 Madurai school grabs 3rd prize in Sweden meet
TVS HSS School, Madurai, has bagged the third prize at the Volvo Adventure Conference in Sweden recently.
TVS HSS School, Madurai, won the third prize at the Volvo Adventure competition 2006 at an internationally acclaimed conference in Sweden. The Madurai team project focused on ‘Wastage of drinking water’, which scientifically analysed the reasons for water shortage at their school and provided several suggestions to reduce water wastage. The team received this year’s third prize which consisted of a development grant of $ 4,000.
Volvo Group, Volvo Cars and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) jointly initiated this Global Environmental Award to encourage young people to proactively participate in environmental education programmes and gain international recognition through their local initiatives.
"The Volvo Adventure competition provided a unique opportunity for our school children to participate in an environmental project of international repute. We feel very proud of our students for winning this prestigious position and creating a mark for India at an international level. This achievement has proved to be a dream come true for these youngsters and has helped boost their confidence through the exposure and opportunity to participate," said Selvi Santhosam, project leader of TVS HSS School.
She added that the students planned to take this initiative forward by using the development grant with purpose in Madurai. They propose to join hands with other local schools and address the water shortage problem in Madurai at the community level.
Eric Leblanc, managing director, Volvo India, expressed his delight on the occasion of the results, saying, "Volvo initiated this Global Young Environmentalists Awards to encourage young people to proactively participate in environmental education programmes and gain international recognition through their local initiatives. It’s a matter of great pride to see the level of participation growing each year. Most assuring is the strong faith and belief these young people exhibit through their projects - in their ability to influence their communities towards a better environment. I would like to congratulate the students from TVS HSS School, Madurai, for their commendable participation and in doing India proud at this international forum. They displayed high quality of innovation and dedication during the Volvo Adventure competition."
The first prize in the Volvo Adventure 2006 competition was won by Ko School from Istanbul which carried out a project entitled 'Recycled Boxes for Education', which centered on the production of school desks from recycled juice and milk boxes. In the second place was Educarium School of Ottawa, Canada, for The Macoun Marsh Biodiversity Project which focused on creating awareness among the general public about the importance of the marshlands. Almost 350 teams from 41 countries participated in this year’s competition and an expert panel of eminent judges picked 10 finalists in accordance with agreed criteria.
"All 10 projects in this year’s final were of particularly high quality," says Theodore Oben from the UNEP and chairman of the Volvo Adventure jury. These projects are innovative and the youngsters have truly succeeded in creating awareness of the issue of waste, recycling and sustainable development."
Earlier winners from India
In 2002 & 2003, the Volvo Young Environmentalists Award was bagged by the Indian Team. This was remarkable, considering that there were over 30 contesting teams from around the world, on both occasions.
In 2002, the team representing India, Team Little Eco-Friends from St Josephs Indian High School, Bangalore, went on to win the award and a grant of $ 10,000 for their thoughtful and effective project on reducing the usage of
polybags.
In 2004, a team representing National Public School won the award for an innovative project aimed at reducing pollution caused by burning leaves. They worked to influence people to adopt vermicomposting as an alternative. They also used this approach to empower women in villages by providing them an alternative source of income through
vermi composting.
The Volvo Adventure programme started in 2002 and is now operational running for the fourth consecutive year. It is a joint project run by the Volvo Group, Volvo Car Corporation and UNEP. Volvo Adventure is open to young people around the world aged between 10 and 16 years. Teams must constitute between two to five young people with one adult as supervisor.
R Rangaraj
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