In this school, plastic is a no-no

All school kids could learn from this  Kerala school where students even stage plays on the menace of plastic

KOZHIKODE: Make sure you are not carrying any plastic bag while entering the Calicut Orphanage Lower Primary School here. Otherwise, a kid wearing a blue cap and badge will politely ask you to hand it over and give a cloth bag instead.
These children are members of the school’s anti-plastic squad. The 10-acre school campus remains unblemished with plastic refuse, in quiet contrast to its surrounding areas.

The school has about 400 students, aged six to nine, and all are acutely aware of the harm caused by plastic refuse.
“Plastics do not decompose and cause pollution. Water collected in plastic  rubbish becomes a breeding place for mosquitoes,” said Ajaml Basil, a class 3 student at the school and a member of the anti-plastic squad.

The school at Kolathara is in the suburbs of this city and institutions like a Teachers’ Training Institute, an Industrial Training Centre and a high school are located in the same campus. These are run by the Calicut Islamic Cultural Society.

Inspired by their success, the e children are now taking their campaign against plastic outside.

“Our students have staged street plays in the surrounding areas against the menace of plastic. We started the campaign against plastic much before the government ordered a ban on the use of certain plastic products,” said NC Abdullakutty, a teacher at the lower primary school.

“Our first initiative was against tobacco. We told children to discourage family members from using tobacco products. Then, we thought about an awareness campaign against the use of plastic bags. Many of the students were bringing their lunchboxes in plastic bags,” said Abdullakutty.