It is mandatory for schools that register with SSI to already have or initiate an Eco-Club, and a motivated teacher could become its coordinator.

A guide for setting up and running Eco-Club is provided for registered schools to download. The guide explains how an Eco-Club can be initiated in the school, how many students should ideally join and the kind of activities and projects that can be undertaken by the club.

This guide will help the Eco-Club coordinator to run the club and reach out to the community systematically and successfully. The nominated Eco-Club coordinators from the registered schools should complete the Eco-Club course available through         e-GREEN on the SSI website.

An Eco Clubs are usually set up by a teacher and a group of motivated students to learn about the environment and to take action to improve their immediate environment.

Eco-Clubs also provide an opportunity to enable students to take up activities in the real world, in a way that the constraints of the classroom and curriculum won’t allow.

Eco-Clubs in schools empower students to participate and take up meaningful environmental activities and projects. They are a forum through which students can reach out to influence and engage their parents and communities to promote sound environmental behavior.

Eco-Clubs also empower students to explore environmental concepts and actions beyond the restrictions of a curriculum. Environment education is affected by a fundamental contradiction; while everyone, everywhere, asserts the importance of ‘learning to live sustainably’, the environment continues to be viewed more as an extracurricular activity and less as a subject that should hold a priority position in the national curriculum.

The following method is expected to be followed for the Eco club:

• Secure the Environmental club Manual for your school.
• Teachers from your school complete the online courses through e-GREEN
• The school principal announces the establishment of the environmental club and invites students to join it through a meeting or via e-mail, according to the applicable system.
• Forming a team for the environmental club of students with the teacher / coordinator, and the students will carry out all the activities of the club, and the role of the teacher / coordinator is limited to providing advice and guidance.
• Schools participating in the initiative should prepare an annual plan for the activities and events that will be implemented through the environmental club.
• Students implement awareness projects and campaigns by following the instructions mentioned in the Environmental Clubs Guide.
• Preparing the report on the projects that have been implemented through the environmental clubs, and attach all evidence related to the implementation mechanism and results.
• Upload the environmental clubs report on the system

And because the directory of environmental clubs is considered one of the most important pillars on which the sustainable schools initiative is based, it will provide platforms and an organizational framework for students to enable them to actively participate in developing activities and activate discussion and effective dialogues between students, teachers and community members on common environmental issues.