Kerala - Kochi   

Students to take the lead for eco-campaign

KOCHI: For a year from now, school students in the city will have a unique mission — to spread the message of maintaining a clean environment.

The Kochi chapter of Young Indians (Yi), the youth wing of the Confederation of Indian Industry is set to embark on a year-long campaign, “Enyironmend,” appealing to children to ‘mend’ the environment in which they live.

“The district administration and corporation will give all support to the endeavour,” District Collector M. Beena said at a press conference held to announce the programme here on Monday.

Mayor Mercy Williams will inaugurate the campaign at a function at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.

More than 1,000 students from 60 schools within the corporation limits will participate in the day-long competitions being organised to mark the launch.

Competitions in poster designing, composition of jingles, public speaking and creation of innovative ideas will be held at junior (class 3 to 5) and senior (class 6 to 9) levels for English and Malayalam medium students.

Yi has set apart Rs. 90 lakh for the campaign and has welcomed participation by private enterprises.

Since waste management is the most serious challenge being faced by the city, the focus of the campaign would be to drive home the message of restricting generation of waste and the need for its scientific collection and segregation.

Groups of children will be formed at ward levels and upwards and they would go around their designated area creating awareness.

These groups would visit the areas once every two weeks to ensure that their campaign made a difference on the ground and would report to the higher group in the hierarchy.

College students would be developed as master trainers using which, training would be given to school children involved.

Yi is hoping for a volunteer base of at least 3,000 students for the campaign.

Competitions would be held periodically and the performance of each participant would be recorded.

At the end of the year-long campaign, the best performing student would be crowned “Green Jockey,” who would be an ambassador for similar initiatives of Yi in the future.

“This is a unique campaign of Yi. If it succeeds here, this would be emulated in the remaining 15 chapters across the country,” Madan, Yi’s coordinator for the campaign, said.

Volunteers have already visited 60 schools in the city creating awareness about the campaign.

The response from government schools has been much better, Mr. Madan said.

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