Minister Jumhur Says East Java Ranks First in Environmental Protection and Waste Management, SMAN 1 Gresik Wins Adiwiyata
Minister of Environment and Head of the Environmental Control Agency, Moh Jumhur Hidayat, stated that East Java Province has been ranked first by the Ministry of Environment for its efforts in protecting the environment and managing waste. “My presence here is to endorse the achievements of East Java Province in environmental protection and waste management, so that other provinces can follow suit,” said Minister Jumhur during a visit to the Adiwiyata Programme site at SMAN 1 Grogol in Gresik, East Java, on Thursday (16/7).
According to Minister Jumhur, the working visit was made to appreciate the steps taken by the East Java Provincial Government, which led to its top ranking from the Ministry of Environment. He noted that the province’s actions set a good example for all Indonesians. “This serves as a good example for other provinces so they do not neglect and can improve themselves in protecting the environment and managing waste in their regions,” he said.
During the visit, Minister Jumhur also took time to visit the high-achieving school that won the Adiwiyata Award from the ministry. “The Ministry of Environment has a programme called Adiwiyata, which assesses schools that care about and educate on proper environmental stewardship. The ministry’s assessment criteria focus on what the school does independently to educate about the environment. This school was selected as the best in Indonesia and deserves the Adiwiyata Mandiri award,” the minister explained.
Meanwhile, East Java Governor Khofifah Indarparawansa said that SMAN 1 Gresik won the Adiwiyata Mandiri award in the environmental field because it successfully developed a proactive attitude towards environmental care. Additionally, the school managed to develop its potential to support the government’s food security programme. With limited land and facilities, the school was able to teach students to carry out pilot projects in farming and animal husbandry. The results of these activities have been developed through to downstream processing, where the products can be cooked or packaged as frozen food. “When we talk about food security, the public’s perspective has always been that it requires vast expanses of land, but we can actually do it on limited land,” said Khofifah.
According to Khofifah, the school’s success in achieving the Adiwiyata Mandiri award serves as a reference for all institutions, not just other schools but the entire community. “So if there is land available, plant anything that can be grown, whether it is crops, livestock, or fisheries,” the East Java Governor concluded.