Kolkata: SwitchON Foundation launched a Clean Air School Championship on Friday. Leading schools from across Eastern India took part in the initiative in the form of a competitive challenge towards curbing air pollution and taking climate action.
Leading principals and teachers from various schools joined the initiative along with Dr. Dipanjana Maulik, Senior Environment Engineer, Department of Environment, Government of West Bengal; Kumar Manish Arvind, CCF-cum-Project Director, Department of Forest, Environment and Climate Change, Jharkhand, Ranchi; Dr. Deepanjan Majumder, Principal Scientist and Head CSIR NEERI and Smt. Karuna Singh, Country Director, Earth Day Network.
Eminent Schools from West Bengal like Shri Shikshayatan School, Sri Academy, Birla High School Mukundapur from Kolkata, Eastern Railway High School, Durgapur, AB Model School Barrackpore and from Jharkhand Schools like Firayalal Public School, Chiranjeevee Public School, Kairali School from Ranchi joined the launch.
As part of the programme, winning schools will get awarded with solar rooftop power plants, rainwater harvesting kits etc. The Clean Air Youth Leaders Program initiative aims at making students aware of the clean air and environment related hazards we are facing and give them an idea of practical environment friendly activities that they can take up even at their own homes. The aim is also to make future generations aware of the urgent need for attention for both clean air and environment.
Acknowledging that access to clean air has recently been recognized as a human right and following 29,000 children globally calling on the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to acknowledge their right to clean air, SwitchON Foundation’s Clean Air Youth Leaders Program supports children, school goers, college students and health professionals to advocate for clean air.