A day to help the community create green schools

As part of their Green Apple Day of service, the Kenya Green Building Society will bring together community volunteers at Two Rivers Mall this Saturday. This will be an educational visit aimed at helping our learning institutions become healthier learning centres.

It will help people see the need to create a more sustainable learning environment through education while creating awareness about creating green schools.

The Green Apple Day of service is an initiative from the Center for Green Schools in the United States. It gives parents, teachers, students, companies and local organisations an opportunity to transform schools into healthy, safe and productive learning environments.

Since 2012, more than 750,000 volunteers in 73 countries have had an impact on the learning environments of seven million students and teachers around the world.

The day was founded on the precept that green schools reduce the environmental impact of buildings and grounds. This in addition to creating a positive effect on student and teacher health while increasing environmental literacy among students and graduates.

Locally, the event is now in its fifth year. It is championed by the Green Schools goodwill ambassador in East Africa Boniface Chege. Chege is famously known by his stage name, Bon’eye and is a key member of the award winning musical group P-UNIT.

“Both the way we educate and take care of the school environment send a tangible sign of a community’s willingness to provide an excellent and equitable education to all its students,” says Chege.

According to him, poor air quality leads to more respiratory sicknesses such as colds, flus and asthma attacks. In addition, he says deficient ventilation makes it difficult for a child to focus and stay alert while inadequate lighting can cause headaches and disrupt sleep cycles. Even bad acoustics render children unable to hear lessons properly, affecting their overall school performance.

“When we educate a child, we help him choose the right future goals. This should be a sustainable future, and so we must educate students and help them create that future in a place that inspires them,” says Chege. Two Rivers mall (pictured) is one of the new developments in the region that has installed number of sustainable elements during construction.