Eco school project at four government aided school in Vadodara

Arch development foundation in Vadodara started a project called Eco school to inculcate environment related awareness in students from the beginning. The aim is to engage school students and teachers in saving environment through various activities throughout the year and make their school a model for others to follow.

In collaboration with L&T Technology Services the foundation has launched the Eco-School project in 4 government aided schools of Vadodaran amely MES boys Yakutpura, Swami Vidyanandji Vidya Vihar Geeta Mandir Pratapnagar, C. H. Vidyalaya Subhanpura and Shree Pragati Vidyalaya Bhayli.

"The concept behind the project is to involve schools and especially students to act as the change makers and contribute towards environmental issues in a fun, action-oriented learning method. It's a pilot project in government and trust added schools and prepare the environment warriors from the school level, " Said Nishant Shah, Director-ARCH Foundation.

"Solar panels of 6KV are installed on rooftop of all four schools, reducing carbon footprint of the school and helping them to save funds from electricity bill that can be diverted towards educational activities. The other activities involved under the project like Waste Management carried through Orbin Bin- a device that helps in the conversion of garden waste and kitchen waste into nutrient rich compost and liquid manure fertilizer. Voluntary group of students and teachers named as Eco-Club promotes the message of save environment and a pledge board mentions the 5 oaths that they choose to contribute towards environmental issues through activities/sessions/workshop, " Says Sonkee Shah, Founder and CEO.

She further added that Paper Bank is another important concept in Eco-School that focuses on reducing paper waste by preparing notebooks from the left-over pages and simultaneously handing over these notebooks back to the students who cannot afford to buy notebooks.

ARCH (Advanced Resource Centre for Humanitarian) Development Foundation is a non-profit organization (registered as Section 8) located in Vadodara working towards development activities mainly focused on education, skill and livelihood, research & development & volunteering (online & offline). They are working in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

ARCH Development Foundation has been instrumental in working with 50 schools in Vadodara from last 5 years under a STEM based project, Mini Science Lab where we have installed science labs, each with 109 models, in the schools. From this year, ARCH Foundation has started a pilot project named, "Eco-School" in 4 schools chosen out of these 50 schools.