Institución Educativa El Castillo

How to train students to be environmental leaders

Institución Educativa El Castillo, a state school in Barrancabermeja, Santander, Colombia, serves a low-resourced community near a swamp where pollution presents severe problems. Recognising the serious environmental issues at stake, the school's mission and teaching methods are centred on training leaders who will go on to transform the environment. It works to make its students environmentally conscious, encouraging them to research problems and arrive at solutions, and engages them in projects including waste management by participating in the circular economy.

The school’s student-led "Opportunity Shop Project" saw the collection of donations such as uniforms and school supplies. Parents restored them and then they were marketed to the school community at symbolic prices so that low-income students can reuse them.

At the school lab, students, parents, and science teachers make household cleaning products that are biodegradable and environmentally friendly. These are marketed in e-commerce through a digital platform created by the students.

If Institución Educativa El Castillo were to win the World’s Best School Prize for Environmental Action it would use the funds to strengthen its research to tackle environmental issues.