Doha Bank has distributed ECO-Schools awards to environment-friendly schools in Qatar as part of its corporate social responsibility.
The bank is also planning to roll out the programme in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait next year.
This year, ECO-Star Trophies for the “Water Management” category went to Bhavan’s Public School for their waste water management project, MES Indian School for the water management and Pakistan Education Centre for the water conservation.
In the “Environmental Health” category, Bhavan’s Public School received a trophy for developing a vegetable garden in the school. In the “Energy Saving” category, MES Indian School won the award for a project that works to conserve energy today for tomorrow.
Certificates made from recycled paper were also distributed to the participating students and teachers who worked on the school projects.
“This sets an example for schoolchildren, staff and parents, to increase environmental awareness and encourage individuals to take the first step towards a greener path in order to reduce their carbon footprint,” Doha Bank Group CEO R Seetharaman said.
The awards recognised the schools that successfully completed green projects and for playing an active role in propagating the concept of eco-consciousness among schoolchildren. The programme aims to encourage children to become environmental proponents and advocates at a young age.
The ECO-Schools Programme was launched along with its website www.ecoschools.com.qa in March last year. Soon after its launch the programme began a nationwide awareness campaign and logo competition working with schools in Qatar.
A large number of entries were received from schools all around Qatar which made the programme an instant success. ECO-Schools is an award programme that guides schools on sustainability initiatives and provides substantial opportunities for them to explore various environmental concepts that can be implemented, improved, developed or retrofitted at their respective premises.
Joining the ECO-Schools programme is free-of-charge, thus encouraging more schools’ involvement and participation.
As part of the programme, schools work towards gaining ECO-Star awards for projects executed in four different categories - Environmental Health (Green ECO-Star), Energy Saving (Yellow ECO-Star), Water Management (Blue ECO-Star) and Waste Management (Red ECO-Star) projects.
The first ECO-Star Award, a White ECO-Star is self-accredited through the ECO-Schools website upon successful registration. From the second ECO-Star onwards, projects require documentation and evidence showcasing the effort.
There is also an ECO-Shooting Star Award which symbolises excellence in environmental activity. To qualify for this award, a school should complete at least one project from each category in addition to having successfully collaborated and completed a project with an existing ECO-School or help a start-up school.
“The initiative taken by Doha Bank to start the ECO-Schools Programme is valuable to inculcate the relevance of environmental preservation among the young generation.” G Manulal, principal of Bhavan’s Public School, said.
Stressing that the efforts of Doha Bank are laudable for protecting the environment by involving schoolchildren, A P Sasidharan, principal of MES  Indian School, said the ECO-Schools programme has created a sense of responsibility among the youth in Qatar by encouraging more eco-related projects from schools to protect the environment.
“The ECO-Schools programme of Doha Bank guides schools on sustainability inventiveness which will provide substantial opportunity to all schools to explore various environmental concepts,” Nargis Raza Otho, principal of Pakistan Education Centre, said.