Planting 1,05,000 trees with tiffin money, students show the way
Thousands of students from 750 schools across the country have participated in the movement in the last four years
"It is where we must begin
To seek the wisdom of the children
And the graceful way of flowers of the wind…"
In a world where adults' greed for profit is destroying nature, only the wisdom of the children can show us the way to life, to maintain an organic relationship with mother earth. That was the subtle message of American country singer John Denver's song Rhymes and Reasons.
And here the message is actualised, in this side of the world, by a bunch of school children who save their tiffin money to plant 1,05,000 trees.
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They are the students of different schools from Bagha and Charghat upazila of Rajshahi.
They planted the trees in their school compounds and surrounding areas in an event called "Tree Planting Festival" on September 16.
District Administration organised separate programmes on the occasion in the Charghat Pilot High School and Bagha Model High School of the upazila.
The initiative is the brain-child of a youth, named Jubair Al Mahmud Russel, who started a movement titled "Planting Trees with One-day Tiffin Money" back in 2015 to counter the adverse effects of climate change and create a liveable earth.
Thousands of students from 750 schools across the country have participated in the movement in the last four years.
"I think if we can encourage five crore students of the country to plant trees, Bangladesh will be a green country again," said Jubair.
"The movement can spread through the world if the United Nations get involved in it. Then the whole planet can adopt the practice of planting trees to face the challenge of global warming," he added.
More than 3.5 lakhs trees have been planted in different districts across the country under this movement so far.
On October 2, students of Natore's Barayagram and Pabna's Ishwardi upazila will plant more than one lakh trees as part of the effort, said Jubair.
Tree plantations programme is ongoing in different schools in Dighali upazila of Khulna and Beanibazar of Sylhet too.
Jubair said thousands of students of the two upazilas have set an example in the world by planting thousands of trees at a time.
Jubair also urged the government to declare a National Tree Plantation day for planting tree nationally with all the students across the country.
