Green is the Colour

SJBHS celebrated its first Go Green Fest – Viridescence - in the first week of February. The primary aim of the eco-fest was to create a culture of sustainability and increase student awareness about several environmental issues plaguing the planet.

The week began on February 1, 2019 with a special assembly on the theme ‘Ban plastics’. This was followed by a clean-up rally on Tuesday, February 5, 2019 by the students of 5 th and 6 th standard who cleaned up the school corridors. They also had a short presentation in each class to urge other students to treat their campus as their second home and keep it litter-free. The students of 7 th and 8 th went on a ‘Sustainability Rally’ on Wednesday, February 6, 2019 to urge the city of Bangalore to save nature in order to save the future generations.

Several contests and workshops were held to promote a green culture among students. Students of LKG and UKG participated in a seed-ball making workshop, while students of class 1 st to 4 th participated in an eco- friendly market bag designing competition using newspapers and other recyclable materials. They also set up a green corner in each corridor of the primary wings with several plants and posters on topics pertaining to the conservation of the environment. Students of classes 5 and 6 participated in poster making, essay and poetry writing competitions on themes of sustainability; while students of classes 7 to 10 chipped in with their ideas for the Green Hackathon competition to solve the several issues faced around us due to the degradation of our environment. An awareness video of Bangalore’s waste management practices and the role of citizens was shown in all classes.

The Go Green week culminated in a nature walk for the 30 newly inducted members of the ‘Oxygen Alliance’ – an eco-club at Cubbon Park on Saturday, February 9, 2019. The students, led by Mrs. Dheeksha, heard about the Bangalore of yore from Mrs. Gowri Achanta. This lecture was interspersed with thought provoking discussions on the way we have lost several lakes and ponds across the city, rapid urbanisation and the beauty of the old architecture, art interpretation and so on by Ms. Isha and Mrs. Reshmi.

Viridescence was a week of promoting eco-friendly habits, to teach us on practices we can embark upon easily to make our world a better place to live in. The eco-fest aimed to make our students more conscious of their practices and forced them to think critically about ways to preserve the planet. A week of awareness for a lifetime of conscious sustainability!