No more chocolates for birthdays at DPS Nadergul. Students plant trees instead

Delhi Public School, Nadergul, Hyderabad is doing all it can to ensure that their students nurture a green heart which beats for the environment. Mother Earth and their fellow beings
Planting a sapling
Planting a sapling

Remember how birthdays were celebrated at school? The birthday girl or boy used to distribute chocolates by visiting every class with a friend. But for five years, things have been functioning differently at Delhi Public School (DPS), Nadergul. To mark one's birthday, every student plants a tree on the premises of the school. "When you plant a tree, it grows with you. It's a legacy," says Jyothi Turaga, the Principal of Delhi Public School, Nadergul.
 
Organic and fresh
Also, every primary and pre-primary class of the school adopts a plant that is completely taken care of by the children. Students also grow vegetables like tomatoes, chillies, bottle gourd, okra and so much more on the premises. "Our teachers purchase these organic vegetables and we use the money to plant more and more vegetables," says the principal and informs that they have planted paddy too.  
 
These are just a few steps which this branch of DPS is taking towards being more environmentally-conscious and instilling the same consciousness in students. The principal informs us that they conduct two to three recycling drives per year with multinational conglomerate ITC. Newspapers are collected and the student who contributes the most newspapers receives an honourable mention. In this bid, one student contributed 31 kgs of newspapers! And in return, they take paper from ITC. The school even tries to do away with papers by keeping most of the records — log books circulars and more — digital.
 
Much appreciated
And just like many others, DPS also started gifting saplings instead of bouquets. In fact, the Mayor of Hyderabad Bonthu Rammohan was so delighted after receiving a sapling at one of their ceremonies that he announced to his team, then and there, that this is what they should be doing too. They also started a library in a government school nearby where DPS students of class IX teach English.
 
But the principal believes that these acts won't count for much is values are not taught to students. And this bit is done in an interesting way as well. "Every month, we take up one value, like honesty, kindness, gratitude and so on. The student who exercises the value the most gets a special value badge," says the principal with a smile.        

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