Written By Abigail Chifusa, Global Schools Project Officer.
Global Schools Advocate, Ankita Boral, through the leadership and support of Kothari International School Principal, Dr Sangeeta Arora, has ensured that the school creates a more positive environmental impact over the past year, through sustainable initiatives started under the banner of the Global Schools Program. Ankita Boral is an Advocate at Kothari International School, in Noida, India.
Dr Sangeeta Arora, Kothari International School Principal.
With the evident change in climate in today’s world, the school has joined hands and taken a stance for the environment. The school believes the right to a healthy environment is a crucial human right because it directly impacts quality of life. Online lessons due to the Covid-19 lockdown did not stop the school and its green warriors from taking up different activities on sustainability.
The school chose Life on Land (SDG 15) as their priority Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to develop awareness among the students, prioritizing students’ ability to perceive, respond and be more sensitive toward the environment; to gain a sense of responsibility and duty to care for their surroundings and the natural world; to identify the major threats that explain the reasons for the decline of biological diversity.
Grade 8 students at Kothari International School launched a campaign at an assembly on Life on Land in order to raise awareness about preparing children for the future while empowering them to create a better world. Additionally, the Global Schools Program initiative has enabled the school to integrate Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their school curriculum.
Kothari International School has been joined by Cedall Hall Academy, a Nigerian School to collaborate on the promotion of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal ongoing project, Aikyam: Together Toward Tomorrow, an initiative to understand the important interdependence between animals and humans in the environment and to plan out a list of resolutions to support interdependence.
Additionally, in 2021, the school celebrated Diwali and student advocates composed the green “Diwali Army”. This “army” was composed of green warriors, who conducted interviews with individuals who are making the world a better place.
Meanwhile, Kothari International School has been working tirelessly toward sensitizing students on effective waste management and recycling waste to ultimately eliminate the volume of waste. The school hopes to make students aware of the significant impact individual actions have on the environment. The waste management initiatives have facilitated the active participation of students from the elementary level to higher secondary level in waste managment activities. Students segregate the waste in different categories such as dry recyclables, biodegradable waste, hazardous waste and dispose of it in colour-coded, student-created waste bins made fromeco-friendly materials.
Furthermore, the school hosts an annual activity named Creativity with Trashivity to help the students internalize the value of waste management in their minds. The activity ignites curiosity among the students as they are able to develop and prepare wonderful working models made out of recycling discarded items. For example, students use plastic bottles, bottle caps, wires, clips, broken pens, cardboard, rubber bands, tin cans, straws, pencils, paper cups, etc., to make new, upcycled creations. The models created this year included DIY fire extinguishers, a safety locker, a periscope, a hydraulic lift, a hydraulic pump, a wind turbine, a magnetic propeller, a working model of the excretory system, a digestive system, a circulatory system, a flywheel, a lemon clock, a sanitizing machine, a water dispenser, an artificial model of lungs, and a handheld fan.
Lastly, Kothari International School has won the prestigious Global Sustainability Awards 2021 by ARCedtech, SDGChoupal, and Earth Day Network.
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