Chennai School Turns Kitchen Peels Into Compost, and a Lesson in Sustainability

At Fathima Central Senior Secondary School in Chennai, the start of the academic year has brought a new weekly routine for many families. Parents are being encouraged by the school management to collect their kitchen vegetable waste, dry it at home and bring it to the campus on Saturdays, where it is deposited into vermicompost bins.

Deepa B., a mother of two whose children study in classes VII and IX, dries her peels on her terrace and wraps them in newspaper before carrying them to school. She says the practice has cut down the wet waste her household sends out, and a neighbour has since begun sending waste to the school's composter as well. Some parents drop off the material mid-week to prevent it from piling up at home.

The exercise is rotated among classes: students of classes IX and XI currently follow the cycle for three months, after which it passes to classes V to VIII.

Vice-principal Shalika Banu, who has driven the school's environmental initiatives, says composting has been underway on campus since 2015. The school moved from cement tanks to vermicomposting three years ago. The work continued through the pandemic, handled by gardener Mani and now supported by Selvi. Five vermicompost bins are in use, with dried cow dung and shredded coir added to speed up decomposition.

With a steady supply of compost, the school launched its own brand, CONEURE, which is sold to parents and the surrounding community. Around 25 kilograms of nutrient-rich compost is produced every three months.

Other efforts include a student-led audit team that visits classrooms to check whether waste is sorted into the correct bins, a Smart Water Irrigation System, and 15-litre cans used to grow tomatoes and chilli. Students help maintain the garden as part of work education, and teachers encourage parents to grow micro greens for their nutritional value.

Shalika traces the school's green push to a teacher orientation workshop conducted by R. Kishore Kumar of St John's Schools. She shared what she learnt with the 2013 batch, whose interest in a socially useful project set things in motion. An eco-friendly team and the Green Clean Illuminators Club were among the earliest initiatives. Students have made paper bags distributed at the Nandanam signal and given away saplings received through a plant-growing competition.

Shalika, who has been with the school for 19 years and recently received the Vidhya Seva Samman award 2026 for Best Teacher, says every project is linked to subjects such as Science, Mathematics, History and English so that no student is left behind. She credits director Nigar Akthar and principal Naaz Parwar for giving her a free hand.