SAS Nagar, April 23, 2025: Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS), Hoshiarpur (SAS Nagar district) has made the state proud by being declared the National Level Winner of the GenCAN (Generation for Climate Action) - Climate Action Leadership Challenge, an initiative of the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) in collaboration with the HCL Foundation.
Divulging the details, District Education Officer (Secondary) Dr Ginni Duggal said that the school mobilized over 40–50 dedicated student volunteers from grades 6 to 12 to become a cadre of young climate leaders and role models. These students played a vital role in initiating and leading local-level actions for climate resilience and sustainability. Through a series of events like quizzes, painting competitions, pledges, role plays, lectures, exhibitions, and rallies, the volunteers created awareness and inspired others to act on climate issues.
Their engagement extended beyond awareness. Students participated in solution-based action projects—conducting surveys, collecting data, planning short- and long-term interventions, and documenting their work with photos and videos. They actively implemented sustainable practices both at school and at home.
The Key Impacts of the Climate Action Challenge undertaken by GSSS Hoshiarpur Included, Climate-positive messages were successfully taken from school to homes and into the broader community, Promotion of polythene alternatives, such as cloth bags, Students learned to calculate the school’s carbon footprint and implement the 3Rs—Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Understanding and reducing electricity consumption, Development of student climate leaders to bring behavior change in society, Channeling roof water for gardening purposes, Implementation of wet waste segregation and composting techniques, Paper-saving initiatives through smarter page numbering, Creation of ECOBRICKS from non-recyclable plastic waste, Community efforts for a clean, garbage-free school and village, Tree plantation, adoption, and care by students, Conservation of biodiversity through the maintenance of a pond, Establishment of a herbal garden to support pollination, Donation drives for old clothes, books, notebooks, and shoes.
School Principal Smt. Suhinder Kaur said that this remarkable journey culminated in February with an inspection and audit by the expert team from CEE Lucknow. Based on their report, GSSS Hoshiarpur was honored as the national-level winning school from Punjab—a recognition of its exceptional climate leadership and community engagement.
 She said that the special thanks and gratitude for this proud moment go to Mentor Teacher Smt. Preeti Bansal and Student Climate Action Leaders, Karamjeet Singh, Poonam, Sameer Khan, Jagjit Singh, Sumaiya, Kirpal Singh, Varsha and Avneet Kaur.