Thiruvananthapuram: Green Congress, this year, will serve as a venue for students from flood-ravaged schools to raise their experiences, lessons and even demands in front of the government. Mayor V.K. Prasanth, at a press meet, said that the corporation will be able to put pressure on the government to take up rebuilding activities in the schools. He said that the corporation has limitations to directly engage in rebuilding activities, but can provide the platform for students.
For example, SNDP HSS, at Kuttamangalam in Alappuzha, had lost 30 brand-new microscopes in the flood, as their biology lab was downstairs. The four boys and two girls from the school will be able to tell the government about this. “The children we met are aware of what went wrong during the flood. They will be able to tell what needs to be done. In the case of the Kuttamangalam school, it was the children who told us that there was some issue with the way the bunds were constructed,” says Green Army mentor Vasanthkrishnan S.
The second Green Congress put together by Green Army is based on the theme ‘Rebuilding Kerala: Environmental Possibilities and Challenges’. “It is not positioned as an event with a lot of luminaries attending it. Here, the visiting children are our chief guests,” Mayor V.K. Prasa-nth said at a press meet.
The twenty students who will be visiting Green Congress will arrive on November 30, ahead of the event which will be on December 1 and 2. They will be staying at Veli Youth Hostel, where they will interact with Green Army members. The experience sharing starts from that time onwards. Green Army members too will have experiences to share, being a network of school students, mentored by social service organisations in making greener choices. It has 30 units in schools.
Green Army mentors, who visited the school students in flood-affected areas, to brief them about the event, have also taken back a lot of lessons. Green Army mentor Babitha P.S. says that a teacher, at one of the schools she visited, had swum to the school during the flood. This was to ensure that the school records would not get damaged. She too says that the children will have a lot to share. Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, which is part of the Green Army mentoring network, has set aside Rs 10 lakh for Green Congress.
