G.D. Goenka Public School, Vasant Kunj, has been running the ‘Nature Club’ for many years. The first meeting of the Nature Club was conducted in 2002. Nature club is the heart of the school’s sustainability activities and thus helps to achieve meaningful change in the society. The Club inspires, motivates and gives students opportunities to build leadership skills. The club gives students the platform they need to take action on the environmental issues they feel passionate about.
The Club is dedicated to environmental awareness activities related to protection, conservation, preservation, and restoration of Natural resources. It campaigns for the improvement of the environment through activities such as planting trees, organizing special assemblies on important occasions and festivals to lay emphasis on educating peers about harmful effects of Polybags, Holi colours and Firecrackers. Techniques of Waste management and especially E-waste are also highlighted.
Every year during Earth Day, the school initiates sustainable activities that educate the students on how to reduce environmental damages and empower them to help conserve nature. Various competitions like slogans, posters. Quiz, Bio Rangoli, creating best out of e waste, paper bag painting and clay modelling etc. are organized under it.
Many competitive exams like ‘Green Olympiad’ and ’Paryavaran Ratna Award’ etc. have also been organized periodically to inculcate awareness and knowledge amongst students. Students have been winning many merits and participating certificates in these exams and other inter school competitions.
The students work towards making the school campus an eco-friendly place. There are bins to segregate garbage, ‘Biodegradable' and ‘Recyclable Material Bin’. The biodegradable material is safely disposed of while the recyclable material is again handed over to the concerned authorities for further processing.
Educational Programs are conducted to make non-teaching staff aware of the ways in which they can help the environment. They were asked to plant trees, recycle paper and plastic to produce utility items e.g., pen holders, Jewellery boxes, paper bags etc. They were also explained the importance of cleanliness.
The Nature Club aims at inculcating an appreciation of nature amongst students and encouraging them to participate in a variety of conservation initiatives. Its efforts include inviting leading environmentalists to the school to talk to students and sensitize them to the opportunities and challenges in addressing environmental issues, organizing Van-Mahotsava, and participating in important nature-oriented programs. Students also work on recycling waste and reduction of consumption on campus by recycling paper.
Some activities of Nature Club which are taken up every year:
- Earth Day Celebrations
- Gandhi Jayanti celebrations
- Activities to check Carbon Footprint
- No Tobacco Day celebrations
- World Environment Day celebrations
- Ozone Day awareness
- Nature Trails
- Participating in campaign against Firecrackers
- Micro-Garden
- Organizing Workshops for waste disposal and maintaining a sustainable environment.
- Street Plays and debates on Water conservation activities.
- Participating in inter school activities, competitions and Environmental School Fests, organized by various NGO and schools.
Some students of class XI and XII took the initiative of designing different water conservation activities for the primary, middle and senior section students which was carried out beautifully. This club and its members will continue doing such activities to convey the message that we need to nurture and cherish our Earth in order to keep it safe and clean for our future generations.
