BENGALURU: Bengaluru might have got the infamous tag of the ‘garbage city’ due to the inefficiency of civic agencies and citizens’ apathy, city schools have however taken it upon themselves to do their part in trying to ameliorate the situation.
At the RR English School in Varthur, students have to compulsorily take up a cleaning drive under the school’s ‘Design for Change’ activity recently. As a result of such efforts, students of classes six to 10 have taken up cleaning drives at various areas in the locality such as Vinayaka Layout, Gandhi Circle and in various areas in Gunjar. M A Khan, principal of the school says, “We have conducted activities on solid waste management. The efforts have paid off and we see less garbage in the areas where we have conducted our drives.”
Class 12 students of CMR National Public School in Kalyan Nagar for example just conducted a spot cleanup at Jal Vayu Vihar, an area near their school last month and plans are underway to set up a ‘Better Bangalore Club’ to undertake similar initiatives on a regular basis. Nivedita Nandakumar, a student involved in the drive says, “We are the next generation who will inherit the city and it is our responsibility to keep the city clean. We conducted one clean up drive near an area in our school. The area was in a very bad condition and added to that some trucks also started to segregate waste there. The stench was unbearable”.
A number of students not only cleaned the area but also beautified it using paints and colours. “We spoke to government officials and people in nearby societies.”
The school is organising a marathon to raise awareness and collect money for their club. They are aiming to undertake as many as 30 to 40 such spot-fixing drives by 2017.
Government schools are not far off in doing their bit as well. A number of them have aligned themselves with the Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness, an NGO in order to conduct cleanliness drives. Kawshalya a class 8 student of Government High School, Gottigere has undertaken a number of drives to clean up garbage near her school along with her classmates.
Her father Banke Bihari Singh says,“She would often ask me to tell her if there are any problems related to garbage in the locality. She said that the school and her classmates would help.”