HYDERABAD: It’s a dream come true for three students from Andhra Pradesh, who are just one step away from participating in the 17th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held at Durban, South Africa from October 28 to November 2 this year.B Madhu from Warangal, Kandula Ajita and Salil Kumar Tripathy from Hyderabad are the fortunate 14-year-olds selected by the National Green Corps Andhra Pradesh (NGC-AP), through a series of online competitions related to climate change and other environmental issues.“These Class IX students are trained by the National Green Corps for the next workshop to be held at Ahmedabad on Oct 17-18,” said V Venkateswara Rao, incharge Director NGC-AP.The children will join another 17 kids from around the country for the final selection of a 4-member team that will represent the country at Durban.“It is a proud moment for our families and school as we are representing AP now,” said K Ajita, who wishes to see herself as an automobile engineer in the future and does not mind leaving her first love, nature, for a career.She said, “Whatever we do in the future, we just need to carry forward the right attitude in our daily lives”.Salil, on the other hand, wants to be a cardiologist and also sees himself finding solutions to environmental problems.“From 5,750 schools across the state, 231 students were selected from an online quiz. Of them, 50 students were selected for the next level which was an essay competition. 20 students were filtered out and of the rest, three were chosen to represent the state at the Ahmedabad workshop,” explained G Padmaja, NGC project officer.NGC, operating through eco-clubs in schools, offers opportunities for the younger lot to idealize and conceptualize educational approaches to environmental sensitivity.“We, in Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Jubilee Hills, switch off all fans and lights every Monday and Friday,” said Salil.K Ajita, who studies in Sanghamitra school, Chandanagar, credits her school for her success in the competition.Boy! that’s the spiritOne of the selected students, B Madhu, who hails from Warangal, is the first in his family to go to a school. A student of Class IX at the Zilla Praja Parishad Secondary School in Parvathagiri, he is also the only student from a government school to make it to the final round of the competition.“I wish to represent the country at Durban and later, bring about a change in Warangal region in whatever manner possible and to the best of my ability,” says the ambitious child who, according to his trainer V Gurunatha Rao, has been working for more than eight hours a day to make it to the UN climate change convention.Madhu, whose parents are both farmers, also has a keen interest in agriculture.
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