Collective effort and knowledge must to develop green schools
The definition of a green school, or anything ‘green’ can vary greatly among people. The difference in opinions stems from someone’s understanding of the true definition of green. This has been skewed by various uses of the word in the society over the past decade, no more so than in the buildings industry.
In short, a green school is an educational facility that provides a healthy, efficient environment for the students that has minimal impact on the society and maximum impact on the ability to learn.
Schools are unique to most other types of buildings as the occupants, students, usually young children who are still in their growing and development stages of life. This means the impact of an unhealthy environment is much bigger. This could be dirty air, unclean water, bad lighting, high noise — all have adverse health effects on the kids, and reduce the education benefit of being at school. A green school addresses all of these and more, including low water, energy, and waste, connection to the community it serves and makes an overall great experience for everybody that interacts with it.
Another unique part of a green school is the learning and education aspect. Unlike other building types that are made more energy efficient to save money, a green school should integrate concepts of energy and sustainability into the curriculum as well as make the students an integral part of the greening of the school. Examples of that are students supporting in metre readings, energy calculations, reporting, games or competitions of energy reduction among classrooms.
A green school is an educational facility that provides a healthy, efficient environment for the students.”
Having a truly green school is a joint effort involving everybody with varied environmental interests. Coming together to create this synergy is something that is not easy, but when done right improves the lives of children and helps to contribute to a happy society. If a school is not green and is not helping to contribute to happy, healthy children and teachers that make the best learning possible, then what is it doing? If the students are not healthy doesn’t it defeat the purpose of going to school in the first place?
There is a lot of work to do to make the schools of the UAE green. The collective knowledge, experience, and energy of the entire industry and industries supporting this will turn it into reality.