Students to plant 50L saplings next year

Bengaluru: The departments of school education and literacy, and forest and environment launched ‘Sasya Shamala’ scheme on Monday, which aims to create awareness among schoolchildren to plant over 50 lakh saplings next year.The programme was officially launched at Karnataka Public School, Chamarajpet, where school education minister Madhu Bangarappa and forest and environment minister Eshwar Khandre planted a sapling to mark the occasion.Incidentally, the Karnataka Public School building earlier housed the school where late former CM Kengal Hanumanthaiah, who contributed to the construction of Vidhana Soudha, studied.What’s the scheme about?Sasya Shamala scheme was announced by chief minister Siddaramaiah in the state budget. Students from classes 1 to 12 will plant saplings and take care of them for two years. The plants will be named after the children. A maximum of 50 saplings will be given to each school, taking into account its student strength and campus size. If the number of children is more, then 2-3 of them will be assigned to take care of each sapling.Minister Khandre suggested that the education department include lessons highlighting the importance of planting/nurturing a sapling into a tree in textbooks from classes 6-12. tnn