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The green gurus of Gurdaspur This is How THEY DO IT It is that time of the year. The member schools of the Gobar Times Green Schools Programme (GTGSP) network are swinging into action, auditing natural resources like water, air, energy, waste and land within their own premises. The students-led audit teams are measuring water levels in tanks; checking electricity bills; planting trees; and preparing audit reports of their schools. The school we are presenting here now is not a member the GSP. But can be declared a winner, anyway.  Name: Baba Aya Singh Riarki College Tughalwala. Address: Nesting in the green fields of Punjab, in a village called Gurdaspur, is a 15-acre campus, shared by a school for classes first to tenth, and a college for eleventh and twelfth. It is the college, which is our GTGSP model. Total capacity: 5,000 students. 2,000 of them stay in a hostel, while the rest come from surrounding villages. The unique feature here is that there are no teachers here, nor any administrator. The students take turns to fill up the posts-from the principal to the peon. They run the show, entirely on their own. |
LAND Outside of campus, they have 12 acres, where students grow wheat, rice and vegetables for themselves. Apart from this, they have dedicated 4 acres for nursery where they grow plants and shrubs and cuttings of many trees like poplar, peepal, litchi, banyan. Not only do they carry out regular plantation drives within their campus, but also in the nearby villages. |
WASTE 
This was a major concern for such a huge school, which generates waste from the kitchen, from the 40 cowsheds within the campus, and the 200 toilets used by 2,000 hostel dwellers. As most of this waste is organic and biodegradable, the school has set up a biogas plant. Today this floating biogas plant generates four cylinders equivalent gas for kitchen, taking care of 50 per cent of the school’s requirement, saving around Rs 1000 daily. |
WATER The school’s boundary is marked by a canal, locally know as the Aparbari Doab, which is its supply source. Water is separated from sewage and the slurry is sent to the biogas plant. This water is then used for irrigating the nursery and the farms. |
ENERGY Besides the bio-gas plant, the school has a solar photo voltaic which powers two solar pumps, 60 tube lights, four street lights, besides providing hot water, and running a television. The campus also has a solar cooker. Thanks to the sun-power, the campus saves at least Rs 10,000 every month. |
AIR Being far away from polluting cities, the campus does not have to endure severe air pollution. But that does not make the students less vigilant. Most of them travel on bicycles and rest come in buses. |
