Form environment committees immediately: DIOS to GB Nagar schools

NOIDA: Stressing on encouraging environmental accountability at the school level, the Gautam Budh Nagar’s district inspector of schools (DIOS) in a fresh directive to all government aided, private unaided, and board-affiliated schools has asked to immediately form environmental committees, officials said on Tuesday.

The latest instruction follows repeated directives issued since mid-December last year, and schools’ inaction on earlier instructions.

In an official letter, DIOS Dharmveer Singh referred to earlier communications — dated December 12, January 18, and March 26—citing a resolution passed during a district-level Ganga Committee meeting chaired by the district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma, when it was decided that every school must constitute an environmental committee to address rising ecological concerns in the region.

However, despite multiple circulars and clear instructions to share compliance updates with district authorities, the DIOS noted that most schools failed to form the required committees.

Terming the inaction “regrettable”, the DIOS has now instructed school heads to take “personal interest” and urgently form the committees, while ensuring necessary environmental actions are undertaken in the school premises.

“It is disappointing that despite multiple reminders, most schools have not taken this basic step toward environmental responsibility. The formation of environmental committees is not a formality, it is essential for cultivating ecological awareness among students,” Singh told HT.

In December 2024, the education department had directed all schools in the district to set up Environmental Awareness Committees to promote environmental awareness among students.

These committees, according to officials, will have to hold monthly meetings where actionable environmental ideas will be developed and submitted to the District Environmental Committee for further consideration.

“Under the directive, the schools are supposed to hold monthly meetings to identify key environmental issues, propose solutions, and submit these proposals during these meetings that will focus on eco-friendly initiatives, including campus greening, water conservation, and awareness campaigns related to Ganga rejuvenation,” Singh said in a letter.

The directive was initiated on the basis of a representation submitted by an environmental activist and Noida resident Abhisht Kusum Gupta, founder of the group Environmental Crisis to Justice, aiming to institutionalise eco-conscious practices at the grassroots level of education.