BPN/Adv – Bonuan Buquig National High School in Dagupan City, Philippines, which restored lost mangroves to reverse the environmental devastation impacting its students, was named the winner of the inaugural World’s Best School Prize for Environmental Action.
The five World’s Best School Prizes, founded this year by T4 Education in collaboration with Accenture and American Express, are the world’s most prestigious education prizes and see winning schools share an award of $250,000.
The five World’s Best School Prizes – for Community Collaboration, Environmental Action, Innovation, Overcoming Adversity, and Supporting Healthy Lives – celebrate schools everywhere for the pivotal role they play in developing the next generation of learners and for their enormous contribution to society’s progress, especially in the wake of COVID.
Bonuan Buquig National High School was chosen as the winner of the World’s Best School Prize for Environmental Action from among the Top 3 finalists for the prize.
The other finalists were Green School Bali in Indonesia, which has woven environmentalism into the fabric of the school itself through a plethora of initiatives from bio buses to compost toilets, and International School of Zug and Luzern in Switzerland.
The Prizes were founded by T4 Education in collaboration with Accenture, American Express, Yayasan Hasanah, Templeton World Charity Foundation, and the Lemann Foundation to share the best practices of schools that are transforming the lives of their students and making a real difference in their communities.
Peter Lacy, Accenture Global Management Committee Member, said, “Congratulations to Bonuan Buquig National High School for winning the first-ever World’s Best School Prize for Environmental Action. Teachers everywhere will be inspired by the example of this outstanding Philippines school, whose inspirational work is lighting the way towards a better future.”
Meanwhile, Madge Thomas, Head of Corporate Sustainability at American Express said that he wants to congratulate Bonuan Buquig National High School for this fantastic achievement.
“We are pleased to recognize students and educators who are taking action in schools to protect the environment and their futures. As we at American Express work to advance climate solutions, we are proud to support programs and partnerships like this one to help build more climate-resilient and equitable communities,” he added.
Vikas Pota, Founder of T4 Education and the World’s Best School Prizes, said that it’s time for world leaders to sit up and listen to schools like Bonuan Buquig National High School in the Philippines.
“Far too many children will continue to be left behind in the wake of COVID unless governments take urgent action to tackle the education crisis. As a first step, they must turn to the knowledge and experience contained within our schools because those on the frontlines of education know better than anyone else the change we need to see,” Vikas said.
“We founded the World’s Best School Prizes to surface the expertise of trailblazing schools from every corner of the globe so that leaders can learn from their incredible stories.
