By end of academic year, another 35 schools will join apart from the 94 shortlisted
TEAM HERALD
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MARGAO: Government’s ambitious project to rope in school students as part of multi-pronged strategy to take the ongoing battle against waste to its logical conclusion has got underway in the State.
After imparting training to the school teachers on waste handling and sorting, the Monitoring Committee-cum-working committee on solid waste management headed by Environment Minister Alina Saldanha has distributed four bins each to the 94 schools shortlisted for the exercise.
By the end of the academic year, the Committee has plans to cover another 35 schools for the implementation of the scheme.
Says Committee Member Secretary Levinson Martins: “We have imparted the teachers training in waste handling. They were trained by Patricia Pinto at the City Corporation of Panjim on waste sorting and we expect them to impart the training to school students.”
As per the scheme, students will be asked to collect plastic from their homes and bring the same to the school. The waste will then be accordingly segregated into plastic, glass, paper etc., in the four bins provided by the Monitoring Committee.
The Committee is working out a mechanism wherein the waste collected in the schools is periodically lifted away by an agency for smooth functioning of the scheme. “The objective behind the scheme is simple. By encouraging the students to collect waste, the right message will go to the younger lot on the burning issue. If it works successfully, the effect would be seen in homes,” Martins said.
Though the Monitoring Committee on solid waste management had announced that the government would come out with incentives, including allotting marks, the same is presently under the consideration of the government. “The Committee had held discussions with the Directorate of Education on allotment of marks for students for their work. The incentives will be worked out by the Monitoring Committee,” he added.
