Jakarta. The Environment and Forestry Ministry on Thursday awarded hundreds of schools across the archipelago the Adiwiyata award.

The award recognizes schools that have made efforts to nurture environmental awareness in the school community as part of the Gerakan Peduli dan Berbudaya Lingkungan Hidup di Sekolah (PBLHS) campaign. 

The PBLHS campaign calls for collective actions and the environment to safeguard the planet at schools. This can range from waste management, energy, and water conservation to tree planting.

According to the ministry’s press release, there were two categories for the recent awarding ceremony: Sekolah Adiwiyata Mandiri (self-sufficient Adiwiyata schools) and Sekolah Adiwiyata Nasional (national-scale Adiwiyata schools).

The selection process was joined by 789 schools from 27 provinces to undergo administrative check, sampling, and on-field verification. Ninety-four schools from 17 provinces bagged the Sekolah Adiwiyata Mandiri awards. The ministry awarded 305 schools from 24 provinces the Sekolah Adiwiyata Nasional awards.

Giving the awards at the ceremony was Deputy Environment Minister Alue Dohong. 

The government first launched the PBLHS campaign in 2006. Since that year, 3,150 schools have earned the status of Sekolah Adiwiyata Nasional. There are currently 999 Adiwiyata Mandiri schools. In total, Indonesia has 27,169 Adiwiyata schools nationwide from across different categories: district/city, province, national, and self-sufficient.

At the ceremony, three 2022 Sekolah Adiwiyata Mandiri awardees — SMAN 6 Yogyakarta High School (Yogyakarta), Astra Agro Lestari Middle School (West Kotawaringin), SDN 1 Tri Harjo Elementary School (South Lampung)— shared their best practices in nurturing environmental awareness.