TOWARDS A GREENER WORLD

Van in Sanskrit means ‘forest’ and forest means greenery; after the harsh summer, the rains bring water and a lot of greenery to our forest. To celebrate the event, VAN MAHOTSAV week is celebrated across the country {after the first lot of rains} in the second week of July.

To promote and instill culture of Environment Conservation, D.A.V. Public School, Nerul arranged various creative activities for their students of pre-primary section on the VAN SURAKSHA DIWAS. By celebrating this day on 23rd July 2014, teachers wanted to inculcate in children the awareness of plantation and tendering of trees as trees are one of the best ways to prevent global warming and reduce pollution
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Nearly 250 saplings were planted in the corners of the play ground of the school by the Std 1 students along with their teachers. The rains did not hamper the spirit of the students who enjoyed the planting of the saplings. Native saplings that can readily adapt to local climate, integrate into eco-system and have a high survival rate were planted.

Std II children were thrilled as they enjoyed the activity of making greeting cards, decorating them with dried leaves, petals and flowers. Worthy messages inside the cards were written by the children, hereby creating awareness to save our Mother Earth.

Some of the catchy messages were: 
The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.
Trees are the lungs of the Earth; if we destroy them we destroy ourselves.

Std III students shared their thoughts and view points on “Nature, an invaluable gift”. Abhinav Verma expressed in his own words by stating, “Plants are the gift of nature and our existence depends on them. We can save our planet by planting more trees. We should stop wasting paper and start recycling them. Our slogan should be---
    Protect our Mother Nature,
    Love our planet,
    Save trees,
    Save Earth.

Alochya Mohanty, another student of STD III shared and sent across a beautiful message, “Trees are great friends of ours. They give us innumerable things, oxygen, food to eat, shelter to live, wood to burn and warmth. So if someone gives us so many gifts without asking for returns, we owe them a lot. Hence we should save them rather than cutting them for our own greed. We are humans and we should act like humans.”

“We children can also help in protecting the environment.” Along with these words Emil Biju also read the slogan, “We must all see ourselves as a part of this Earth, not as an enemy from the outside who tries to impose his will on it……..If we are going to harm our Mother Earth, we are in some way harming ourselves.”

Eric Dunsten’s message was, “Trees are cut down for wood, paper and other things. So, we should plant a new sapling when one tree is cut down. We should only use the artificial paper, made from sugar cane pulp. We should also celebrate ‘Van Mahotsav’ and ‘World Environment Day’ so that we remember our pledge to save the environment today in order to have a beautiful and colourful tomorrow.

To make the celebration of Van Mahotsav more meaningful and realistic the teachers and tiny tots of nursery section were all dressed in green colour. Due to soaring temperature and global warming when the entire world is urging everyone to go green, this initiative of celebrating green day was an icing on the cake. Since Mother Earth and the environment is  green, this initiative was an attempt to teach the tiny tots the significance of colour green. They were immersed in the world of green colour surrounded by  green vegetables, cut outs, fruits etc. A plethora of these green things were displayed artistically in the corridor and display boards outside the classrooms. Badges creating environment awareness were made and distributed to all the children and teachers who enthusiastically wore the same.

Indeed this day was celebrated with zeal, great enthusiasm and would remain a memorable one for the teachers and students alike.