The auditorium reverberated with claps and hummed with appreciative notes as teachers and students of two schools walked up to the stage to collect the School of the Year award on the second day of the Adamas University Kolkata presents The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence 2024 North Bengal in Siliguri on Tuesday.

Dhruba Mukherjee, the chief executive officer of ABP Private Limited, handed over the awards.

When the award programme came to a close, teachers of Sovanagar High School of Malda and Birla Divya Jyoti in Siliguri, who were joint winners of the award, were jubilant over the recognition of their institutions by The Telegraph Education Foundation (TTEF).

Established in 1962, the Sovanagar High Schoolis 19km from the district headquarters in Malda and located in a site that is between the Ganga and the Kalindi rivers. The school has 2,852 students.

“We put all efforts to ensure that each student has access to all welfare schemes run by the state government. Our institution is a plastic-free zone and students turn household wastes into plastic bricks and use the plastic garbage for landscaping and beautification,” said Hariswami Das, the headmaster.

The school has a rooftop garden spread over 11,000 square feet, which is an exemplary model of sustainability. Medicinal plants, fruits, vegetables and flowers are grown in the garden.

“In our school, we have introduced pisciculture and cultivate flowers, which helps students learn practical applications of environmental education,” he added.

Across the school campus, the authorities have introduced QR codes for trees and plants. Anybody intending to know morphological details just needs to scan the code with his cellphone.

Birla Divya Jyoti, a reputed institution in the field of education in Siliguri, has introduced a hybrid classroom for better learning for students. In the past two years, the school has been running a sports academy and has nurtured some sports talents who have bagged awards and trophies in different events.

“The award we received today will inspire us to continue our initiatives. We have always focussed on inclusive education. Also, the storiesof courage we hear today should be disseminated among students throughdifferent forms to encourage others,” said Sweta Tiwari,the principal of Birla Divya Jyoti.