DENR links up with DepEd for green campus project
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), in cooperation with government and private institutions, is set to jumpstart a program which will make public schools environment friendly institutions with the planting of trees and shrubs which are indigenous or native to the Philippines.
"We want to see schools teeming with trees and shrubs," said Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo T. Reyes. "Trees provide shade, capture carbon dioxide, and release oxygen. They likewise add beauty to the surroundings."
The DENR-led effort on concerted planting of trees in public schools -- to be known as Environment-Friendly Schools Project -- has already gained the support of the Department of Education, the Quezon City government led by Mayor Sonny Belmonte, and the Pablo P. Reyes Foundation. These government and private institutions have signed a memorandum of agreement with the DENR this week (June 18) for the implementation of the project.
Reyes said the project, to be launched on June 26 at the Quezon City High School in Diliman, will be implemented initially in Quezon City. After which, he said, the project would be carried out nationwide by the DENR, in coordination with the education department.
"We have chosen Quezon City as the pilot site because Mayor Belmonte fully supports the project and has already approved the adoption of the project in 10 of the city's public schools," Reyes said.
These 10 pilot schools are E. Rodriguez Jr. High School (Dist. 1); San Francisco High School; Novaliches High School (Dist. 2A); Sta. Lucia HS (Dist. 2A); Lagro High School (Dist. 2B); Batasan Hills National High School (Dist 2B); Commonwealth High School (Dist 2B); Quirino High School (Dist 3); Ramon Magsaysay Cubao High School (Dist 4); QC High School (Dist 4).
For his part, Mayor Belmonte said the tree planting activity is a very laudable undertaking, saying that the project would "benefit not only the city government but most especially the children."
He pledged that all 142 high schools in Quezon City will be part of the Environment-Friendly Schools Project.
Among the trees to be planted under project are forest species which are indigenous or native to the country, including endangered species, such as molave, ipil, narra, kamagong, mangkono, dao, banaba and ilang-ilang.
Aside from tree planting, the other environmental components of the project are waste segregation and proper waste disposal.
"Environment Friendly Schools Project is not only about planting trees, we also want to inculcate among students the value of cleanliness, perhaps even sanitation, and waste segregation. Once they learn these in school, they can tell the members of their families the proper way of doing things when they go home," said Reyes.
The campus greening project was initially conceived by the Pablo S. Reyes Foundation, a non-government organization composed of former and present Quezon City division superintendents, administrators, supervisors and teachers.
It was named in honor of Pablo S. Reyes, Sr., the first Quezon City schools division superintendent, and father of Secretary Reyes.
(PNA)