waste disposal methods being used in their respective educational institutions.

“We must understand the significance of natural resources,” said Shankar Musafir, assistant coordinator of the course.

“Students can assess the performance of their schools based on which the report card is drawn up to be sent to CSE. Following this they get nominated for the Green Schools Award,” said Vijayam Kartha, the director of KPS Trust which invited the centre.