Green Initiatives

DPS Bangalore North has a vision i.e. “To nurture a sustainable world based on care and compassion, to take responsibility for our actions, to embrace creative and innovative approaches and to resolve environmental issues”. Our campus is spread on an area of 35 acres with a huge number of plants and trees, orchards, farms etc.

 “Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which human beings and nature can exist in productive harmony”. Sustainable development is essential to ensure a good quality of life for everyone without causing irreversible damage to the planet for future generations. 

The entire school community at DPS Bangalore North has taken up the responsibility to promote and practice sustainable development. We are working towards achieving a cleaner and greener environment and spreading its positive effects in and around the school.

With the objective of sustainable development in mind our school is involved in different activities.

Biofuel – The school canteen has been using a biogas plant since the last five years. Pellets used to burn fire in the burner are made of agricultural wastes. This burner is kept under a boiler that produces steam. From the boiler, pipelines are connected to various cooking and utility points that the steam reaches the utensils for making tea, steaming idlis, boiling rice, sterilizing cutleries and even washing utensils. This set up has also reduced the cost of fuel. Earlier a gas cylinder costing Rs 1400 /- was used every day but today this has come down to Rs 300/- per bag of pellets. Moreover there is no smoke released while cooking. The agricultural waste utilized in making the pellets supported the cause of reducing air pollution, also cutting down the overall burden of waste in the landfills. It helped the people generate sufficient money as their saving that was reinvested in green practices.

Organic Farming- Since the last five years the school has integrated organic farming in the science curriculum at the primary level. As part of the organic farming curriculum, children are engaged in  growing different types of plants like spinach, radish, carrot , amaranthus, marigold, cosmos, micro greens and many herbs. They are also engaged in activities like making of soil bed, de weeding, watering and composting in the land allotted to them . Children also learn to use organic products like panchagavya and jeevamrutham for promoting growth and providing immunity in plant system. They also learn the method of preparing vermicompost and using it for their plants.

Vermicomposting Pits – We have vermicomposting pits in our orchards which uses garden leaves. We have also tied up with Daily Dump which supplies khamba’s which help people to compost their kitchen and garden waste. Teachers of DPSBN have also bought these Khamba’s and started segregating their kitchen waste to make manure for their gardens.  We have also demonstrated this practice to parents on Parents Teachers Meeting. This practice remains as a role model to teach and learn from each other.

Tree plantation programme – Apart from plantation on Vanmahotsava, our school follows a tradition of planting saplings by our guests. We also have the practice of giving saplings to our guest on all our school functions. Children are encouraged to gift saplings on their birthdays instead of giving chocolates, which they plant in the herb garden. Our association with “ Tree for free” organization helped us to plant 150 trees at a time that is a big promotion of a green campus. Hand in hand with the Forest Department we are also going to plan 2000 more trees within coming academic year.

Medicinal garden- A new addition to our green programme is the development of the medicinal garden which we have started in our new Kindergarten building and also in the orchard area.. It  has  Tulsi, Aloe vera, Ginger, Turmeric, Amrithavalli, Doddapatra etc along with some trees like  Neem . The uses of these medicinal plants are discussed with children. Home remedies for simple ailments are also taught to them through sessions of medicinal garden.

Butterfly park- We have a butterfly park which was set up with the help of  Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) with a  focus on education and action that influence policy and practice on conservation of nature, management of natural resources, and sustainable development. The park has many flowering plants to attract butterflies, bees, sparrows, termites and ants. It is a perfect example of a flourishing ecosystem. The park is also used by Students of Biology to study plants.

Animal Farm- Our animal farm has sheep, goats, ducks and hens. Our younger class students go to the farm to learn the basic habitat concept from the farm.

Lighting of the building by Solar energy- As an institution, we are keenly aware of both the environmental and financial benefits of sustainability initiatives. Our solar panels, with a capacity of 1500 KW, on our senior school building, generate clean energy and reduces our electricity expenses. We also have solar panels for lighting roads inside the school campus.

Design of school building –The school building is designed in such a way that we get enough light and air which minimizes the usage of fans and lights. We have replaced all the traditional lighting with LED. 

School buses for all – Our school has around 7294 students and 158 school buses. Almost all students avail the school bus facility. We have encouraged students coming by private vehicle to car pool. We have also motivated students staying close to school to walk to the school or use bicycles. This saves a lot of fossil fuel and prevents pollution. Buses also undergo emission testing on a regular basis and the required certifications are maintained and checked regularly by the authorized authorities. The huge number of school buses also contributes in community development by generating jobs for many.

Sewage treatment Plant – STP is in the process of being constructed in our school which will be functional within two months. The treated water will be used for gardening and in flush. The by-products of STP which is sewage sludge will be used for producing biogas and manure.

Reverse Osmosis Water Purifier technology is instituted in our school to provide clean water to our students, teachers and other staff. This helps our children not to carry heavy water bottles from home. We save and use the RO run off water for watering plants, cleaning washrooms and in flush.
 

