The first state educational institute to launch a Carbon Neutral project in the island is D. S. Senanayake College Colombo-07.

The brainchild of this project is the Principal, Dr. Asoka Senani Hewage, whose initiative and drive to give the primary children a carbon neutral environment in the school is soon becoming a reality. Being "Carbon Neutral" means removing as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as we put in. How can we remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere?

D. S. Senanayake College Principal Dr. Asoka Senani Hewage

One way is to buy "Carbon Offsets". This means supporting projects like a wind farm or solar park. It helps make clean energy more affordable. It reduces future greenhouse gas emissions to make up for our travel and electricity use today. Buying carbon offsets is a method followed by many large multi national companies to compensate for the "greenhouse gas" emissions from their business operations.

D S Senanayake College is looking to bring this "Green" culture to the Primary section of the school through a mixture of environment friendly improvements to the infrastructure and "best practices" to be instilled in the students.

The project consists of several phases:

A.Uplifting the main "Promenade" entrance of the Primary by introducing a paved walkway, roadway and planting several indigenous trees.

B.Constructing a "Rain-walk" to connect all main buildings that will also include flower beds.

C.Construction of a "Quadrangle" - open air meeting place - with shade giving trees and a "water wall" to bring tranquility and aesthetic harmony.

D. Four different types of mini gardens, to improve the façade in front of the classrooms and provide an interaction point with nature.

E. An adventure park/play area to help with skills development.

F. A mini-basketball court

G. The "Solar park" consisting of roof top solar panels that would generate part of the energy requirement of the Primary School

H.Upgrading the washrooms/toilets

I. Rain water harvesting for the use of the agriculture unit

The project is expected to cost over Rs. 10 million when completed in February 2010, and will create a natural environment for the 1,500 primary section children. The objective and aim is to give the children a school environment closer to nature and free of pollution.

"This will develop the habit among children to preserve the natural environment according to their learning from school", says the principal, Dr. Asoka Senani Hewage. "Teaching restricted to books is not sufficient.

Seeing and experiencing for oneself is truly necessary. Children need to gain these experiences from the school environment, so that they will endeavour to maintain the same in their home garden. This would help develop a society that values nature and is mindful of the damage unattended environs would cause", he further stated.

This concept will no doubt be a model for many other schools to follow. The project will strive to inculcate the necessary values in the children from the inception of their school career to preserve the environment.

The play area/adventure park has been designed to encourage children to indulge in physical activities. The mini-basketball court will help children develop hand-eye coordination and body movement. The need to make children more active is important to the changing needs of society, rather than only concentrating on book instruction. "One aim of this project is to make children more active in school. An active child is an asset to society" commented Dr Hewage.

There is also a vegetable and fruit garden by the side of the primary, which will compliment the new surroundings as children see a school gradually transformed to a greener, verdant environment. Under this project children will be taught to maintain a Home garden, grow trees and keep the environment clean.

This is a new concept in education where every child will be taught to keep a greener environment around the house. D. S. Senanayake College, headed by Dr. Asoka Senani Hewage, will no doubt introduce many more value additions for the betterment of its children.