Green project: schools find cover under newspapers, calendars

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/green-project-schools-find-cover-under-newspapers-calendars/584774/

AADITI JATHAR LAKADE

Pune Three schools have taken up a novel step to walk the environmentally correct path. The schools — Jai Hind High School in Pimpri, Abhinav Primary School and Bal Shikshan Mandir in Kothrud — have decided to do away with brown paper covers for children’s notebooks and textbooks and instead have asked them to use newspapers and calendars.
While Jai Hind has already started implementing the norm, the other two will follow suit from next academic year. Sapna Ajeet Kishore, a chemistry teacher with Jai Hind High School had put forth this idea last year. “We have gradually started implementing it despite hurdles,” she said. There are 7,000 students in Jai Hind from kindergarten to senior college and each student uses at least 20 brown paper covers every year.
According to Sapna, the school uses 560 kg brown paper every year, which is 25 per cent of the yield of a fully-grown tree. “Simply put, one tree is cut every four years only to make 2.3 tonnes of brown paper covers, which can be saved if schools decide to do away with this norm,” she said.
Sonali Hotwani, a Class VIII student of Jai Hind, had presented this project at the ‘Young change makers conference’ that had 14 school students speaking on ways to conserve the environment. Soon, Abhinav Primary and Bal Sikshan decided to give the idea a shot in the next academic year.
“Sonali had spoken about how the school had taken up this initiative. It was a motivation for about 475 students and teachers who attended the conference,” said Parag Mankeekar, founder of Neeti Solutions that hosted the conference.
“We have intimated parents of all the 1,300 students studying with us to replace brown paper covers with newspapers or old calendars in the coming academic year,” said Anjali Karve, principal of Bal Sikshan Mandir. “Many students use plastic coated brown paper, which make it difficult for bio-degradation,” said Priyadarshini Purohit a teacher at the same school.
Nilima Bhandarkar, a teacher at Abhinav Primary School, said her school too is planning to take up the initiative from the coming academic year. “Doing away with brown paper covers is a practical and an easy step towards saving paper,” she said.