Iskandar Malaysia Sustainable & Low Carbon Schools Exhibition 2015 has been successfully held on 7th February 2015 at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia. The exhibition showcased sustainable efforts initiated by schools in RCE Iskandar such as regular recycling activities, special projects & campaigns and active participation of schools in events at various community, national and international levels related to sustainable development. The exhibition is a joint effort between Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Iskandar Regional Development Agency (IRDA), Johor State Education Department (JPNJ) and Johor State Science & Mathematics Education Association (PPSMJ) under RCE Iskandar. The exhibition cum competition was participated by 22 primary and secondary schools in RCE Iskandar while more than 600 visitors from around RCE Iskandar joined the exhibition and parallel workshops which were also conducted throughout the day. The exhibition was also officiated by Datuk Ayub Rahmat, Johor State Executive Council on Health and Environment together with the official announcement of RCE Iskandar.
Besides to give an opportunity for schools to showcase their green efforts, this exhibition is also to give recognitions to schools which have contributed in promoting sustainable development in RCE Iskandar. Many schools have organized various activities and projects to educate students on sustainable development but there was no platform for schools to let interested parties outside of schools to know the excellent projects and their contribution. Through this competition, marks were given by professional juries from Malaysia, Japan and Philippines, medals and special awards are granted to the schools based on the marks. The juries were invited from UTM, Kyoto University, Ibaraki University, National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) and KIKO Network, Japan. The “Best of the Best” award was granted to Kelapa Sawit National Secondary School (SMK Kelapa Sawit) for their 10-year long efforts in promoting ESD, systematic documentation, structured organization to plan and run the projects as well as income generation future plan through environmental projects which involve various parties such as students, teachers, parents, local communities and private companies. Other schools that were awarded special prizes such as best poster, best presentation, best booth and best team were SJK (C) Ching Yeh, SMK Taman Johor Jaya 2, SK Pasir Gudang 4, SMK Sri Kukup, SJK (C) Pulai, SMK Telok Kerang, SJK (C) Kulai 1 and SMK Kulai Besar.
In conjunction with the exhibition, parallel workshops conducted by experts were also held at the same venue. The title ranged from tree planting, composting, water filtering to low carbon lifestyle and planning school projects. The experts invited were President of Malaysian Nature Society, President of Green Earth Society, officer from Solid Waste Management & Public Cleansing Corporation (PPSPPA), researchers from UTM and Ibaraki University, Japan.
The exhibition participants were very happy to be a part of this event because this is the first time they were given the recognition for their green efforts at school. After the event, some schools informed that ESD will become one of the main agendas of the schools. Some teachers who joined the workshops were excited to have known some experts in the related environmental fields where collaboration between schools and researchers can enhance school projects. Finally, the speakers and juries have enjoyed themselves through the experience in interacting with school students who were very excited in presenting at the exhibition and participating in the interactive workshops.