Environment protection will be given emphasis in the education of school students, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has said.
The Minister was inaugurating on Sunday the district-level activities planned under the 'Pachathuruthu' (Green Islet) project by the Haritha Keralam Mission as part of the Environment Day celebrations. The event was among a slew of programmes held in the capital city on Sunday to mark the occasion.
Mr. Sivankutty said that content aimed at sensitising students on the importance of environment protection would be included in the text books.
The Minister inaugurated the planting of saplings and their distribution on the occasion. The 'Pachathuruthu' project was being implemented by the Mission in association with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme under the Nava Keralam Mission of the State government.
Under it, 44 'green islets' were inaugurated across the district. In Thiruvananthapuram district, 115 locations, totalling 4.12 acres, were identified across 52 local bodies. So far, 340 such 'green lungs' had been created under the 'Pachathuruthu' programme that was launched in 2019. The number would be taken to 500 by the end of 2022, Haritha Keralam Mission officials said. Programmes were also planned in schools on Monday as part of the Environment Day programmes.
Minister for Food and Civil Supplies G.R. Anil inaugurated the household-level planting of trees, a programme organised under the aegis of the National Green Corps of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Caring for the trees were as important as planting them, Mr. Anil said. National Green Corps district coordinator Binny Sahithi presided.
On Sunday, the University of Kerala launched a programme aimed at planting 10,000 fruit trees on its Karyavattom campus. Vice chancellor V.P. Mahadevan Pillai inaugurated the 'Harithalayalam' project by planting a sapling.
Environment Day celebrations were held at the Thiruvananthapuram District Court. The Biodiversity Management Committee of Peringamala grama panchayat is organising a campaign ‘Peringammalayile Thenmarangal’, for studying the indigenous fruit trees in the panchayat. The study, which will be held over the next one year, is being conducted with the help of Botany postgraduate students of Iqbal College, Peringamala.
