Students make a sweeping success of beach clean-up

On R-Day they did their bit for coastal environment; 40 handicapped kids join in too..

Environment conservation is a burning issue. And city students took it upon themselves to do their bit in preserving and protecting the city’s environment as they picked up the broom to sweep the city’s sun-kissed beaches recently.
Many a student from various city schools participated in a massive beach clean-up on Wednesday. The exercise was organised at Shivaji Park by Orchid, Asia’s first ecotel hotel. Out of the various children thronging the beach, about 40 were physically challenged.
Of these, 22 were from Mookdhwani School in Vile Parle while the others were students of the Sanskardham Vidyalya, also from Parle. The students assembled at the pre-decided venue at 9 am and swept the shores clean working their way till over a couple of hours later. The students cleaned up one stretch of the coast, spanning over three to four kilometers.
The schools which participated included Activity High School, S.V.D.Devshi Secondary School, Regina Pacis Convent High School, AII English Primary School, Oxford Public School, Divine Child High School, L. Poddar ICSE School, Digambar Patkar Vidyala, Mookdhwani, anskardham Vidyalya, Trinity High School, K.V.K. Ghatkopar, Saifee Girls High School, BKM School, Sarvajanik School, IES (Matunga) and Sathya Sai Seva Organisation.
Commending the efforts of the students, Vithal Kamat, chairman and managing director, The Orchid said, “Every year we involve students to undertake certain environment campaigns. This year I am very happy to see even physically challenged students coming forward to support the drive.”
Expressing his gratitude to the principals and teachers of the participating schools, Kamat said, “The reason for targeting students was that children are more enthusiastic and imbibe ideas quicker than adults. We decided to undertake the beach-cleaning drive because we felt that these students should set an example to other students on Republic Day.”
Noting that if every individual took small steps to save the environment, the overall impact would be significant, Kamat added that the children could begin with their own homes by doing little things like not wasting water and electricity. “Later, they can join an NGO or a local government organisation. The idea is to get them involved when they are young so that they can inculcate and imbibe environment consciousness from an early age,” Kamat explained.