Pragyan School

Pragyan is the first planned eco-friendly school in Greater Noida. The building has been designed in a manner that it has naturally well lit corridors, spacious classrooms, large windows which allow light in and ventilators that help to keep the room cool. An attempt has been made by the Architect to use rat-trap bond brick walls which are basically hollow but put together are strong as concrete. This reduces the embodied energy content of the building making it more insulated to balance the conduction of excessive heat and cold. The walls reduce the emission of green house gases. Rain water is harvested for re-use for watering plants and cleaning purposes. The porous bus parking area also helps to preserve

water.

Eco-friendliness and ecology -the relation of plants and living creatures to each other and to their environment is an integral part of the school's curriculum. Through talks, film shows, exhibition, and experiments this is repetitively brought home to all those associated with the school. No wonder children plant more and more trees and delightfully nurture them on Pragyan's 10 acres sprawling campus. Students at Pragyan are taught to say no to poly bags and refrain from wasting paper.

The School activities are so planned and conducted that this message is again and again brought home to the School Community. On one of their co-curricular activity days students innovatively used old news papers in making fancy bags which could be utilized for shopping. Conservation of natural resources was a topic for the slogan writing and poster making contest. Interestingly the school uniform has no polyester in it. Moreover, emphasis on 'don'ts' apart the students are encouraged and provided with opportunities to develop love for nature. The school is enrolled as an active member of The Green School Award Programme, conceptualized by the New Delhi based Center for Science and Environment. The programme is conducted at the national level every year. The award is based on an audit of the schools' environmental practices, carried out by its own students, following a set of guidelines specified by CSE. The school is a proud winner (position III) of the National Green School Award.