Eastern Visayas schools, colleges urged to join 2013 National Search for Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Schools

Press Release
February 15, 2013

TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) thru the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) encourages schools and colleges here in the region to participate in the 2013 National Search for Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Schools.

EMB-8 environmental education and information chief Maribel Munsayac said that they have already started accepting entries for the nationwide contest which was dubbed as “2013 National Search for Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Schools” a direct response to Republic Act No. 9512 otherwise known as the Environmental Awareness and Education Act of 2008.

Munsayac also said that the National Search for Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Schools is an initiative in support to the declaration of 2012 as the ASEAN Environment Year with the theme “Environmental Awareness thru Eco-Schools” and the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

The nationwide search was also organized to highlight achievement of schools that are committed in implementing various environmental programs which is open to all elementary, high school and tertiary school levels, both public and private, the activity aims to encourage schools and academic institutions to become more actively involved in environmental issues at a practical and local level.

“This nationwide search also aims to develop skills and understanding among students, faculty and school administrators to initiate active responses and increase community awareness and involvement on environmental concerns,” Munsayac said.

She added that the eco-friendly schools program was launched last 2009 and 2011 in which they have generated positive responses from the schools and this paved the way for the next wave of the competition in 2013.

“We intended to have the awarding of the search next year instead of this year to allow schools more time to prepare and to enhance their existing eco-friendly programs. We are hoping to encourage more schools to participate and take part in heightening environmental awareness among our youth,” Munsayac said.

Munsayac emphasized that the national search is a joint activity of the DENR through the EMB, the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), in cooperation with the Smart Communications, Nestle Philippines, One Meralco Foundation, Petron Foundation and Unilever Philippines.

With this, participating schools must submit entries in three hard copies to respective DepEd Division Offices for elementary and high school categories, and to EMB regional offices for the higher education category. The minimum requirement for judging will be the hard copies. Likewise, entries can be submitted online in JPEG format with a resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi), a minimum size of 1536 x 2048 pixels, and a maximum file size of 1MB. Entries should be emailed to ecofriendlyschools@gmail.com.

The top entry per category for every region will be forwarded to the EMB central office for national judging. For elementary and high school categories, entries should be submitted directly to their respective DepEd division offices.

On the other hand, for the college category, entries should be submitted to the nearest EMB Regional Office. The deadline for the submission of entries is on March 15, 2013.

Entries should revolve around the theme “Sustainable and Eco-friendly Initiatives of the Respective Schools.” Participating schools should include a brief description of the project. Entries will be rated according to the following: environment-related aspects of the school’s policy (20 pts); environment-friendly school operations and presence of environmental programs (30 pts); environment-related features of the school curriculum (30 pts); presence of vibrant eco organizations in campus (10 pts); and presence of partners and linkages in environment programs/projects (10 pts). Only one entry per school will be accepted.

For the national level, prizes include, college, high school and elementary: P50,000 - 1st prize; P40,000 - 2nd prize; P30,000 - 3rd prize and plaques of recognition. For the regional level, a certificate of recognition and a prize of P20,000 will be given to regional winners for each category. All winning entries for each of the three categories, together with selected entries, will be displayed during the national awarding ceremonies in November 2013, coinciding with the National Environmental Awareness Month celebration.

Aside from the national prizes, there is also a special category entitled “Nestle Water Leadership Award” aimed at recognizing and promoting the water management solutions and practices of schools. Another special category is a “Meralco Energy Leadership Award” which will recognize schools that promotes practices and initiatives in electrical safety, energy efficiency and conservation.

A prize of P20,000 will be given to each of the winners at the national level for college, high school and elementary school categories. A prize of P10,000 and certificate of recognition will be awarded to each of the regional winners of all categories.