Kerala   

Schools to go green in Kannur

Eco-clubs under the National Green Core (NGC) programme will be set up in 250 schools in the district, including aided and unaided schools from upper primary to higher secondary levels and Navodaya Schools.

The NGC programme was launched five years ago with the objective of sensitising schoolchildren to ecological issues and environmental protection. Each club will be sanctioned grants by the Ministry of Environment and Forest. The programme being implem ented country-wide has covered hundreds of schools.

District Collector Ishita Roy, chairperson of the programme in the district, discussed its launch with Assistant Conservator of Forests O. Jayarajan, District Educational Officer Narayanankutty and NGC convener T.P. Padmanabhan. A meeting of the officials of the Education Department will be convened in connection with the formation of the eco-clubs.

The Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment is the nodal agency for implementing the programme in the State. The eco-clubs will organise around 10 environment-related public functions a year, conduct environmental awareness classes, work for expansion of herbal gardens, implement green programmes to explain environmental issues, take out cycle rallies to spread messages of environmental protection, initiate bird and butterfly watching and take up waste management activities.

Herbal gardens, to be set up with the participation of the schoolchildren, are being launched in collaboration with the State Medicinal Plant Board and the Oushadhi. The programme aims at creating awareness of the importance of medicinal plants and ensuring the availability of herbal plants required for making Ayurveda drugs.

The ‘Oushadha Thottam’ (‘medicinal plant garden’) programme will be inaugurated by Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy at Mayyil IMLS Government Higher Secondary School on July 27.

Oushadhi chairman C.O. Poulose will disburse the grants at the function. District panchayat president K.K. Narayanan will distribute herbal plant saplings. Fifty schools have been selected for the programme this year.

Mohamed Nazeer

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