CHENNAI: The School Education Department has called for applications for the ‘National Water Awards’ from schools efficient in water-saving and conservation.
Teachers from government schools in State said that their teachers and students have always been fore-runners in awareness and related campaigns but are in need of funds to implement appropriate infrastructure. The awards competition, conducted by the Central Government, judges schools based on five simple categories: Voluntary work done for water conservation and number of painting, essay, debate and other innovative competitions held.
A government school headmaster whose school was among the top three in the State last year, said that his school could not contest in the Nationals as it did not have adequate infrastructure.
“I took my students out to lakes, water bodies and told them about silting and created a lot of awareness. We also filed relevant reports on the same and won the second place in the State level,” he said adding that school however did not have funds to implement the solutions taught to children, like rain-water harvesting or water purification, in their school.
“While it is important to spread awareness on water conservation, one should also note that many government schools do not even have sufficient toilets,” another HM said.