New Delhi: The Centre for Science and Environment awarded 199 schools from across the country at the annual Green Schools Awards here for their respective categories for outstanding efforts in making their campuses environment-friendly and their students, environment-conscious.

These awards are conferred every year by CSE’s Green Schools Programme, a 19-year-old initiative that helps schools and their students conduct a rigorous in-campus environmental audit to measure the efficacy of resource management and green practices in the school. Schools take ownership of their green journey through self-conducted audits with CSE’s guidance.

Speaking on the occasion, CSE Director General Sunita Narain said that the objective is to educate the young through their actions – they walk the talk to understand sustainability.

Over 5,300 schools from 29 states and Union territories vied for the honors; 20 of these received the top awards, and 199 were tagged as ‘green’. Of all the schools that participated in the audit, government schools held the crown with 93 percent submissions, followed by private schools at 6 percent and government-aided schools at 1 percent.

Apart from the schools, awards were also conferred on the most proactive teachers. Punjab bagged the award for Best State by setting the bar with the highest audit registrations and report submissions. 4734 schools from the state submitted their audit reports – 70 were rated ‘green’. Sangrur in Punjab bagged the Best District Award with 503 submissions.

The Changemaker Awards are given to schools that improve their sustainability rating to green by monitoring and improving their practices over the year. The two awardees in this category were PM SHRI Kendriya Vidyalaya No 1 Ordnance Factory in Katni of Madhya Pradesh and Satya Bharti School Lakhowal of Ludhiana in Punjab.