‘Green’ taking shape at the Academy

The Academy is actively pursuing the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) certification under their category of Green Schools, in partnership with Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Hyderabad.

Twelve students from grades 8, 9 and 10 visited the IGBC showcase site in central Hyderabad last week. The trip was organised by our Green School Committee as part of a wider undertaking to achieve Green Schools certification.

We have been invited to participate in an upcoming national competition administered jointly by both the Indian Green Schools Council and CII Hyderabad. Schools will use IGBC ratings to come up with creative ideas to improve, restore, beautify and convert existing school infrastructure and processes into ‘green’ exemplars. We hope to get platinum rating, which would make us the first school in Hyderabad to achieve this distinction.

Over the last several months, Academy students have initiated numerous projects and activities to reduce the usage of plastic, encourage human-animal coexistence, enable the segregation of waste and take up organic farming practices. Our study tour, which included the IGBC, the CII National Centre of Green Building Excellence and an important example of contemporary ‘green’ architecture, was an eye-opener and allowed students to understand the nuances of sustainable design.

“The 3-hour tour enthralled us with an experience of our role towards a greener world. Our enthusiastic minds thought as to how our footprints contribute to our present and future,” wrote Sayema from grade 10 as part of a reflective report on the visit.

Students admired the prudent and efficient use of solar and wind energy, water and materials that typify green buildings, and inspired to emulate what they saw.

“The tour we got there gave us many ideas of how we could improve our school and left us in awe of how much nature provides us with, but we end up wasting it,” wrote Insha from grade 9.