Waste segregation – Our school has a waste segregation point, where waste is segregated before their disposal. Plastic waste which is segregated is given to KK plastics for recycling. Also the waste newspaper and cardboards are sent to ITC which runs WOW program and CARE (Charlie’s Animals rescue and carE ) for recycling. This year we gave 2400 tons of old newspaper to ITC, for which our school got award.  We also feel immensely satisfied in helping GOONJ by sending our old newspapers, used flex, clothes and other stationeries.

Free Plastic Zone- Our School is a free plastic zone. Students and teachers are encouraged not to bring plastic bags to the school at all. They are also encouraged to use Steel boxes to carry lunch and tiffin. During co-curricular activity period students make newspaper bags that are decorated with eco friendly points. These bags are used to give gifts to all the guests who visit our school.

Rain water harvesting – We believe in keeping the future secured for our future generation. Having sufficient ground water will make us move forward in practicing Eco friendly projects. So our school has a roof top harvesting technique to collect and store rainwater in every building.

Green awards- Our schools ranks top in CBSE for healthy and best Sanitation school. We have also bagged the Wonderla Award for five consecutive years. The Health and wellness team won The Life empowerment award in 6 categories held by Expressions India.

Class Root programs- It’s a program commissioned in school towards resource management and safeguarding our environment. The core group compromising of a team of 20 teachers was selected representing different segment of the school. The teachers in the core group were trained under the able guidance of Mr. Niranjan Khatri, an environmentalist and who is also associated with Factor 4 Farms. The teachers attended sessions on water, waste, food management, organic farming etc. Field trip to ZED homes where the teachers have learned how creativity can change our usual life styles to eco-friendly living. The core group members thereafter conducted workshops for the rest of the school staff so that as ripple effect the ideas of resource management reach every student and in turn to their families creating a mass awareness in the community.

Environment council – Our school has selected a student environment council in prefectorial student body and eco-warriors who work for environment related programs in the school and are involved in the Eco club, Aqua police and Solid waste management group.

CMCA – The Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness has initiated and held many awareness programme on social and environmental  issues for our school students . One such programme is putting up a stall during the DPS Habba to create awareness regarding waste segregation methods . This attracted the attention of all the visitors. Our students visited Ulsoor Lake where they were shown how the lake is conserved and also learned the methods of water conservation.

Jal Poshan- This is a lake reviving program started by Dr. Annapurna S Kamath Director at Satya  Group. As DPS Bangalore North is involved in community development program, Students of CMCA, NCC and Eco Warriors visit Jakkur Lake every Sunday morning from 7am to 9am to be a part of many activities that takes place in and around the lake. Some of the activities are, cleaning the Lake, its surrounding and lake bund cleaning, understanding and reviving the lake ecosystem by creating micro climate for aquatic flora and fauna, bird watch,, studying of weather station , learning about migratory birds, STP, Interaction with ornithologist etc. .  Teachers and students take turn to visit the lake for various activities and contribute in community building. 

In association with YUVA (youth for unity and voluntary action) Parikrama Humanity Foundation organized a Trip to Allasandra lake where many eminent scientists briefed the students about the deteriorating condition of lakes and our moral responsibility to store them.

In association with YUVA (youth for unity and voluntary action) Parikrama Humanity Foundation organized a Trip to Allasandra lake where many eminent scientists briefed the students about the deteriorating condition of lakes and our moral responsibility to store them.

Walk and Work Together-  It’s a program initiated in our school since three years where teachers walk, jog, talk and laugh during walkathon to Cubbon Park, GKVK , Nandi hills and many such places to create awareness  on environmental issues like saving water, Saying no to plastic.

Morning Assembly – Conducting special assembly is a regular practice in Our School. We use this opportunity to sensitize our children to save environment by being more sensitive and considerate in their day today activities. Ted talks on environment are also shown to the senior students who connect with bigger Eco friendly organizations like Bhoomi etc

Celebration of Environment Day – Our school celebrates Vanmahotsav and Earth day. On environment day we had organized exhibition on agriculturally important insects and a talk about this by scientists from NBAII. 

Student Exchange Program- We also utilizes our international connection to spread the awareness of Green Practices and sustainable development. For eg., Indo German exchange program. DPS Bangalore North and Nikolaus Koprenikus Gynasium, from Germany worked on the topic “Energy revolution –A German and an Indian approach”. This project deepened the knowledge of students on the much debated issue of energy conservation and made the students realize that they don’t need the amount of energy they actually use at homes. The students did many small scale projects on how to save energy, doing energy audit for the school and how to incorporate the usage of renewable sources of energy even in the smallest of ways to help our mother earth. This gives us a good platform to the best global practices to save environment.

“Knowing is not Doing. Doing is Doing” is a popular saying that fits true to our belief and practices. As mother earth has for everyone’s need not for everyone’s greed, we respect and regard all the green, Eco friendly practices to become our way of life. Every stakeholder in Delhi Public School Bangalore North contributes and enjoys these. We look forward to take these programs even to our future time. 

Also promise to bring all the global – sustainable practices to our schools and to our homes.