Outstanding achievers of MAS initiative

Film actress and environmentalist Iranganie Serasinghe presenting an award

Mihikathage Daruwo (Children of Mother Earth), a MAS initiative, held an awards ceremony in Colombo to felicitate the outstanding achievers of this project.

Mihikathage Daruwo is a part of the MAS Eco Go Beyond programme focusing on sustainable development, which is a joint effort of Gap Inc and MAS Holdings. 20 schools from the areas around the MAS factories were selected and were empowered with knowledge on sustainability. The Mihikathage Daruwo programme was initiated in May 2006 in conjunction with the Ministry of Education. Dedicated teams of 15 students from each school worked on self-designed learning projects spanning six months which focused on incorporating sustainable development.

The awards were held under the patronage of Ariyaratne Hewage, Secretary to the Ministry of Education.Environmental education is very important, Hewage said going onto state that the care for the environment is not the sole responsibility of the government and welcomed the initiatives of private organizations such as MAS Holdings coming forward. He also commended the sustainability of this project noting that if all the tree planting programmes in Sri Lanka were properly co-ordinated, more than 30% of Sri Lanka would have a forest cover.

Each school worked on nine mini projects from October 2006 to February 2007 after which they selected one for upscaling. The programme culminated in the awards ceremony held this week.

The winner of the competition was Walagedara Maha Vidyalaya with their project for the systematic disposal of waste, while Prajapathi Balika Vidyalaya’s project for waste management within the school won the second place. (LP)