Across Janakpur and Bharatpur, Climate Smart Schools under the GreenShift project turned World Environment Day 2025 into a canvas of climate action. With this year’s global theme, “Beating Plastic Pollution,” students not only voiced their concerns but also led real-world solutions through rallies, clean-up drives, tree plantations, and creative expression.
By bringing together the Youth Advocacy Groups and Climate Smart Schools, this year’s celebration beautifully bridged community advocacy with school-based environmental learning.
Art for Action in Bharatpur
In Bharatpur, Saral Nepal, the one of our Youth Advocacy Groups, worked closely with four Climate Smart Schools: Shahid Smriti Secondary School, Gunjan Nagar Secondary School, Rashtriya Secondary School, and Laxmi Secondary School to organize a poster art competition on the theme “Green City for Green Future.” The event brought students together to express their environmental hopes, concerns, and creative ideas.
“The way students reflected on urban waste, greenery, and the role of youth was incredibly powerful,” said a facilitator from Saral Nepal. “This was not just art, it was advocacy with color and imagination.”
The competition became a convergence point where advocacy met education, building a sense of ownership in students for the environmental future of their city.
Rallying for Change in Janakpur
Rastriya Secondary School, our Climate Smart School in Janakpurdham Sub-Metropolitan City, led a day filled with energy, learning, and action. Students delivered powerful presentations on plastic pollution and the circular economy, organized a campus-wide clean-up, planted new trees, and marched through their neighborhood to raise awareness through a student-led rally.
“Seeing our students take the lead, not just in school but in the streets, gave us all hope,” shared a school teacher. The day emphasized both awareness and ownership, reminding the community that environmental change starts locally.
Voices for a Cleaner Future
At Kantir Jha Model Secondary School, the celebration focused on powerful student voices. An oratory competition on “Students’ Role in a Clean Environment” invited reflections on personal responsibility, local challenges, and climate hope.
This was followed by a tree plantation drive, where students and teachers worked side by side to plant Lahare Ashok and other saplings around the school grounds.
“Planting a tree may seem small, but for these students, it meant planting a future,” noted one of the school staff.
Through these dynamic celebrations, our Climate Smart Schools are not just observing environmental days. They are building a generation of young people who act, speak, and create for a circular and sustainable Nepal.
