Students in schools across Kerala to join special Haritha Sabhas tomorrow

In a path-breaking initiative, children in thousands across Kerala will attend the first ever students’ Haritha Sabhas on Children’s Day tomorrow (Tuesday) to share their views, suggestions and concerns regarding waste management system in their locality with elected representatives and officials of local bodies.

Supporting the unique programme organised by the Local Self Government Department (LSGD) as part of the ongoing Malinya Muktham Nava Keralam campaign, the Directorate of Public Education (DPE) had issued detailed instructions to schools across Kerala to ensure their active participation in the exercise.

The programme seeks to encourage students to take up their suggestions regarding the waste management systems in their locality directly with the local body concerned and seek immediate action to improve them.

Based on the DPE instructions to school authorities to prepare children for the programme, students have already started visiting their localities in groups to ascertain the shortcomings in the waste management systems so that they can participate in the Haritha Sabhas well-equipped to point out the flaws in them and seek correction from the administration of local bodies.

Significantly, this is for the first time that the students are getting a formal forum where they can ask questions to elected representatives on this vital matter and demand follow-up action on the suggestions made by them.

Organized by Local Bodies, all educational institutions including government, aided and unaided will participate in the programme. When the Sabhas meet, the representatives of the local body concerned will present a report on its waste management systems, based on which students can deliberate and share their observations and suggestions for future course of action.

The administration of the local body has to respond to these observations and suggestions, and publish an action- taken report on the points raised, in due course, to ensure that the governing body is really made answerable to the student community.

LSGD had already initiated a big campaign in social media platforms to encourage students to play the role of a corrective force for making the campaign a big success.

The poster designed by the Suchitwa Mission in this regard urging students to ask questions on the existing waste management systems in their localities has already gained good traction. A short video featuring child artist Mrinmayi saying that “if you cannot change the system, we will make a try,” had also gone viral