Oakridge International School organized an Inter-School District level competition to create awareness about the #SayNoToSingleUsePlastic initiative, among the children of Visakhapatnam. This is to support the recent announcement by GVMC on the complete ban of Single Use Plastic in Visakhapatnam. The common goal of the event was to educate the young generation about the ill effects of single-use plastic and the harm it is causing to our marine ecosystem.

About 800 students from 57 schools in and around Visakhapatnam participated. The event included four competitions – Poster Making, Short Story Writing, Poetry Recitation, and Painting, all of them focussing on the theme “Say NO to plastic, Save our Oceans”

Students and Parents were elated to participate in the competition and pledged to say no to single-use plastic. Oakridge Visakhapatnam UNICEF team had come up with a petition for the same which was launched by honorable GVMC Commissioner Dr. G. Lakshmisha.

Addressing the gathering GVMC Commissioner said, “Oakridge International School, Visakhapatnam has taken up a wonderful initiative to spread awareness on the ban of single-use plastic. We must make it a practice to carry a cloth bag whenever we go shopping. Even if someone is offering a plastic bag, we should say NO. Let’s all come together to make Vizag plastic free.”

Thanking the authorities, Mr. Amit Jain, Director, Oakridge said, “Unless we want to keep eating plastic every day it’s time we stop using at-least single-use plastic. Oakridge has been advocating to save our Oceans since 2016 in order to make this city of destiny clean and beautiful.”

Ms. Shaila Bhamidipati, Principal of Oakridge International School, Visakhapatnam said “We are taking baby steps in spreading awareness about the adverse effects of plastic usage. This event is one such step where we wanted to reach out to all school students. Let’s not trash our future. Say no to plastic. Stop choking the earth. Join us to sign the petition and choose a cleaner, plastic-free environment.”

Sravani, Parent of the participant – “It’s wonderful to see students from so many schools come here. Children were so excited to be a part of the event. As a parent, I felt so happy to be part of such a huge event which is happening in Visakhapatnam after quite a long time.”