- 50 beat 748 ideas pitched by nearly 240 schools from across the country to win the first edition of this prestigious competition on the theme of a ‘Cleaner Future’.
NE EDUCATION BUREAU
MUMBAI, MARCH 5
Jamnabai Narsee School, one of Mumbai’s oldest schools founded in 1971, has won the #iCan School Challenge, a school-level national competition organized by the Adani Group to find ideas that could strengthen the fight against climate change. 50 beat 748 ideas pitched by nearly 240 schools from across the country to win the first edition of this prestigious competition on the theme of a ‘Cleaner Future’.
Pawar Public School, Bhandup and Anjuman-I-Islam’s Mustafa Fakih Urdu High School emerged 2nd and 3rd in the national competition, which was judged by an eminent panel comprising UN Champions of Earth Awardee Adv Afroz Shah, Mission Green Mumbai Founder and Water Hero 2019 Awardee Subhajit Mukherjee, and Adani Group Head of Sustainability & Climate Change Prof Arun Sharma.
“The biggest battles against the global climate crisis will be fought in the future,” said Prof. Arun Sharma, Head Sustainability and Climate Change, Adani Group.
“Today’s children will be the generation that will lead and fight those battles. We are delighted to spearhead national initiatives like the #iCan School Challenge. I believe such competitions will encourage our young change agents to think deeply about how best they can secure their future and that of the nation.”
“We saw a lot of young leaders of today. Every young kid brings to the table something which helps in nation building,” said jury member Adv Afroz Shah.
“Every child who participated in this competition is a winner,” added jury member Subhajit Mukherjee. “The brilliant innovations they presented here are proof that India has an abundance of young eco-champions. Initiatives like the #iCan School Challenge are precisely what our nation needs to ensure that our next generation stays focused on climate change mitigation.”
The idea that won Jamnabai Narsee School the top prize of Rs 1.5 Lakh was an intelligent ‘House-Hold Inventory Management system’ built on the MIT App Inventor platform aimed to minimise waste generation and global greenhouse gas emissions. Pawar Public School, Bhandup and Anjuman-I-Islam’s Mustafa Fakih Urdu High School who won Rs 1 Lakh and Rs 50,000 for their 2nd and 3rd places, proposed solutions to create a LED TEG to harness the waste heat and use it purposefully and a future forward ‘ Zero Waste School’ designed to systematically mitigate the volume of plastic and e-waste generated.
Climate mitigation ideas from the competing schools ranged from ‘Virtual Operating Systems for Energy Efficiency, Multi-purpose Ecobricks and a ‘Vertical Farming’ solution that captures the essence of efficient space utilisation and availability of fresh produce through the year to even included an idea for Edible Cutlery to reduce waste creation for sustainable environmental practices. IIT Mumbai alumni helped to shortlist 50 ideas for the Grand Finale from the hundreds of entries sent in by schools from across the country.
