TEHRAN – A total of 64 eco-schools will be built across the country meeting green management standards, the director of the Organization for Development, Renovation, and Equipping Schools has said.

Hamidreza Khanmohammadi, while calling the environment a vital issue, stated, "Green management includes reducing energy, water, raw materials, equipment, and paper consumption, and recycling solid waste," Mehr news agency reported.

According to the sixth five-year development plan (2017-2021), it is mandatory to implement the green management program in all non-governmental public organizations and institutions, he stressed.

"Signing a memorandum of understanding with the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (SATBA) and the association of school-building benefactors of the country to establish small-scale solar power plants in schools with the investment of donors, holding training courses on waste management in schools, and organizing scientific field trips to recycling centers are among the other programs of the Organization for Development, Renovation, and Equipping Schools in line with the preservation of the environment.”

First green school

In November 2022, the first school in the country with zero energy waste was inaugurated in the city of Zanjan, aiming to promote energy management in the education sector.

“In the country's first green school in Zanjan city, solar panels have been installed to generate and distribute 10 kilowatts of electricity,” Hamidreza Eslami, director of the provincial Organization for Development, Renovation, and Equipping Schools, said.

“The surface water treatment and recycling system is one of the facilities used in this school, and in fact, the precipitation and rainfall will be collected in tanks to be recycled,” he added.

Referring to the installation of a green roof garden in this school, Eslami stated that the fire alarm system, smart heating system, and ventilation devices are among the other unique features of this school.

Environmental plans

During the first round of President Ebrahim Raisi’s provincial trips that ended in April, a total of 55 environmental plans worth more than 6.78 trillion rials have been approved to be implemented across the country, IRNA quoted Alireza Noormohammadi, an official with the Department of Environment, as saying.

He added that the provinces of Mazandaran, Alborz, North Khorasan, and East Azarbaijan have the highest number of approved plans respectively.

President Ebrahim Raisi has highlighted the importance of environmental protection, emphasizing that the preservation of the environment is prior to every development.

“Environmental protection will lead to power, security, investment, and production growth in the country,” he said.

MT/MG