MANILA, Philippines—All public and private schools nationwide are encouraged to be at their greenest and vie for the most environment friendly among them in a search conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
DENR Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Director Jonas Leones said nominations were open for the 2015 National Search for Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Schools.
“The competition seeks to encourage schools to become more actively involved in environmental issues at the local level. It recognizes academic institutions with the best eco-friendly programs and activities,” Leones said.
He said the search was open to all public and private primary and secondary schools as well as colleges and universities. The deadline for nominations is on April 10 to give schools time to prepare or enhance their eco-friendly programs.
The winners, the EMB director said, will be announced in November.
“We are hoping to encourage more schools to participate and take part in heightening environmental awareness among the youth,” Leones said.
The greenest schools in the elementary, high school and tertiary levels will each receive P50,000. Second and third-place winners in every category will each receive P40,000 and P30,000 respectively.
The recipients of the special Nestle Water Leadership and Meralco Energy Leadership awards will each get P20,000.
The water leadership award will be bestowed on schools that promote solutions, practices and initiatives to conserve water, while the energy leadership award will be given in recognition of the schools’ electrical safety and energy efficiency programs.
An energy conservation program could be as simple as an information campaign to turn off lights or equipment when not in use, while the water conservation program could simply entail the repair of leaky faucets.
Education Secretary Armin Luistro urged all schools to take part in the nationwide search which will coincide with the celebration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Environment Year, the theme of which is “Empowering the Youth into a Clean and Green Asean.”
The search–launched in 2009 under Republic Act No. 9512 or the National Environmental Awareness and Education Act–aims to spur schools’ involvement in environmental issues at the practical and local levels and is in partnership with the DENR, the Commission on Higher Education, Smart Communications Inc., Nestle Philippines Inc. and One Meralco Foundation Inc.
Luistro said the search aims to “develop skills and understanding among the students, faculty and school administrators in initiating active responses and increasing community awareness and participation in environmental concerns.”
The search guidelines describe “sustainable and eco-friendly” schools as those that initiate and integrate in their instruction, research or administration environment-related programs. Nominations should reflect the theme “Sustainable and Eco-friendly Initiatives.”
According to the guidelines, a school is considered “sustainable and eco-friendly” if it has environmental policies and programs on physical cleanliness and beautification; paper, energy and water conservation; waste reduction, segregation, recycling and composting; pollution control; gardening; climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction management.