Mumbai students go on conservation drives

Students of the DY Patil International School (DYPIS) in Worli are participating in various conservation drives for the benefit of the environment and wildlife.

Recently, the school conducted a nature carnival fair, through which it generated Rs50,000. The amount will be donated to the ‘Save Our Tigers’ cause.

“The main reason for the depleting number of tigers is the rapid human encroachment of forest land, poaching and pollution. To minimise such ecological damage, students do not buy newspapers but catch the headlines on the internet. We also switch off the electricity mains when we are out of the house,” said Avi Harisingani, a student.

Every day, the school’s students sort garbage into plastics, glass and paper. They also carry to school bags of kitchen waste which includes leftovers, stale vegetables, and food crumbs. They dump the waste into a vermicompost bin, and the manure formed is used for growing pumpkins, eggplants, and okras in their vegetable garden.

“We are waiting for these vegetables to grow so that we can cook some dish for everyone in school. My mother is happy to see that I have taken an interest in gardening,” said Karnavv Shah, studying in Std VIII.

The students also collect tetra packs of milk, juice cartons, etc and send them to a recycling agency that converts them into eco-friendly books and durable roof tiles.

“On a visit to this factory, we saw an entire house made out of recycled tetra packs. Such houses can survive rain or storm easily,” said Ashish Zaveri, a Std VIII student.

Students are also dumping their electrical chargers, old cell phones, keyboards, etc into an electric waste bin. These products will be sent to a recycling plant in Vapi on the Gujarat border. “Through such exercises, we want to make the children responsible in their use of technology,” said Meena Mahadevan, principal.